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Vancouver Canucks Loan Karel Plasek To HC Olomouc

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Last month, the Vancouver Canucks activated Karel Plasek from the season-opening injured reserve and sent him to the minor leagues. In the time since he hasn’t played a single game for the Abbotsford Canucks. Now, the team has announced that Plasek will be loaned to HC Olomouc of the Czech league for the rest of the season.

Plasek, 22, signed a three-year entry-level contract with the team in 2021 and has just eight games played in North America – with zero points. He missed almost all of last season due to injury and is now heading back overseas. That makes for a tough few years since being a sixth-round pick in the 2019 draft, though perhaps with increased ice time at home he’ll be able to get his development back on track.

Selected 175th overall, it was somewhat surprising that Plasek even earned an entry-level deal with the Canucks, given how little he showed at the professional level in Czechia. The forward had just ten points in 44 games during his final season with Brno Kometa and hasn’t stood out at either of the World Juniors that he took part in. While offensive production isn’t everything, there’s a long way to go before he’s pushing for a spot with the Canucks at this point.

Signed through 2023-24, perhaps he’ll be back with Abbotsford next season. For now, he can focus on getting back in game shape overseas.

Canucks Notes: Schenn, Dermott, Brunette

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The Vancouver Canucks won last night against the Buffalo Sabres, hanging on for a 5-4 win despite being outshot 15-5 in the third period. While Bo Horvat led the way again with three points, it was Luke Schenn who received the team’s victory belt in the dressing room. Today, when speaking about the veteran defenseman, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV explained that he expects the Canucks to get plenty of calls about Schenn as the trade deadline approaches.

The Canucks could talk with Schenn’s agent along with a trade partner to see if he’s a rental or a re-signing. Don’t believe they’ve talked to his agent yet about a new deal. Last year’s deadline, the Canucks got a ton of calls on Schenn. They’re going to get a ton of calls on Schenn again, this is a player that is coveted. I’m already hearing about Schenn and some teams. 

The 33-year-old defenseman leads the league in hits by a wide margin, racking up 76 through 17 games while logging over 17 minutes of ice time for the Canucks each night. No Vancouver player has seen the ice more while short-handed, and as a right-shot defenseman with Stanley Cup experience, it’s easy to see why he might be valued by contenders. The fact that he makes just $850K against the cap only helps.

  • While Schenn’s leadership in the room might not be what the Canucks want to give up, they do have a bit of a roster crunch coming. As Dhaliwal goes on to say, Travis Dermott will be returning at some point – potentially in the near future – giving the team nine NHL defensemen. Already the Canucks are scratching names like Riley Stillman and Jack Rathbone, meaning a trade might end up making sense much sooner than the deadline.
  • Even though they did win, there’s still plenty of speculation on the future of head coach Bruce Boudreau. This morning, Darren Dreger of TSN reported that the Canucks spoke with Andrew Brunette before he joined the New Jersey Devils as an assistant this summer. Interestingly, he also pointed out that Brunette actually has a clause in his current deal that would allow him to “entertain outside interest for head coaching vacancies.” Brunette went 51-18-6 with the Florida Panthers as a first-time head coach after Joel Quenneville resigned.

Jack Studnicka Placed On Injured Reserve

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The Vancouver Canucks, fresh off another defeat on Sunday, have moved Jack Studnicka to injured reserve and recalled William Lockwood from the minor leagues. Studnicka joins Tanner Pearson, Curtis Lazar, Tucker Poolman, and Travis Dermott (and Micheal Ferland) on various types of IR for the Canucks, who can’t even stay healthy enough to have a chance of turning their season around.

Studnicka, 23, was acquired from the Boston Bruins earlier this season and inserted directly into the lineup, but certainly hasn’t turned out to be much of a difference-maker. The young forward has two points in seven games, while averaging just over ten minutes a game. On Sunday against his former team, he took a minor penalty and failed to register a shot on goal in 11:14 of ice time.

It’s hard to build any momentum with a new team if you are on the sideline just a few games into your new opportunity. This injury comes at a bad time for Studnicka, though it is not clear how long he’ll be out.

In his place comes Lockwood, a player that has had his own trouble taking advantage of NHL opportunities. Through 15 career games, he has failed to register a single point. The 24-year-old was selected in the third round in 2016 and has five goals in ten AHL games this season.

Tanner Pearson Placed On Injured Reserve

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7:30 PM: The team announced that Pearson has undergone successful hand surgery and that he will miss the next four to six weeks.

2:30 PM: The Vancouver Canucks have placed Tanner Pearson on injured reserve after leaving last night’s game. The team did not give any indication of how long he will be out but has recalled Sheldon Dries in his place.

There are likely Canucks fans out there excited about getting Pearson out of the lineup, given how poorly he has played so far this season. The 30-year-old has just one goal so far and has taken eight minor penalties, many of which have come in the offensive zone. The team has been outscored 13-6 with him on the ice at 5v5, and he has generated just 17 shots on goal in 14 games.

That kind of performance from a player that is supposed to be one of the team’s veteran leaders has been disappointing, and now he ends up on the sideline for a stretch. After calming some of the chaos around the team with a few good efforts, a 5-2 loss against the Montreal Canadiens has frustration building again in Vancouver.

Dries, 28, has actually played four games for the Canucks this year, registering a single point. The minor league veteran will likely bounce back and forth throughout the season, filling in whenever necessary but rarely playing long stretches.

Vancouver Canucks Activate Brock Boeser

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The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday afternoon that winger Brock Boeser has been activated from injured reserve. In a corresponding transaction, forward Sheldon Dries has been assigned to AHL Abbotsford.

Boeser has missed the team’s last six games with a hand injury. In that span, the team has gone 3-2-1, rebounding somewhat from an 0-4-2 start. Prior to his injury, Boeser tallied four assists in six games while averaging 16:39 of ice time per game. In his return to the lineup tonight against the Ottawa Senators, Boeser is expected to slot in on a line alongside Tanner Pearson and J.T. Miller.

Dries returns to the minors after playing four games in Boeser’s absence. The 28-year-old AHL veteran registered an assist in his season debut against Seattle on October 27, but failed to register a point in his following three appearances. He returns to Abbotsford as one of their top players, registering four points through his two appearances there this season. He’s coming off a 2021-22 campaign in the AHL where he registered 62 points in 54 games.

Jim Rutherford Speaks On Team Direction

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The Vancouver Canucks have been the center of significant attention early in this NHL season. They were the last team to earn their first win of the campaign, and they now sit 27th in the league standings with just three wins in a year where the franchise added Ilya Mikheyev and Andrei Kuzmenko with the intention of making the playoffs. It could take longer for the Canucks to reach true contention than they may have believed it would this summer, and that fact has forced the team’s front office to ponder a possible change of course.

In conversation with Dan Riccio and Satiar Shah on Sportsnet 650, as relayed by Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff, Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford shed some more light on the organization’s current mindset. Rutherford mentioned that the team’s goal heading into next offseason would be to clear some major contracts off the team’s books in order to get the necessary cap space to make moves. That goal may be motivated by the Canucks’ desire to retain their captain Bo Horvat beyond this season. Horvat is a pending unrestricted free agent and could be seeking a contract in line with other top-six centers, meaning at or above a $7MM AAV.

  • Calgary Flames defenseman Chris Tanev has now missed three straight games with an injury, something that has concerned those who remember Tanev’s repeated struggles to remain fully healthy as a member of the Canucks. Tanev has been remarkably healthy as a member of the Flames, though, and it appears that Tanev’s injury may not be a major setback. Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson reports that Tanev’s injury is not related to the shoulder he had surgically repaired this summer, which is good news for the Flames, who rely on Tanev as a key defensive contributor.

No Progress In Talks Between Horvat, Canucks

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It was not long ago that, with as many question marks as there were around the Vancouver Canucks, the obvious answer was an extension for team captain Bo Horvat. Whether or not players like J.T. Miller or Brock Boeser were or were not traded or if head coach Bruce Boudreau would be brought back for this season, a Horvat extension always seemed to be a given. Now, after extensions for Miller and Boeser, the free agent signing of Ilya Mikheyev, and the Canucks’ rocky start to the season, with no extension in place for the captain, things appear more uncertain than they’ve ever been for Horvat and Vancouver.

On tonight’s 32 Thoughts segment of Hockey Night In Canada, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reiterated the story on Horvat: the needle has not moved at all in negotiations. Marek further emphasized the curiosity as to what the organization will ultimately do with Horvat. On one hand, the reunion between both sides appears to be a perfect match and as much as the Canucks have struggled to start the season, Horvat with his 10 goals in 11 games, has not. Still, the more the veteran continues to score, the higher he drives his price. With Miller and Boeser now in place, if the price becomes higher than Vancouver wishes to pay, or simply can pay, the decision might be made for them. And, should Vancouver struggle or fail to make up the ground they lost, Horvat’s trade value may be enough to dissuade them from pursuing an extension in the first place.

Latest On Brock Boeser, Travis Dermott

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As the Vancouver Canucks continue to rally back from an awful start, their team health is improving along with their play. While the jury remains out on how long they can consistently string together wins, the team is indeed getting healthier and will get even closer to full strength soon.

Head coach Bruce Boudreau said today that he doesn’t think forward Brock Boeser will play tomorrow, but he’s just day-to-day as he waits for a re-opened scar on his hand to close. He also said that it’s possible defenseman Travis Dermott, who’s yet to play this season with a concussion, will rejoin the team for their road trip next week to make his season debut.

Boeser had four points in six games to begin the season, but he hasn’t played since October 24 with the previously undisclosed injury. Nils Hoglander currently sits in the team’s top six in his absence, and the young Swede has been limited to just one assist in eight games.

Dermott’s concussion has kept him out on a week-to-week basis, and he could solidify what’s looking like a much-improved Canucks defense when healthy with his return. The acquisitions of Ethan Bear and a healthy Dermott go a long way toward improving the team’s depth, and the Canucks are hoping that it can help them erase the bad taste of their 0-5-2 start.

 

Vancouver Canucks Activate Quinn Hughes, Riley Stillman

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The Vancouver Canucks today activated both Quinn Hughes and Riley Stillman from injured reserve, according to the team. It’s a huge boost for a team finally gaining momentum after a horrid start.

Hughes is expected to draw into the lineup tonight when the Canucks host the Devils, while Stillman is expected to be a healthy scratch to make way for Ethan Bear’s Vancouver debut. Hughes had five points through his first five games this season, but he’d missed the team’s last four games with an undisclosed injury.

The oldest of the Hughes trio is expected to suit up on a pairing with Luke Schenn in his return to the lineup.

Stillman, on the other hand, is yet to register a point through five contests and is averaging just 12:36 per game after being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Jason Dickinson. Dickinson has six points through his first seven games in Chicago.

The Canucks are still without Brock Boeser, Travis Dermott, and Tucker Poolman due to injury. However, things are looking up for Boeser’s recovery, and he could return as soon as this week.

Guillaume Brisebois Assigned To AHL

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With Ethan Bear on the way in and Quinn Hughes nearing a return, the Vancouver Canucks have assigned Guillaume Brisebois to the AHL. The move comes directly after the best game of Brisebois’ career, which included his first NHL point – an assist on J.T. Miller’s empty-net goal.

Brisebois, 25, played nearly 19 minutes in the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and legitimately looked like he could handle himself at the NHL level. If that’s true, it’s a nice place for the Canucks to be in, considering how thin their defensive depth looked just a few days ago. The team now has two-straight wins after their brutal start and things have calmed down in the Vancouver market (for the time being).

Hughes was on the ice at practice yesterday, and told reporters including Ben Kuzma of The Province that he would likely would have played if the team had games Sunday or today. Instead, the group is set to take on his brother Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night.

Bear, too, joined the group yesterday after his acquisition from the Carolina Hurricanes and appears ready to get into the lineup. The 25-year-old defenseman hasn’t played a game yet this season after scoring 14 points in 58 appearances last year.

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