2:20pm: The Canucks have issued a statement, though it doesn’t clear much up:
General Manager Jim Benning announced today that defenseman Travis Hamonic has been placed on a temporary leave of absence. The mutually agreed upon leave of absence will give Travis time as he works through his personal matters. The team asks that media respect Travis’ privacy and the club will not be making any further comments on the matter at this time.
CapFriendly clarifies, explaining that in the case of a leave of absence, his cap hit is entirely removed. With regards to the cap, this functions the same as suspended without pay. Satiar Shah of Sportsnet tweets that the Canucks’ preference is still to have Hamonic join the club this season, whenever he is able.
11:45pm: The Vancouver Canucks placed Travis Hamonic on waivers before the start of the season, after the veteran defenseman failed to appear at training camp because of a personal issue. The team did not expand on what exactly was keeping him away from the team, but decided to assign Hamonic to the minor leagues instead of suspending him. He hasn’t actually joined the Abbotsford Canucks yet, and today CapFriendly reports that Hamonic has now been suspended by the team.
When Vancouver moved him to the minors, it buried $1.125MM from his $3.0MM cap hit, giving them some extra room. He would have still received his salary, however, despite not playing any games to this point. Now he will be suspended without pay and his entire cap hit will come off the books.
The last time Canucks GM Jim Benning spoke directly about the situation, he told reporters that the personal issue was “bigger than what you guys think it is” and that they were helping Hamonic get the help he needed. There has been wild speculation, but it is not confirmed what is keeping him away from the ice. Hamonic was one of the few players to opt-out of the 2020 bubble playoffs but played 38 games for the Canucks last season.
Vancouver is already operating in long-term injured reserve space early this season, with Micheal Ferland, Brandon Sutter, and Brady Keeper all given the designation last week. Even so, they were very tight to the ceiling and wouldn’t have been able to deal with many short-term injuries very easily. Reducing Hamonic’s cap hit to zero allows them to make other recalls if necessary, as CapFriendly now has their unused LTIR relief pool at $1.95MM.
Hope all is well with him. Doesn’t sound like a good situation at all.
@jdgoat – Agreed.
“…he told reporters that the personal issue was “bigger than what you guys think it is” and that they were helping Hamonic get the help he needed. There has been wild speculation…”
How could Benning’s statement generate anything but wild speculation?
Either put out the truth or say that you can’t say anything.
kinda nitpicking there…
“We ask at this time that you respect his privacy, but…man, wait until you hear this story!”
Either give the facts or if not, don’t tease the cliffhanger.
@DarkSide830 – If there is anybody who is not a top candidate for Drama Queen, it would be good ‘ol Jimbo. But, there he goes, doing just that. @forwhomjoshbelltolled – is right, Benning should never have said anything about Travis’ situation if it is a “personal matter.” Discipline is one thing, but it was already disclosed as “personal.” The standard “We will have no further comment on this” should have been given to the media and that should have been the end of it, until Travis is ready to return.
So what are we “thinking”?
Substance abuse seems likely. But it is bigger than what we think it is…. now I just gotta know.
Alien abduction?
Extreme dandruff?
Wish we had UK style tabloids to provide the answer we all want.
@KAR 120C – Could it also be about COVID exposure risk to someone in his family, who might be immunocompromised or similarly high-risk, health wise? It has, unfortunately, become the new panic button alongside anaphylactic shock (from, say, a peanut allergy). As if we needed more stuff to be on guard for…
Odds are good Mac is on the right path. Hamonic took Covid leave…but then, he’s not vaccinated. Since, he seems to take Covid seriously, it suggests he might be one of the people who has an actual legit medical reason for not taking it.
Or it could be none of that. This is why speculation is problematic.
Big Isles fan here. If memory serves right, “personal reasons” led to an emotional trade request in which the Isles acquiesced and traded him out west to be closer to family back in 2018. ???
Hi Gavin,
Can you fix the spelling error of the word ‘coments’? Please & thank you.
“The team asks that media respect Travis’ privacy and the club will not be making any further ‘coments’ on the matter at this time”.
You are a lunatic and I love it.
My theory is this is his way of practicing English as a second language…but, I guess wicked OCD could explain it, too.
Either way, it’s no skin off of our (article author aside, perhaps) backs. Have fun, Josip.
Hey now, spellcheck is a thing.
If a writer cannot use it, that’s not cool.
Josip is providing a service that the writer clearly is unaware computers offer.
Right now, this site is underlining in red “Josip” as a spelling error.
Let us test this out…. Coments
Yup, shows up as a spelling error.
@KAR 120C – That is, until, you click on “Add to Personal Dictionary”… Just don’t do that if you butcher Vasilevskiy or Merzlikins when forgetting to hire “Mr. Copy-And-Paste” from HockeyReference, HockeyDB, or EliteProspects.