Former Canucks Goalie Cloutier Hired As Team’s Goaltending Coach
The Vancouver Canucks have hired former goalie Dan Cloutier as their new goaltending coach, the team announced Tuesday.
#Canucks name Cloutier goalie coach; Melanson now goalie coach, player dev.
RELEASE → https://t.co/ocOTFpUVpepic.twitter.com/EW1how2B2E
— Vancouver Canucks (@VanCanucks) June 14, 2016
According to the release, former goaltending coach Roland “Rollie” Melanson will now work with the Canucks goaltending prospects in the AHL, CHL, and NCAA. He was the Canucks goaltending coach for the last six seasons, working with Roberto Luongo, Cory Schneider, Eddie Lack, Jacob Markstrom, and Ryan Miller. In April, Melanson announced he would not return for a seventh season in that capacity.
Cloutier has spent the previous four seasons as a goaltending consultant for the Canucks, working with their prospects. He played 208 games with the Canucks between 2000 and 2006, posting 109 wins with a .906SV% and 2.42 GAA.
Of course, we all remember Cloutier for one specific moment of his career:
Snapshots: Predators, Smid, Coaching Updates, Gillis
Nashville GM David Poile provided updates on some of his players in an interview with Brooks Bratton on the team’s website on Monday.
On pending restricted free agents Filip Forsberg and Calle Jarnkrok:
“We’ve had a couple of conversations with each of their agents, but as I always say, this is a process. I don’t look for these to be getting done tomorrow, but we’re moving ahead.”
He also noted that he is attempting to trade Eric Nystrom and that he wouldn’t rule out buying out the final year of his contract if he can’t find a trade partner. Nystrom is set to earn $3MM in salary with a $2.5MM cap hit for 2016-17. A buyout would trigger a $500,000 cap hit in 2016-17 and a $1MM charge in 2017-18.
Poile added that he will begin to send qualifying offers to his restricted free agents starting next week. Aside from Forsberg and Jarnkrok, the Preds have seven other RFA’s between their NHL and AHL teams.
Elsewhere around the league:
- Ladislav Smid’s future remains uncertain as he continues to recover from a season-ending neck injury sustained back in February, writes Darren Haynes on his From 80 Feet Above blog. His neck issues stem back to his first neck surgery six years ago. The continuing issues will prevent him from being a candidate for a buyout as the CBA does not permit injured players to be bought out.
- Tampa Bay assistant coach Rick Bowness has agreed to a multi-year extension with the Lightning, the team announced. He was reportedly a contender for the Anaheim coaching job which instead went to Randy Carlyle.
- The Blue Jackets have offered former St. Louis assistant coach Brad Shaw a contract to join them in a similar role according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch.
- ESPN’s John Buccigross reports that Kevin Dineen is “getting a late look” for Calgary’s head coaching job. He also adds that Glen Gulutzan and Todd Reirden are other finalists.
- Former Vancouver GM and player agent Mike Gillis has accepted a job on the board of directors for Swiss club Geneve-Servette HC, the team announced. Gillis’ Assistant GM in Vancouver, Lorne Henning, is also joining him in this new role.
Around The League: Coaching Vacancies, Goalies, Hertl, Datsyuk, Maatta
As we sit less than two weeks before the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, there are two head coaching vacancies that still need to be filled, Anaheim and Calgary. Elliotte Friedman’s latest 30 Thoughts column expanded on some of the likely candidates for each team. For the Ducks, Rick Bowness, former Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle, and Travis Green are under consideration while for the Flames, Glen Gulutzan and Mike Yeo have come up. Teams generally like to head their head coaches determined before the draft so it’s expected that these vacancies will be filled in the near future.
Elsewhere around the league:
- Bruce Garrioch discussed the potentially intriguing trade market for goaltenders in his latest Sunday column. He highlights a trio of goalies that could be of interest this offseason, Anaheim’s Frederik Andersen, Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury, and Tampa Bay’s Ben Bishop. Andersen is a restricted free agent this offseason while Fleury and Bishop are under contract through 2018-19 and 2016-17 respectively. Each of those teams has a high potential young netminder that has made a case that they’re ready for a larger workload. Given that the free agent class is relatively light between the pipes and the potential for an expansion draft as soon as 2017-18, there’s a case to be made that those teams should be investigating what the trade market is for their veterans.
- San Jose winger Tomas Hertl will not play in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Sunday night. Head coach Peter DeBoer noted that he’s “getting better every day”. Hertl has not been ruled out for a potential Game 7 on Wednesday night should the Sharks extend the series once again.
- Detroit GM Ken Holland was scheduled to meet with Pavel Datsyuk early this week but that meeting has been delayed due to the passing of Red Wings legend Gordie Howe. Datsyuk has one year remaining on his contract with a cap hit of $7.5 million. It has been reported that the 37 year old would like to play in Russia next year but if he does so, his cap hit will not come off Detroit’s books.
- It won’t be a quiet offseason for Pittsburgh defenceman Olli Maatta. As soon as the Stanley Cup Final ends, he will return home to his native Finland to begin his mandatory military training which will span the next two offseasons.