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Memorial Cup Final, Draft Combine, Canucks angling to host 2019 draft?

May 28, 2017, 2:54 PM ET [482 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Stanley Cup Final kicks off on Monday, but today's featured hockey game could be of more interest to Canucks fans.

The Erie Otters and Windsor Spitfires will square off at 4 p.m. PT, with television coverage on Sportsnet. As mentioned when these teams met in the round robin a few days ago, the matchup is intriguing for Canucks fans for a few reasons:

• Vancouver free-agent signee Jalen Chatfield is performing well on the blue line for Windsor—pointless, but playing solid defense on a host team that went undefeated against the champions of all three Canadian junior leagues in the round robin.

• Impending free-agent Darren Raddysh is having a heckuva tournament for Erie. With four goals and seven points, he leads all defensemen in scoring. He feasted on the Saint John Sea Dogs, collecting four points in the round-robin game, then another goal and assist in Friday's semifinal. The Canucks are among a group of teams that are said to be interested in signing the undrafted 20-year-old defenseman after his season wraps up tonight.

• Windsor's coach Rocky Thompson is also on the Canucks' radar—most likely as a candidate to take over the vacant head-coaching job in Utica, but perhaps as an assistant in Vancouver. Again, Vancouver is not the only team interested in his services. He has done a tremendous job of getting his Spitfires to the championship game and will earn even more praise if Windsor can beat Erie for a second time to capture the Memorial Cup.

After the tournament wraps up, it's straight on to the Draft Combine, which kicks off on Monday in Buffalo.




The early part of the week will be taken up with player interviews. With 106 players invited to the event, it'll take awhile for them all to see every interested team.

“We know what the players can do on the ice, but we really value character a lot and we want to make sure we get to players and get to what makes them tick," Canucks general manager Jim Benning told Ben Kuzma. “What motivates them and how bad do they want to win?"

As far as what gets positive marks in those interviews? “I want kids to be honest and truthful,” Benning said.

“One question I like to ask is: ‘If we were to go and ask your teammates what type of teammate you are, what would they tell us?’ Then they’ve got to think for a second. They can’t say something that’s not true because we could go and actually ask their teammates and get the answer.

“If a kid comes across as too cocky or too full of himself and if there’s another player you like more with a better personality and who would interact better in a team environment, then you take him.”

Benning's focus, not surprisingly, is on centres and power-play quarterbacks:

“When I look at our team, I see that playmaking centre point-producer as a hole to fill and the other is a pure power-play defenceman who can shoot the puck from the point.”

I expect we'll see some interview clips of the top prospects floating around over the next few days. The real fun comes on Saturday, when the players go through their fitness testing.

Looking down the road to future drafts, Jeff Paterson is reporting that the Canucks are interested in playing host in 2019, kicking off the team's 50th anniversary season.




Vancouver has hosted the draft twice before. In 2006, David Nonis presided over the choice of Michael Grabner with the 14th pick in a strange draft that was headlined by Erik Johnson at No. 1 and Jordan Staal at No. 2, but saw Jonathan Toews go to Chicago with the third pick, Nicklas Backstrom to Washington with the fourth and Phil Kessel with the fifth.

Further down, Claude Giroux was taken 22nd, Nick Foligno was 28th, Milan Lucic was 50th and Brad Marchand was taken 71st.

Despite his up-and-down career, Grabner's 213 points in 473 career games ranks him 19th in career scoring in his draft class, just behind Erik Johnson and ahead of Cal Clutterbuck.

Vancouver also hosted the 1990 draft at B.C. Place. Selecting second overall, the Canucks took Petr Nedved, who had a complicated career in Vancouver and eventually demanded a trade during the 1993-94 season. Vancouver also had a second pick later in the first round and selected Shawn Antoski at 18.

Players they missed with their first pick? Keith Primeau at three, Mike Ricci at four...and Jaromir Jagr, at five!

The two players drafted immediately after Antoski? Keith Tkachuk at 19 and Martin Brodeur at 20.

Further down, Doug Weight was selected 34th, Slava Kozlov was 45th, Sergei Zubov was 85th and Peter Bondra went 156th!

To wrap up today, a quick note on offer sheets.

This doesn't warrant a lot of attention since it barely ever happens—the last restricted free agent to sign an offer sheet was Ryan O'Reilly, in that misguided move by the Calgary Flames in February of 2013. Luckily for the Flames, their offer was matched by the Colorado Avalanche before O'Reilly was eventually traded to Buffalo—otherwise the Flames would almost certainly have lost their player when he went through waivers to come back into the NHL after playing in Europe.

It's been 10 years since a player signed an offer sheet and moved to a new team. That was Dustin Penner, signing with Edmonton fresh off his Stanley Cup win in Anaheim in 2007.

It's unlikely that we'll see any offer sheets happen with RFAs this summer but if they do, Elliotte Friedman laid out the compensation structure that would be in effect if a team didn't match the offer and retain its player in his 30 Thoughts column this week.




Let the fantastical proposals begin!
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