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Vancouver’s Rodin, Philadelphia’s Read Placed On Waivers

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Two players have been placed on waivers today. The Vancouver Canucks announced they have placed Anton Rodin on waivers with the intention of terminating his contract. Elliotte Friedman also reports that Philadelphia Flyers veteran winger Matt Read has also been placed on waivers.

As for Rodin, his stint with Vancouver hasn’t been too successful as injuries and lack of opportunites have hampered him since he signed in Vancouver in the 2016 offseason. The 26-year-old winger asked to be released from his contract, according to Vancouver general manager Jim Benning. A former 2009 second-round pick of the Canucks, he has not played in an NHL game this year and managed to appear in just three last year. He had a goal and an assist in seven games for the Utica Comets.

Read was already placed on waivers before the season started on Oct. 2 and cleared. He played five games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL, scoring one goal, but was recalled on Oct. 19 and has played four games with the Flyers, averaging just 10:54 of ice time on the year. Friedman tweets that the Flyers put Read on waivers to make room for a defenseman after the suspension to Radko Gudas.

 

Canucks Notes: Gudbranson, Benning, Dorsett

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Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbranson has seen his name come up in trade speculation over the last little while, including a reported trade that would have seen him return to Florida in exchange for Jason Demers over the summer (that fell through when Demers exercised his no-trade clause).  He’s in the final year of his contract and as Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province notes, Gudbranson is in line to get a raise from the $3.5MM he’s making this season as well as a long-term deal since he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in July.  GM Jim Benning noted that there haven’t been talks on an extension yet but that there could be later on in the year:

“There’s a mutual thing with his agent. Let’s just see where this goes. From their perspective, they want to feel comfortable in a new city and find his niche. We agreed to let it play out and when the time is right, we’ll talk about it.”

So far this season, the 25-year-old has yet to record a point in 16 games but sits second on the Canucks in blocked shots (22) and hits (33) while averaging a little more than 17 minutes of ice time per game.

More from Vancouver:

  • Gudbranson isn’t the only one in need of a new contract for next year as Benning’s contract is up at the end of the season. In a recent radio appearance with Sportsnet 650, team owner Francesco Aquilini stated that extension talks are ongoing and that “I am pleased with how Jim has performed. I’m optimistic we’re going to come to an agreement with him.”  Benning is in his fourth season at the helm of the Canucks and while the team made the playoffs in his first year, they struggled considerably over the last two seasons.
  • The team has launched an appeal to rescind the instigator penalty given to winger Derek Dorsett on Thursday against Anaheim, Kuzma relays via Twitter. This penalty was his second of the season and once he gets his third, he would automatically receive a two-game suspension under Rule 46.21.

Minor Transactions: 10/29/17

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Here’s where we’ll keep tabs on the minor news and notes throughout the day with the most recent moves at the top:

  • After a fleury of goaltending moves in the last few days that saw the team trade for New Jersey goalie Scott Wedgewood and place backup Louis Domingue on waivers, Elite Prospects tweeted that the Arizona Coyotes have called up goaltending prospect Hunter Miska today. Miska, who signed in April this year after dominating year at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in which he took the team to the Frozen Four finals, wasn’t fairing as well with the Tucson Roadrunners, where he had a 4.02 GAA and a .884 save percentage in four games. The call-up suggests that starting goaltender Antti Raanta may not be as healthy as the team thought.
  • Mark Divver of the Providence Journal tweets that the Boston Bruins will recall Providence Bruins’ goaltender Zane McIntyre today as an emergency backup. The 25-year-old AHL goalie has been called up for this reason before, but has not made it into a game yet for the Bruins. He is currently 4-1 with Providence and has played well, with a 1.81 GAA and a .928 save percentage. Divvers adds that he believes it’s due to the fact that Bruins’ starting goalie Tuukka Rask kept getting run into during Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.
  • The Minnesota Wild announced they have also sent three players down to the Iowa Wild of the AHL, including two former first-round picks, including 2015 first-round pick Joel Eriksson Ek and 2016 first-round pick Luke Kunin as well as Zack Mitchell. No corresponding moves have been made yet. Eriksson-Ek who many believed might have a breakout year has struggled in nine games with the Wild. The 20-year-old center has had just one goal and two assists in that span after putting up better numbers in a 15-games stint with the team last year when he put up three goals and four assists. Eriksson-Ek struggled in the preseason and was a candidate to not make the team at one point, but the team instead sent down Kunin instead. Kunin has been going back and forth between Iowa and Minnesota all year. However, Kunin has been more successful lately as his minutes and numbers have started to increase. The 19-year-old has a goal and two assists that all have come recently, as his short-handed goal against the Islanders Thursday makes him the first player in team history to score his first goal short-handed. Mitchell has also been up and down quite a bit this year, helping out the team’s fourth line while the team deals with multiple injuries. Mitchell has a goal and an assist in five games.
  • Vancouver Canucks’ general manager Jim Benning announced the team has recalled center Jayson Megna today. The 27-year-old returns to the team after having played in 54 games for Vancouver a year ago, tallying four goals and four assists. He has been with the Utica Comets since the start of the season, putting up an assist in four games this year. The move was expected after the team sent Michael Chaput down to Utica on Friday, leaving the team with only 12 healthy forwards.
  • The Colorado Avalanche tweeted that they have assigned forward Andrew Agozzino to the San Antonio Rampage today. He was recalled yesterday for their evening game against the Chicago Blackhawks, but was a healthy scratch. Agozzino has been an offensive force for the Rampage, putting up two goals and six assists in seven games so far this year. He was called up as an emergency forward after the team placed Gabriel Bourque on injured reserve due to an upper body injury.

Pacific Notes: Virtanen, Neal, Slepyshev, Sekera

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One preseason game remaining and Jake Virtanen remains with his team. The former sixth overall pick in 2014, has failed to crack the Canucks roster, but a solid training camp has many believing he has a good chance to become a regular in Vancouver this year, according to NBC Sports Cam Tucker.

After getting into 55 games two years ago with Vancouver in an underwhelming season, he managed to make just 10 appearances last year and even struggled with the AHL’s Utica Comets, scoring just 19 points in 65 games. However, his skills are obvious. Canucks GM Jim Benning has stated that his size and speed just need developing. At 6-foot-1 and 229 pounds and only 21 years old, Virtanen is trying to establish himself now, but is also trying not to think about whether he makes the roster this season. He has focused on his play instead and has already notched three preseason goals.

 

Canucks Notes: Horvat, Pettersson, Kerfoot

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Trevor Linden joined TSN 1040 yesterday in Vancouver, and spoke on a variety of issues including the pending contract for restricted free agent Bo Horvat. Linden explained that the two sides have discussed contracts everywhere between two and eight years, and that the negotiations are still ongoing.

We’re looking forward to getting Bo under contract. Out of respect for the process I don’t want to say a whole lot, but things have been very positive. We’re moving along and I don’t see any issues.

As Linden explains, negotiations with a player like Horvat were never going to be completed quickly but both he and GM Jim Benning haven’t been worried at all. Addressing the previous reports that eight years was off the table, Linden was non-committal, but did say “anything is a possibility.”

  • Talking about their newest top prospect Elias Pettersson, Linden said that he’s been impressed every time he’s watched him. Pettersson is currently playing for Vaxjo in the European Champions League, and won’t be attending camp for the Canucks. He’ll be given a bigger role in the Swedish Hockey League this year, and could compete for an NHL spot next season.
  • Linden said that the Canucks were indeed after Alex Kerfoot, but mentioned that him being from Vancouver actually could have worked against them. Kerfoot signed in Colorado, citing a good opportunity for him to jump right to the NHL. He also confirmed that the Canucks are not in on Will Butcher or any other NCAA free agents. Butcher is expected to sign this Sunday, and Vancouver has never been involved.
  • Though many believe that Vancouver’s free agent additions of Sam Gagner, Alexander Burmistrov and Michael Del Zotto all could be flipped at some point as the team rebuilds, Linden spoke about how each of them fits a hole that Vancouver had last season. He also was very clear that they didn’t want to just give big roles to their young players, and instead make them earn their opportunity in the NHL.

Snapshots: Coyotes, Granlund, Horvat, Heeter

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The Arizona Coyotes are excited about their offseason moves, and perhaps none more than Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The Coyotes star defenseman has gained a friend and pairing in Niklas Hjalmarsson, who has played with him on the international stage in the past. The two Swedes will team up on Arizona’s first pair this season and try to make some noise in the Western Conference. Speaking with Dave Vest of NHL.com, Ekman-Larsson spoke about his new teammate:

I’m super excited about [playing with Hjalmarsson]. He’s super easy to play with. He talks a lot and he’s a good skater and moves the puck. I would say he’s underrated.

While Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook got a lot of the national press out of Chicago, any Blackhawks fan will tell you that Hjalmarsson was an integral piece to the three Stanley Cup teams. He was a defensive rock for the club for many years, and will try to allow Ekman-Larsson to open up his game a little bit while still taking on the tough matchups.

  • Michael Russo of the Star Tribune reports that Mikael Granlund rolled his ankle in Finland and has been seen on crutches, but is still expected to be ready for training camp. It will slow down the young forward’s offseason training, but luckily he seems to have escaped serious injury. Granlund will be relied upon heavily for the Minnesota Wild this season after signing a three-year, $17.25MM contract this summer.
  • In other Granlund news, Rick Dhaliwal of NEWS 1130 reports that Markus Granlund’s wrist is fully healthy and the Vancouver Canucks forward is already skating. Granlund underwent surgery in March to correct an ongoing issue, but is “100%” and ready for training camp. Coming off a 19-goal season, he could jump onto a top-line role once again for the Canucks.
  • Granlund also told Dhaliwal that he thinks Bo Horvat’s new contract will be done soon. Horvat is still sitting as a restricted free agent even though Canucks’ GM Jim Benning has been clear he wants to lock him up long-term. The young center will likely be the new face of the franchise in Vancouver once the Sedin twins leave town, and will be looking for a contract which adequately compensates him for that.
  • The Toronto Marlies have signed a goaltender to work with Garret Sparks this year. The team announced they’ve signed Cal Heeter to a one-year AHL deal, bringing him in after a solid end of the season with the Calder Cup champion Grand Rapids Griffins. Antoine Bibeau, the previous goaltender for the Marlies was not given a qualifying offer this spring and signed with the San Jose Sharks.

Oft-Injured Teams Likely To Rebound In 2017-18

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Every year, some teams invariably get the short straw when it comes to injury. The Washington Capitals, notably, were the healthiest team in the league, and ended up winning the Presidents’ Trophy. That said, organizational depth is absolutely vital, as the Penguins survived well enough to repeat championships, even though they were bottom-5 in man games lost. Ultimately, there are a few franchises that are merely anticipating a restart in 2017-18, in hopes of entirely forgetting the abuses of last season. These three teams are those which suffered the worst, and have a solid chance to rebound in the upcoming campaign.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning lost Steven Stamkos for the majority of the season after he was diagnosed with a torn meniscus in November. He missed an astounding total of 65 games. Ryan Callahan was also lost for the majority of the year, losing 64 games of action to a lower-body injury. After that, the onslaught of injuries kept hammering away. Nikita Kucherov only lost 8 games, but was felled on three separate occasions. Ondrej Palat missed only 9 games as well, but his presence was sorely missed when absent. Cedric Paquette lost 23 games, while Tyler Johnson missed 16. It seemed that no one was safe on Tampa’s squad more man-games than an other teams when you factor in essentially retired players.

Tampa will look to remain healthy this season, after an incredibly unlucky venture in 2016-17. They have the depth to endure losses, but the sheer carnage last season was too catastrophic to overcome. Still, they finished only one point out of the final wild card spot. They could easily have squeaked into the playoffs and inflicted serious damage. This year, as long as the fates turn their way, they should be right back in the competitive mix.

Winnipeg Jets

Tyler Myers lost out on the bulk of the season, only playing in 11 contests. As a big component of the team’s defense, he will need to be back to peak performance if the Jets hope to stop some of the bleeding in their own end of the ice. Center Bryan Little lost 23 games to a lower-body injury, while Shawn Matthias missed 37 contests to an upper-body ailment. Not a single player survived the entire year without succumbing to some sort of injury or sickness, and the team as a whole struggled to find a consistent groove with so many bodies filling in and falling out.

The Jets need consistent goaltending and less obnoxiously aggressive defense if they hope to reach the post-season again. That said, simply remaining healthy will go a long way in transforming Winnipeg into a dangerous team. Mark Scheifele was absolutely dominant last season, and with reliable depth behind him, only good results lie ahead. The Central is also slightly less intimidating this year, even with Dallas making as many transactions as they did. Nashville and Chicago both took steps backward, the Blues remained relatively the same, while the Wild made lateral moves.

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver will have a tough time entering the playoff conversation. In the relatively weak Pacific however, anything can happen. The Sedin twins are another year older, and GM Jim Benning hasn’t acquired any game-breakers in the off-season (Michael Del Zotto doesn’t count). Still, when a team loses over 300 man-games to injury in a year, things should theoretically improve the following year. Admittedly, some of their most heavily injured players were nominal players, like Derek Dorsett (68 lost) and Anton Rodin (79 lost). Still, they missed the presence of multiple depth players at a time and ultimately relied too heavily upon call-ups to crawl through the year. Jannik Hansen (39 lost), Chris Tanev (29 lost), and Erik Gudbranson (52 lost) are far from world-beaters, but on a team as thin at both offense and defense as the Canucks, their losses were unsustainable.

It remains to be seen how much of an impact general health will play for the Canucks. They still need their top players to find consistent production, and their younger players (Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi) must continue to progress. That said, with a little luck, they might find themselves somewhere near the mix yet again. With new coach Travis Green and a fresh beginning, perhaps there is one more Wild Card berth left in a team that has been prolonging their inevitable full-on rebuild.

Reid Boucher Signs One-Year Deal With Canucks

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Winger Reid Boucher, a restricted free-agent, signed a one-year contract with Vancouver tonight, avoiding the arbitration process. Boucher was scheduled to have his hearing on August 1st, but instead was able to hammer out a deal with Canucks management. The contract is worth a reported $687,5000, as Stephen Whyno of AP broke the news. This is definitely a “prove-it” sort of deal, and Boucher will need to carve out his own playing time through consistent effort.

Boucher swapped teams twice in 2016-17, moving from New Jersey to Nashville before settling in British Columbia. Boucher had his possession numbers improve under his tenure with Vancouver, playing 27 games for a relative Corsi For % of -0.6. Contrasted with his performance in New Jersey up to that point, he had seemingly started to find a groove. Boucher did find a bit of offensive production as well, scoring 6 goals and 4 points on the year in only 39 total games. At 23 years old, Boucher still has the potential to progress as a player. He is a bit undersized at a mere 5’10, but has shown flashes of being a cheap goal-scoring contributor. He’ll need to continue to clean up his two-way game in order to truly cement himself on an NHL roster.

With this contract signed, GM Jim Benning will now turn his attention to fellow RFA Bo Horvat and Brendan Gaunce. Gaunce is also a marginal piece, but Horvat will be a core player for many years. Locking him up on a longer deal at a reasonable hit now becomes Benning’s clear number one priority.

Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Joseph LaBate

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Fresh off of his rookie season, checking forward Joseph LaBate has re-signed with the Vancouver Canucks. The team announced today that the 24-year-old has signed a one-year, two-way deal worth the league minimum of $650K. The two sides came to terms below the value of LaBate’s qualifying offer, $660K, which was made last week.

Standing 6’5″ and weighing over 200 lbs., LaBate is a noticeable presence on the ice. A two-way forward who can play both center and wing, he is a good fit for a versatile, energy-line job when called upon by Vancouver. While he provides only meager offense – no points in 13 NHL games and just 16 points in 38 AHL games last year –  he makes up for it with consistent defensive play. In the team’s press release, GM Jim Benning praised LaBate’s ability to be a physical presence for both the Canucks and AHL’s Utica Comets. Without many big checking forwards on the roster, Vancouver likely hopes that LaBate can carve out a role for himself on their bottom line as a two-way threat and work towards exhibiting some of the offensive touch he showed as a four-year starter at the University of Wisconsin.

While Benning and the Canucks are happy to have one of their young players back under contract, the team still has their work cut out for them with extending restricted free agents, with Bo Horvat, Brendan Gaunce, Reid Boucher, Michael Chaput and Evan McEneny in need of new deals. LaBate is just the beginning of several expected contracts this off-season for Vancouver.

Canucks Sign Sam Gagner, Michael Del Zotto, Anders Nilsson

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GM Jim Benning and the Vancouver Canucks are off to a hot start to free agency, signing a major name from all three positions: forward Sam Gagner, defenseman Michael Del Zotto, and goalie Anders Nilsson. 

Gagner, a play-making center who enjoyed a bounce back season with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2016-17, has signed on for three years at $3.15MM per year, via TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. After making just $650K on a one-year “show me” deal with the Jackets, this is a nice reward for Gagner who returned to form with a career-high 50 points after a disastrous 16-point campaign with the Flyers the year before. Yet, other than 2015-16 in Philadelphia, Gagner has been a consistent 40-50 point man and is still only 27 despite having a decade of NHL experience under his belt. Gagner will be happy to make nearly five times his 2016-17 salary, but this still comes off as quite a bargain for the rebuilding Canucks.

Del Zotto, a capable puck-mover who struggled to carve out a role with the Philadelphia Flyers, will get a new opportunity in Vancouver on a two-year, $6MM contract, according to TSN’s Frank Servalli. Not since his third year in the league with the New York Rangers in 2011-12 has Del Zotto truly been relied upon as a starter. In stints in New York and Philadelphia, Del Zotto has shown ample offensive ability, but little defensive reliability. A career -26 player, Del Zotto may never develop into a true all-around NHL defenseman, but at $3MM per year, the Canucks will expect him to strive to be such a player.

As for Nilsson, the former Buffalo Sabres backup has earned himself a nice raise, as LeBrun reports that he has signed a two-year deal worth $2.5MM annually to play 1B to Jacob Markstrom’s 1A in the Vancouver net. Nilsson was a savior of sorts for the Sabres in 2016-17, posting a career high .923 save percentage and 2.67 GAA in relief of Buffalo starter Robin Lehner. Nilsson outplayed Lehner, but Buffalo still informed Nilsson that they would move forward with Lehner as the starter and rather than play second-fiddle again in the same situation (like Chad Johnson is now doing), Nilsson has moved on to another situation where he may be able to outplay the incumbent and steal starts.

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