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Gino Odjick Passes Away At 52

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Unfortunately, there’s some very sad news to report on this Sunday. Legendary Vancouver Canucks enforcer and fan favorite Gino Odjick has passed away at 52, according to the team.

Odjick played in 444 games with the Canucks between 1990 and 1998 and was a member of the team that reached the 1994 Stanley Cup Final. He made a strong impression after being drafted in the fifth round in 1990, making the team the following year as a 20-year-old and playing 45 games.

Odjick’s best offensive season came during the 1994 run, where he chipped in a career-high 16 goals and 29 points. Throughout stops with the New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, and Montreal Canadiens, Odjick maintained a hard-nosed game that resulted in 2,567 career penalty minutes in just 605 NHL games.

Vancouver Canucks chairman Francesco Aquilini spoke on the devastating news:

Gino was a fan-favourite from the moment he joined the organization, putting his heart and soul into every shift on and off the ice. He inspired many and embodied what it means to be a Canuck. Personally, he was a close friend and confidant, someone I could lean on for advice and support. He will be deeply missed.

He will be sorely missed by the Canucks community, and the PHR team sends their absolute best wishes to the Odjick family.

Canucks Linked To Rick Tocchet

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01/15/23: On Sportsnet’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast last night, Friedman issued another update on the situation with the Canucks and Tocchet. He said “I do believe it will be Rick Tocchet” when or if the Canucks do decide to make a coaching change.

While still not a definite confirmation on the Canucks’ plans behind the bench, this report is a more firm indication that the Canucks are targeting the current TNT analyst to be their next head coach.

01/14/23: Bruce Boudreau has basically been on the hot seat since before the season started.  When the Canucks opted not to extend his contract last summer, it created a situation where he was entering his ‘lame duck’ year.  With a management team in place that inherited the veteran bench boss instead of hiring him, it felt it was going to be a year of uncertainty for the 68-year-old.

That’s exactly how things have played out.  Vancouver’s first half of the season was largely underwhelming with the team collecting just 37 points in their first 41 games and are well outside the playoff picture as things stand.  Between that and a perceived desire for management to hire their own coach, there has been an expectation of change basically all season long.

To that end, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in a recent appearance on The Jeff Marek Show (audio link) that the team had discussions with several coaches earlier in the season including Rick Tocchet but obviously, nothing materialized.  Friedman adds that the Canucks have since circled back and have re-engaged with Tocchet.  However, he cautioned that even with this report, a change isn’t likely imminent.

There’s certainly familiarity between Vancouver’s management group – led by GM Patrik Allvin and president Jim Rutherford – dating back to Tocchet’s time with Pittsburgh when he served as an assistant coach for three seasons, two of which saw the Penguins take home the Stanley Cup.

Tocchet also has parts of six seasons head coaching experience between Tampa Bay and Arizona, sporting a .475 points percentage.  That’s well below Boudreau’s career mark of .628 and even his points percentage with Vancouver which checks in at .566.  However, whether it’s Tocchet or someone else, it sure seems like a coaching change is going to be on the horizon at some point; it’s not a matter of if but rather when and who it will be.  Tocchet, currently an analyst for TNT, certainly appears to be garnering serious consideration for that spot whenever it’s made available.

Uncertainty Surrounding Tanner Pearson’s Ability To Play Next Season

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Yesterday, the Canucks announced that Tanner Pearson’s season has come to an end as the winger needed to undergo additional hand surgery.  It’s at least the second known procedure he has had while Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that it’s possible that he has had one or two other procedures on his hand with there being concerns of an infection and perhaps more surgeries to come.

At the moment, the expected recovery time from Pearson’s latest surgery is six months if all goes well.  However, Dhaliwal cautions that it’s possible that Pearson misses time next season or isn’t able to play at all should further surgeries be needed.  At this point, it appears to be too early to tell either way.

Speaking with reporters postgame yesterday including Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes voiced some frustration with how things were handled with Pearson, stating that “it wasn’t handled properly”.  Today, the NHLPA acknowledged to Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province that it’s looking into the matter but declined to comment any further than that.  MacIntyre adds that the Canucks themselves will conduct an investigation into their handling of the injury.  Team president Jim Rutherford stated the following:

We take the situation very seriously. We certainly have to look at everything here when something like this happens, and we’re going to continue to do that. We want to talk about what happened, the decisions that were made and why. We want everyone involved to have a say and be able to talk to each other and ask questions. That’s very important.

Pearson originally suffered the injury back in November and underwent surgery the next day with an expected recovery timeline of four to six weeks.  He had been skating periodically to keep up his conditioning with the expectation that he’d be back at that time or soon after.  Now, a little more than two months later, he’s facing a six-month recovery at a minimum in what appears to be the best-case scenario.

It’s hardly an ideal situation for anyone involved as Pearson wraps up his season with just a goal and four assists in 14 games, not a great return on his $3.25MM cap hit.  Some have suggested that Vancouver might want to consider buying out the 30-year-old but teams can’t buy out an injured player and with Pearson’s expected timeline, that puts him past the June buyout period.  Meanwhile, with now at least a bit of uncertainty of his availability for next season and the NHLPA taking a closer look at things, there are still plenty of questions to be answered on this front in the days and weeks to come.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Expected To Be Scratched

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When the Vancouver Canucks take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight, it appears as though they will have a $7.26MM defenseman sitting in the press box. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was with Kyle Burroughs on the fourth pairing at the morning skate according to Patrick Johnston of The Province, with Travis Dermott taking his place next to Tyler Myers.

Head coach Bruce Boudreau was asked directly about it, and said scratching Ekman-Larsson was “potentially true” though did then go on to call him “arguably [their] best defenseman.”

Ekman-Larsson, 31, has been dreadful this season for the Canucks, who have been outscored 44-34 at even strength with him on the ice. Those 44 goals against put him 7th-worst in the entire league among defensemen, and the worst on Vancouver in particular.

Since arriving from the Arizona Coyotes in a massive 2021 trade, his goal-scoring has also dried up. A two-time 20-goal scorer, Ekman-Larsson has just six in 119 games since joining Vancouver.

What has happened to the Canucks this season isn’t all his fault, but he is emblematic of the problem the team faces. They are not competitive, and yet have plenty of long-term, big-money contracts on the books. The $7.26MM for Ekman-Larsson isn’t even his full contract – the Coyotes retained $990K per season when they dealt him. It extends through 2026-27, and includes a full no-movement clause that he would have to waive again to orchestrate any kind of exit (other than a buyout, which currently would extend through 2031).

The Canucks have more than $69MM committed to just 14 players for next season. That does not include Bo Horvat or Andrei Kuzmenko, who are both pending unrestricted free agents.

Tanner Pearson Will Not Return This Season

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The Vancouver Canucks have some more disappointing news, announcing that Tanner Pearson suffered a setback in his recovery and needed a second hand surgery. He will miss the rest of the 2022-23 season.

It’s a season to forget for Pearson, who will end the year with just a single goal and five points. Through 14 games it was already evident that he wasn’t going to live up to the $3.25MM cap hit he carried, but at the very worst would be a reliable veteran piece for the bottom six.

Now, he very well could have played his last game in a Canucks uniform. Pearson’s seven-team no-trade clause will expire at the end of the season, meaning he no longer has any protection in his contract. If the team can’t find a taker, they could also choose a buyout, which would reduce his cap hit to $1.42MM for the 2023-24 season at the cost of a $917K penalty in 2024-25.

Of course, he needs to be healthy for the team to execute a buyout, meaning this hand surgery will have to go well for the team to have any chance of getting out from the last year of his deal.

Interestingly though, at 30 years old, Pearson may end up as a buy-low candidate in the offseason. It wasn’t working in Vancouver anymore and his currently salary makes him a difficult piece to build around, but at a lower cost, he could be a valuable depth piece. If he heals well this time, there could still be plenty of hockey left in the ten-year veteran, who scored 21 goals as recently as 2019-20.

For now, he can be moved to long-term injured reserve to give the team some extra cap flexibility if they end up needing it.

Patrik Allvin Meets With Aidan McDonagh

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Amid their up-and-down season on and off the ice thus far, eight points out of a playoff spot coming into today, unable to extend Bo Horvat, and listing only Elias Pettersson as “untouchable,” it appears the Vancouver Canucks need to start setting their eyes on the future. Part of that future is likely with Pettersson, as well as Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, and the recently-extended J.T. Miller, but will also come with their young prospects. One of those prospects, who has yet to sign with the team, is Northeastern University forward Aidan McDonagh.

The 23-year-old is finishing up his fourth season in the NCAA where he has 13 goals and 14 assists in just 20 games and is over a point-per-game during his four years. A 2019 seventh-round pick of the Canucks, Vancouver’s rights with McDonagh expire on August 15th. According to CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal, Vancouver GM Patrik Allvin was in Boston this weekend to meet with McDonagh. Per Dhaliwal, that meeting went very well, with Allvin laying out his plan for the player should he choose to sign. Despite the positive meeting, there is still no indication of how likely McDonagh is to sign with the team that drafted him.

Ethan Bear, Vancouver Canucks Expected To Discuss Extension

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  • Now that the calendar has been turned to 2023, players on one-year deals are eligible to sign extensions as Joe Pavelski did yesterday. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Ethan Bear and the Vancouver Canucks are expected to talk this week about a potential deal, though there is no guarantee a contract is signed so quickly. Bear has played well for the Canucks since they acquired him at the end of October from the Carolina Hurricanes, and is currently scheduled to become a restricted free agent when his one-year, $2.2MM deal expires.

Vancouver Canucks Recall William Lockwood, Reassign Nils Aman

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The Vancouver Canucks made a pair of corresponding transactions today, recalling right wing William Lockwood from the Abbotsford Canucks and sending down center Nils Aman.

Lockwood is having a strong season in the minors, notching 12 goals in 24 games with Abbotsford. It’s already a career-high in the AHL for him.

He’s played once in the NHL this season, registering an assist and a +1 rating in a November 15 win against the Buffalo Sabres. He could easily add to that total over the next few days as he battles with players like Sheldon Dries and Jack Studnicka for a spot in the lineup.

Aman had played in all 35 Canucks games up until this point in the season, so it’s surprising to see him sent down without much indication. A 22-year-old free agent signing out of Sweden, Aman impressed in training camp and has a goal and four assists so far in his young NHL career.

He heads to Abbotsford where he’ll get more ice time and a bit more offensive opportunity.

Calgary Flames Re-Assign Dennis Gilbert, Recall Radim Zohorna

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Dec 30, 11:13 am: Less than 24 hours later, Calgary has brought Zohorna back up to the roster from the Wranglers. Calgary plays tomorrow against the Vancouver Canucks.

Dec 29, 12:54 pm: The Calgary Flames, fresh off a win against the Seattle Kraken and headed home for a game on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, have sent two players to the minor leagues. Dennis Gilbert and Radim Zohorna have been assigned to the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL for the time being.

The moves will allow the Flames to bank a little more cap space over the next few days, as they continue to prepare for a trade deadline without much wiggle room.

Gilbert was only activated from injured reserve yesterday and has played just a single game for the Flames over the last month. The 26-year-old has one point in eight NHL appearances this season, averaging just over ten minutes a game.

Zohorna, meanwhile, went scoreless in his five games with the team earlier this month – all five of which the Flames ended up losing. The 26-year-old was nabbed off waivers at the beginning of the season from the Pittsburgh Penguins but hasn’t quite made the impact some expected.

It is very likely that at least one if not both will be back up when the Flames go on the road again next week.

Vancouver Canucks Activate Travis Dermott

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After recalling him from his conditioning loan two days ago, the Vancouver Canucks have activated defenseman Travis Dermott off of long-term injured reserve. (LTIR)

This activation puts Dermott in a position to make his season debut for Vancouver. The move puts eight defensemen now on the team’s active roster. Riley Stillman will likely come out of the lineup in favor of Dermott, landing Dermott on a pair with veteran Luke Schenn.

The Canucks acquired Dermott, 26, from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a trade last season. He played 17 games for the Canucks, scoring two points. He didn’t play a huge role in that time, featuring only sporadically on special teams while playing in just under 17 minutes a night.

Previously, Dermott had been seen as a promising young blueliner for the Maple Leafs, who picked him 34th overall at the 2015 draft. Injuries had been a consistent issue, though, and the most games played he’s registered in a season in his career has been 64.

With this activation from LTIR, Dermott will hope to remain healthy for an extended period. If he can match availability with quality play, he’ll put himself in a strong position for the summer, when he’ll be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent.

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