- After spending last season in Switzerland, Basile Sansonnens is on the move. His club team in Lausanne announced that they have loaned him to QMJHL Rimouski for the upcoming season. The Canucks selected the defenseman late in the seventh round in June after he picked up three points in 40 games with Gotteron at the junior level. It’s a one-year loan for Sansonnens who will return to Lausanne for the 2025-26 season; he’s signed with them through the 2027-28 campaign which is also the deadline for Vancouver to sign him to an NHL contract or lose his rights.
Canucks Rumors
Artūrs Šilovs Left Off Latvia's Roster For Olympic Qualifying
Jim Parsons of The Hockey News believes that the Edmonton Oilers should be looking for a defensive defenseman to pair with Darnell Nurse. Parson notes that the Oilers have been linked to several offensive defensemen but believes that Edmonton should be on the hunt for a two-way defenseman who can log high-leverage minutes and be a steady presence in the Oilers’ top four.
It’s hard to find fault in Parsons’ logic as a defenseman with that skill set would likely pair better with Nurse and allow him a better opportunity to maximize his abilities rather than trying to chase the game and make up for defensive lapses from a partner that shouldn’t be a top-four defenseman. The issue for Edmonton will be finding the assets and cap space to acquire such a player as no one that meets those criteria is available in free agency.
In other evening notes:
- Shawn Simpson of The Coming In Hot podcast believes that Ottawa Senators netminder Linus Ullmark will sign a contract that is similar in dollars to that of Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros but shorter in term. Saros recently signed an eight-year deal with Nashville with an AAV of $7.74MM and Simpson believes that Ullmark will carry a similar cap hit, but a shorter term in the range of six years. Ullmark’s play in recent seasons would certainly warrant a contract of that nature, and it would show Senators fans that the team is serious about building a perennial contender in Ottawa. On the other side of things, Ullmark is 31, and a six-year extension would carry him until he is 38 years old.
- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Artūrs Šilovs has been left off Latvia’s roster for this weekend’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The MVP of the 2023 IIHF World Championship was ready to start the tournament but was apparently overworked and the Latvian Hockey Federation’s medical staff opted to pull him from competition to avoid a serious injury (as per a translation from Satiar Shah of Sportsnet). It’s hard to read too much into the situation due to the translation, but it appears he is healthy enough to play, but is resting as a precaution.
Canucks Hire Justin Pogge As AHL Goalie Coach
The Abbotsford Canucks will only have gone five days without a goaltending coach as the team has moved quickly to fill the void left by Marko Torenius’ promotion to the Vancouver Canucks. Special assistant to the general manager with Vancouver and general manager of Abbotsford, Ryan Johnson, announced the team hired longtime veteran goaltender Justin Pogge as the organization’s next goaltending coach.
Pogge originally found his way to the American Hockey League in the 2006-07 season after a four-year career in the Western Hockey League split between the Prince George Cougars and Calgary Hitmen. He was drafted 90th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2004 NHL Draft before finishing his WHL tenure with a 79-49-12 record with a .919 save percentage. Pogge also helped Team Canada win the 2006 IIHF World Junior Championships on the heels of a .952 SV% and six wins which certainly elevated his prospect pedigree heading into his professional career.
His days as a decent goaltending prospect would summarily end there as Pogge only managed seven NHL appearances over the next six years before continuing his career overseas. He fared as a much better goaltender in the AHL albeit off a larger sample size. The Fort McMurray, Alberta native owned a record 120-94-24 record in the AHL and a career .902 SV% and 2.81 GAA with the Toronto, Anaheim Ducks, Carolina Hurricanes, and Phoenix Coyotes organizations.
Pogge would bounce around Italy, Sweden, Russia, and Germany over the next several years before retiring as a member of the DEL’s Grizzlys Wolfsburg in 2022-23. The longtime netminder didn’t stay away from the game long after his retirement as he immediately began working as a goaltending consultant for the Columbus Blue Jackets in addition to Team Canada’s World Championship and Hlinka Gretzky Cup teams.
He will now have the opportunity to have quite the impact at the highest level of the Canucks’ minor league system as the return date of starting netminder Thatcher Demko remains up in the air. He will likely work closest with Nikita Tolopino this season as the only true goaltending prospect from Vancouver’s pipeline that has graduated to the AHL.
Evening Notes: Jagr, Baertschi, Necas
Hockey legend Jaromir Jagr has hit a lull in his off-season prep, announcing in an Instagram post that he’s suffered a torn hamstring. He’ll now be out for three-to-six weeks, adding that the injury was likely a result of overtraining, which team physio Pavel Kolar warned him against. In a quote translated from Czech by Derek O’Brien of The Hockey News, Jagr said, “When I talked to the physiotherapist Pavel Kolář about the fact that I would like to properly train, he warned me not to do anything that my body is not used to. Of course, I didn’t listen to him… I went for a run. Not the sprints I used to do uphill, but normally straight. But I put weights on my ankles and tore my hamstring.”
Jagr, a partial owner of Kladno, will now miss the team’s remaining four pre-season games and could be out for the start of the Czech Extraliga season on Sep. 18. Kladno has a game roughly every other day from there on out, eating into Jagr’s goal to play in every Extraliga game this season. The inevitable Hall-of-Fame winger has stayed productive into his 50s, scoring 18 points across his last 31 Extraliga games, dating back to 2022. He’s never shown any reason for doubt, and even through a hamstring injury, he hopes to continue a productive playing career in Kladno as soon as possible.
Other quick notes from around the NHL:
- Former Vancouver Canucks winger Sven Baertschi has joined the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks as an assistant coach, shares Ryan Pike of Flames Nation. Baertschi spent two years with the Winterhawks in 2010 and 2011, ultimately scoring a dazzling 240 points in 156 games with the club. That was enough to motivate the Calgary Flames to select Baertschi with the 13th overall selection in the 2011 NHL Draft, though he never managed to live up to that precedent. His career year came with Vancouver in 2016-17, when he posted 18 goals and 35 points in 68 games. Baertschi finished his NHL career with 138 points in 292 games, playing in parts of 10 seasons. That’s a hockey career to be proud of – meager scoring or not – and Baertschi will now look to carry his experience back to the juniors team that helmed his early career.
- Plenty of teams expressed interest in former top trade piece and recent Hurricanes re-signee Martin Necas, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in the latest written 32 Thoughts. Among the interested parties were the Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets, though Necas was ultimately swayed to stay in Carolina thanks to the support of his teammates off the ice. Necas will now look to make the most of his two-year contract after posting 71 and 53 points in the last two seasons, respectively. That’s strong production, and Necas should earn an impressive contract when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, pending any collapse over the next two years.
Vancouver Considered PTO For Khaira
- Unrestricted free agent forward Jujhar Khaira was on Vancouver’s radar for the PTO slot that went to Sammy Blais earlier this week, report Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic (subscription link). The 30-year-old is a veteran of 337 career NHL games but only one of those came last season as he spent most of the season with AHL Iowa where he had 18 points in 22 games. Drance and Dhaliwal add that the Canucks have not shown interest in Nick Cousins or Milan Lucic who are also looking for a new place to play for the upcoming season.
No Extension Talks Yet For Boeser
The 2023-24 season was a breakout showing for Canucks winger Brock Boeser. He reached the 40-goal mark for the first time while his 73 points were also a personal best. Despite that, a contract extension doesn’t appear to be on the horizon as Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic report (subscription link) that there have yet to be any discussions about a new deal. The 27-year-old is entering the final year of his existing contract which makes him extension-eligible. He’s bound to be eyeing a raise from his current $6.65MM AAV with some potential comparables starting with a seven. For now, it appears that Vancouver’s management wants to see if Boeser can have a repeat showing in 2024-25 before committing to what will be another long-term, big-money agreement.
Thatcher Demko Not Expected To Play In Preseason
The injury situation for Thatcher Demko has been a topic of some intrigue in recent days following the report that the team was looking into external goalie depth options with Thatcher Demko’s knee injury recovering at a rate that was slower than anticipated.
Now, it sounds like his availability for the start of the regular season is now in some question. Rick Dhaliwal and Thomas Drance of The Athletic report (subscription link) that Demko won’t be ready to participate in training camp next month or play in any exhibition games. Vancouver remains hopeful that the 28-year-old will be ready for the start of the regular season but with how things have gone to this point, they can’t necessarily count on that happening.
Demko sustained the injury early in Vancouver’s first-round series against Nashville with Casey DeSmith and eventually Arturs Silovs taking over between the pipes as the postseason progressed.
The injury then kicked off plenty of speculation at the time when it came to his recovery. Early on, there were reports suggesting he’d only miss one round, some for multiple rounds, and others saying the full playoffs were in jeopardy had the Canucks made it that far. Officially, he was only ever listed as out week-to-week.
When free agency came around, Vancouver elected not to look for a veteran second-string option or even some goaltending insurance. Instead, their plan was to have Silovs serve as Demko’s backup with Jiri Patera being brought in to serve as his replacement with AHL Abbotsford. That decision implied that management expected Demko would be fully recovered to start the season.
Instead, they now appear to be going through the few options remaining on the open market with Dhaliwal reporting yesterday that veteran Kevin Lankinen appears to be their target. Lankinen has spent the last four seasons between Chicago and Nashville, posting a 3.07 GAA with a .905 SV%. He wouldn’t be pushing Demko for starts when healthy but he’d at least give them an experienced option to split time with Silovs if Demko’s slow recovery continues.
It has been a summer of turnover in Vancouver with Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, and Ilya Mikheyev among those that have moved on while Jake DeBrusk being the headliner among those joining the Canucks. Now, it certainly looks like they’re going to need another newcomer between the pipes with Demko’s potential return getting pushed back several more weeks and potentially more.
Evening Notes: Lankinen, Nichushkin, Pieniniemi
The Vancouver Canucks are narrowing in on a deal with goaltender Kevin Lankinen reports CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal. He’ll support the team as they await the return of Thatcher Demko, who is taking longer than expected to recover from his knee injury.
A deal in Vancouver would move Lankinen on from four seasons in the Central Division – split between the Chicago Blackhawks and Nashville Predators. He debuted as Chicago’s starter in the shortened 2020-21 season, recording 17 wins and a .909 save percentage across 37 games. It was an impressive start to the undrafted free agent’s career, though not strong enough to hang onto the starting role when Chicago signed Marc-Andre Fleury that summer. Lankinen has been a proud backup ever since, with his ice time dwindling to just 24 games with Nashville last season.
Vancouver could offer Lankinen his first true shot at a starting role in a while – though he’ll have to beat out postseason wonder Arturs Silovs. Silovs took over for Demko in last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs with just nine career games to his name. He’d end up playing 10 more, posting a .898 save percentage and showing plenty of ability to win games when his team needed him. Silovs will be the favorite for the starting role entering camp, but Lankinen could offer quick relief should he struggle.
Other notes from around the league:
- Sergey Fedotov, a former scout for the Russian National Team, told Russia’s Sports.ru that Colorado Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin will be ready to return to the NHL in November. Nichushkin entered the NHL Player’s Assistance Program in May, missing out on the bulk of the postseason after a red-hot start – nine goals and 10 points in eight games. Nichushkin scored a collective 63 points in 62 games this season and will stand as a top option in Colorado’s lineup when he returns, though speculation will remain until the team formally announces his return.
- Pittsburgh Penguins defense prospect Emil Pieniniemi – the 91st pick in the 2023 NHL Draft – has signed with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs for the 2024-25 season. The move kicks off his career in North America after growing up through Kärpät’s junior system and playing 39 games with the Liiga club. He scored six points in those appearances but has already looked more impressive in international play this summer – posting four points in four games during Finland’s U20 friendlies. He’ll now look to maintain that scoring momentum into the much-quicker-paced CHL next season.
Vancouver Canucks Sign Samuel Blais To PTO
Forward Sammy Blais will look to play for the third NHL team of his career as the Vancouver Canucks announced he has signed a contract with their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, as well as a professional tryout agreement with Vancouver. The one-time Stanley Cup champion bottom-six forward will have a chance to crack the Canucks’ opening night roster in training camp or land a two-way deal to start the regular season.
The physical forward recently wrapped up his second stint with the St. Louis Blues after being re-acquired from the New York Rangers in a 2023 trade that sent Vladimir Tarasenko to the Big Apple. The Rangers acquired Blais for another Russian forward in the 2021 trade that landed Pavel Buchnevich with the Blues.
Blais cracked the Blues’ roster four years after being drafted by the team in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL Draft and he immediately became a force to be reckoned with in the team’s bottom six. He quickly became one of the more physical players on the team by collecting 366 hits in 119 games during his first run in St. Louis. Aside from scoring 17 goals and 35 points in total, Blais helped the Blues secure their first Stanley Cup championship during the 2019 playoffs by collecting one goal and three points in 15 postseason contests.
He never got much opportunity with the Rangers organization as injuries limited him to only 14 regular season contests. New York re-signed Blais to a one-year, $1.53MM deal for the 2022-23 NHL season but only gave him 9:38 of ice time during the regular season which made him expendable at the trade deadline. Heading back to St. Louis, Blais experienced his best stretch of hockey at the NHL level as he scored nine goals and 20 points in 31 games to end the season.
His play at the end of the 2022-23 campaign earned him a one-year, $1MM extension with the Blues organization but he was unable to score at the same rate. He finished last year with one goal and seven points in 53 games and will now look to force his way into a crowded Canucks forward core.
Canucks Expected To Name New AHL Goalie Coach
- The Vancouver Canucks are expected to announce a new AHL goaltender coach to replace the recently promoted Marko Torenius who has joined the team at the NHL level (as per Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet). Torenius was appointed to replace current head goalie coach and director of goaltending Ian Clark after Clark asked for a new position with the team to begin his transition to an off-ice role. No word yet on who might be up for the role, but they will join a new-look AHL coaching staff after Vancouver hired Manny Malhotra as head coach of Abbotsford back in May to replace Jeremy Colliton.