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Vancouver Canucks To Scratch Luke Schenn

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The Vancouver Canucks are the latest team to start protecting assets before the trade deadline, as Luke Schenn will sit out tonight’s game against the Nashville Predators.

Schenn, 33, has been the subject of trade speculation for weeks, thanks to his unique mix of physicality, reasonable cost, and championship pedigree. He carries a cap hit of just $850K this season, leads the NHL in hits with 258, and recently won the Stanley Cup twice with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Any contender in the league could fit Schenn into their cap situation by moving a single player off the roster, and almost all of them are looking for defensive depth. At one point, a reunion with the Lightning was rumored, but recent reports had the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames linked to him.

Just a few days ago, Schenn told the media that he expected to play every day until he was traded, meaning a move could be imminent if he’s being pulled from the lineup.

The right-shot defenseman has 21 points in 55 games this season, his highest total since 2011-12 and a pace that will easily have him set a new career-high by the end of the year. He won’t be going anywhere for his offense, but a three-assist game a few days ago only would have helped his profile around the league.

Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV was first to report the fact that Schenn would be scratched. 

William Lockwood Activated, Loaned To AHL

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  • After several weeks on the sidelines, Vancouver Canucks forward William Lockwood has been activated from injured reserve and loaned to the AHL. He last appeared in a game on January 24, leaving after just six minutes of ice time due to the concussion protocol. The 24-year-old forward has just one assist in 13 games for the Canucks this season and is still looking for his first NHL goal. He’ll likely see a call-up once he’s back in game shape.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson To Miss Several Weeks

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It has been a tough season, to put it lightly, for Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  It just got a little tougher as head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters including Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province, that the veteran will be out “some weeks” due to an ankle injury.

The 31-year-old has struggled considerably in his own end which has helped contribute to Vancouver allowing the second-most goals in the NHL heading into today’s action.  On top of that, Ekman-Larsson has underachieved offensively, scoring just twice while picking up 20 assists in 54 games, numbers that are well below what he was putting up with Arizona when he had a six-year stretch of recording at least 39 points.  As a result of his struggles, his average ice time per game has dropped to 20:11, three minutes below his career average and his lowest since his rookie campaign back in 2010-11.

Ekman-Larsson still has four years left on his contract with Vancouver being responsible for a $7.26MM cap charge; Arizona is covering an additional $990K.  With that much term remaining, it will be extremely difficult for GM Patrik Allvin to move him; carrying an eight-year buyout charge certainly isn’t ideal either.  There’s no good situation for the Canucks moving forward when it comes to the veteran and now they’ll be without him for at least a few weeks.   Christian Wolanin was recalled from AHL Abbotsford earlier today and could have an opportunity to get into the lineup fairly quickly.

Canucks Recall Christian Wolanin, Place Travis Dermott On IR

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The Canucks have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their tonight against Philadelphia, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Christian Wolanin from AHL Abbotsford while placing defenseman Travis Dermott on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury.

Wolanin is up for only the second time this season with the first stint lasting less than 48 hours.  The 27-year-old has found another gear offensively in the minors this season, recording an impressive 55 points in 49 games.  That’s good for a tie for fourth overall in AHL scoring while he leads all blueliners by 10 points at a minimum.  Prior to this season, the most points that Wolanin had in the minors in a single season was 31.  He has 70 games of NHL experience under his belt with three different teams and has seen NHL action in each of the last five years.

Dermott, meanwhile, has had a tough season, missing more than 30 games with a concussion and now he’s on the shelf again having last played on January 25th.  When healthy, the 26-year-old has been limited to just 11 games where he has only a single goal while averaging 13:45 per game, a career low.  He’s in the final season of a two-year, $3MM contract and is owed a qualifying offer of $1.75MM this summer.  With his struggles and Vancouver’s cap situation, he looks like a potential non-tender candidate this summer.

Trade Deadline Primer: Vancouver Canucks

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Halfway through February, the trade deadline looms and is just a few weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Vancouver Canucks.

While it wouldn’t be fair to say there were high expectations for Vancouver heading into the season, there were certainly some hopes that they’d be able to pick up where they left off after a strong second half in 2021-22.  With Bruce Boudreau back for a full season, the team would be better offensively, Thatcher Demko would continue to be a strong starter, and things would be looking up.

Suffice it to say, that hasn’t happened.  Boudreau was recently fired after months of speculation with Rick Tocchet taking over while Demko was having the worst season of his career before being injured, turning things over to a pair of AHL goaltenders.  The end result is that they’re one of the worst teams in the league defensively and with one big move made already – Bo Horvat to the Islanders – the selling-off process is well underway.

Record

21-30-4, 6th in the Pacific

Deadline Status

Seller

Deadline Cap Space

$7.62MM in LTIR relief, 1/3 retention slots used, 47/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.

Upcoming Draft Picks

2023: NYI 1st*, VAN 1st, VAN 2nd, VAN 3rd, NYR 4th, VAN 4th, VAN 6th
2024: VAN 1st, VAN 3rd, VAN 4th, VAN 5th, VAN 6th, VAN 7th

*-Pick is top-12 protected in 2022-23 and becomes an unprotected pick in 2024 if it doesn’t convey this season.

Trade Chips

There has been no shortage of speculation surrounding defenseman Luke Schenn in recent weeks.  The veteran has been a capable defensive piece on the third pairing over the last two seasons while being one of the most physical players in the league.  He’s also extremely cheap as his $850K cap hit is just $100K above the minimum salary.  Accordingly, this is a contract that pretty much everyone can afford without necessarily needing retention or salary offsets, elements we’re going to see come up frequently over the next couple of weeks.  Schenn has indicated that he’d like to stay in Vancouver but they’re likely to get a high enough draft pick that they’ll opt to move him.

Also on the back end, Tyler Myers is another player who has been in trade speculation for a little while.  Unlike Schenn, he’s not a rental (signed through next season) and certainly isn’t cheap with a $6MM AAV and a 10-team no-trade clause.  He’s still capable of logging top-four minutes and in a swap of underperforming change-of-scenery veterans, there’s a move to be made with him.  Another defenseman, Travis Dermott, is one to keep an eye on.  Injuries and struggles have limited him to just 11 games so far.  Owed a $1.75MM qualifying offer this summer, that’s a price that’s likely more than they’re willing to pay so if there’s a team that wants the 26-year-old as extra depth, it’s hard to imagine the Canucks passing up the opportunity to pick up a late-round pick there.

Up front, Brock Boeser is someone to keep an eye on.  Things have not gone well for him this season but he has scored more than 20 goals in four of the last five years and likely would have gotten there in the year he didn’t had it not been for the pandemic-abbreviated schedule.  There are teams that certainly could use him in their top six but with a $6.65MM price tag through 2024-25, fitting him into a contender’s cap structure will be tough.  If they’re willing to retain salary though, there’s a chance he could be on the move as well.

Conor Garland is having a decent season and should reach 39 points for the fourth year in a row.  However, he has taken a bit of a step back from last year and with the additions of Andrei Kuzmenko and Ilya Mikheyev last summer and the acquisition of Anthony Beauvillier in the Horvat trade, Vancouver has a surplus of wingers.  Garland carried some decent trade value back with Arizona but how much will his contract (which runs through 2025-26 at a $4.95MM AAV) change things?  Again, retention might be necessary to facilitate a move or at least take a similarly-priced player back.

Other Potential Trade Chips: G Collin Delia, F Micheal Ferland (LTIR contract), D Jack Rathbone, D Riley Stillman

Team Needs

1) Picks and Prospects – This one is pretty obvious for a team that’s heading for a rebuild.  Vancouver hasn’t had more than six picks in the last three years and has only picked twice in the top 75 over that span.  Their prospect pool isn’t the deepest as a result and needs to be built back up.

2) Cap Flexibility – At the moment, Vancouver has just over $80MM in commitments for next season while still needing to fill out a few roster spots.  Even as a seller, they need to open up some room simply to be able to afford to ice a full team next season.  Moving out one of their pricier contracts (Myers, Garland, or Boeser) would go a long way toward giving them some much-needed wiggle room.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Tanner Pearson Placed On Long-Term Injured Reserve

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The Vancouver Canucks completed a curious transaction today, moving Tanner Pearson from injured reserve to long-term injured reserve. Pearson was already ruled out through the end of the season in January, but there was no need for him to be moved to LTIR unless the Canucks are adding salary. With Ilya Mikheyev, Micheal Ferland, and Tucker Poolman already there, the team had more than $4.3MM in flexibility.

We likely won’t know why Vancouver made this change until another transaction is completed, but it could signal that the club is going to take on money through the end of this year (or longer). Acquiring a bad contract or retaining salary as a middleman could give the Canucks some extra assets as the team continues to struggle through a lost season.

After receiving the usual coaching change bump, the group has lost three in a row, including a home-and-home with the Detroit Red Wings where they were outscored 11-3. Vancouver now sits just one point ahead of the San Jose Sharks in the Pacific Division.

For Pearson, it is a just another meaningless transaction in a brutal season. The 30-year-old forward will end the year with just one goal in 14 games, after requiring multiple surgeries on his hand. His three-year, $9.75MM contract has another season remaining, though his partial no-trade clause expires at the end of 2022-23. It’s not clear yet when Pearson will be ready to play hockey again, or which team it will be for.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Undergoes X-Rays

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  • Vancouver Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson underwent X-rays today after sustaining a lower-body injury, according to a report by Sportsnet’s Randip Janda. The news comes after head coach Rick Tocchet stated that he didn’t expect Ekman-Larsson to play in the team’s upcoming game on Saturday against Philadelphia. It’s unclear when Ekman-Larsson suffered the injury, but he left last night’s 6-4 loss against the Rangers early. Ekman-Larsson has struggled defensively in his second season with the Canucks after a mild resurgence last year. Still, he’s recorded 22 points in 54 games played this season, second among Vancouver blue-liners.

Snapshots: Blues, Schenn, Bally Sports

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The St. Louis Blues had a resounding win last night over the Florida Panthers, but it came at a cost. Both forward Brandon Saad and defenseman Torey Krug left the game with injuries, and they could be without both tomorrow against the New Jersey Devils, says head coach Craig Berube.

Berube confirmed Saad, who’s dealing with an upper-body injury, will miss the game. Krug is questionable with a lower-body injury. Both players have already missed chunks of the season with injuries, contributing to the Blues’ mediocre record. Saad’s injury opens the door for veteran Josh Leivo, who has four goals and 13 points in 38 games, to step into a top-six role for the time being. Neither Saad nor Krug have a timeline for their injuries, although Krug’s is obviously a short-term absence.

  • Despite other hot-commodity defensemen being scratched for asset protection, Vancouver Canucks defender Luke Schenn doesn’t expect the same treatment. Schenn told reporters that he “expects to be playing every night” ahead of the March 3 trade deadline, despite multiple teams having reported interest in the stay-at-home defenseman. The 33-year-old has 18 points and a +5 rating in 53 games this season.
  • The NHL Board of Governors had an emergency meeting today to discuss the financial struggles of Bally Sports Network’s parent group, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. Diamond Sports, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group, operates the Bally Sports umbrella of regional sports networks that broadcasts the home games of many U.S.-based teams. Today, they skipped a debt payment of $140MM as the organization nears bankruptcy. A potential sudden, unexpected lack of TV revenue is certainly a bit of financial concern for the league.

Thatcher Demko Denies Trade Request Reports

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  • Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko told reporters including CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal today that rumors of a trade request are unfounded. Dhaliwal added that Demko’s agent, Jordan Neumann, had reiterated to him that Demko didn’t want out of the Canucks organization. After a two-and-a-half month absence due to injury, Demko is close to returning to the Canucks lineup in the near future.

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Spencer Martin Clear Waivers

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Feb 14: Both players have cleared and can be assigned to the minor leagues.

Feb 13: According to Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness, who spoke with reporters including Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby has been placed on waivers today. The club needed room for the return of Dylan DeMelo and is “selfishly” hoping that Jonsson-Fjallby clears and can stay with the organization.

He isn’t alone. Spencer Martin has also been placed on waivers by the Vancouver Canucks, suggesting that Thatcher Demko will soon return from injury.

It’s a significant fall for Martin, who signed a two-year, one-way contract with the Canucks in April to serve as the team’s primary backup. At the time, it seemed rather undeserved given he had only played in nine NHL games, but the Canucks were confident in his ability to play at the highest level after posting a .950 save percentage in his short time with them.

Unfortunately, he’s come nowhere near that number this season, with an .871 through 29 appearances. The goaltending in Vancouver has been rather dreadful, even if their defensive performance has hung netminders out to dry far too often.

The move essentially signals that Collin Delia has passed him on the depth chart, and will remain as the backup for Demko moving forward.

For Jonsson-Fjallby, this could potentially lead to another fresh start somewhere else. Not only do the Washington Capitals have the option of re-claiming him and sending him directly to the minor leagues if they are the only team interested, but his play could draw the gaze of some other teams looking for depth forwards. Through 45 games with Winnipeg, the 25-year-old has four goals and 11 points, routinely showing off his speed to get in on the forecheck.

He won’t be a top-six impact player, but could be of interest for clubs looking to add penalty killing and energy to a fourth line.

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