Tuesday was William Lockwood's turn in the spotlight at the Vancouver Canucks Development Camp.
Lockwood was ranked 108th among North American skaters heading into the draft by
Central Scouting, a drop from his midterm rank of No. 69. As such, he didn't even attend the draft, according to
this article from Iain MacIntyre at the
Vancouver Sun.
But the Canucks went out on a limb to select him with the 64th pick in the draft—early in the third round. And since that was just the second selection made by Vancouver, perhaps he gets a little more attention right now than most players in his situation.
Lockwood turned 18 just a week before the draft. He's listed at a slight 5'11" and 172 pounds, but put up 27 penalty minutes along with his three goals and six points in 20 games with the U.S. National Under-18 Team last season, one of the higher totals on the team. His biggest strength, however, is said to be his skating.
Lockwood also answered questions from fans on Twitter on Tuesday.
According to MacIntyre, Jim Benning compares Lockwood's "edgy" game to that of Jannik Hansen.
“I like his speed and I think he’s got a bigger offensive upside than he has shown,” Trevor Linden told MacIntyre. “But I like that he has a hardness about him, too. He can skate and he likes to hit. He comes across as a really nice, polite kid, but he plays aggressive. In our interview, he just had a way about him that I liked. He’s the kind of kid who’s going to find a way to play.”
Lookwood is a Michigan native. His father, Joe, played hockey at the University of Michigan and in the IHL with Kalamazoo before becoming a mortgage broker. His mom was a competitive swimmer in college, and is now a law school professor. William will be following his parents to Michigan in the fall for his first season of NCAA hockey.
In another article, MacIntyre praises 2015 draft picks Lukas Jasek, Guillaume Brisebois and Dmitry Zhukenov for their play at Shawnigan Lake. In addition to being a year further along in their development, they're now well past the stresses of being drafted and can stay focused on building their hockey careers.
MacIntyre calls Jasek "dynamic" and says, "The 2015 sixth-rounder looks quick and strong with the puck, which is important because his weight is listed as only 165 pounds."
Linden Vey Signs With Flames
Another ex-Canuck is off to a new home.
That's a pretty significant pay cut from the $1 million, one-way contract Vey played with last year on the Vancouver Canucks—and, of course, he'll need to clear waivers if he gets sent down to the AHL.
Vey is being listed as a right wing, which means he currently falls behind Troy Brouwer, Michael Frolik and Alex Chiasson at the position on the team's depth chart. That's a wildly re-worked right side for the Flames, who are clearing cap space so they can re-sign star RFAs Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
Vey's signing continues the trend for the Canucks' UFAs, who will all make less money at their new jobs than they did in Vancouver. Dan Hamhuis dropped from $4.5 million to $3.75 million, while Yannick Weber went from $1.5 million to $575,000.
Here's what's up with a couple of other former Canucks, who will be suiting up in Europe next year:
Now 28, Sanguinetti was a first-round draft pick of the New York Rangers back in 2006—selected one spot before Claude Giroux!
Arbitration Implications
On Tuesday, the list of players who have elected to file for salary arbitration was announced.
Arbitration hearings will be scheduled between July 20 and August 4. Teams and players will have up until their meetings begin to try to come to terms on a deal—or to make a trade.
However, once an RFA files for arbitration, he can no longer sign an offer sheet with another team.
General Fanager offers a handy page that lists the players, their previous contracts, and any updates on their status. As a matter of fact, one player is already off the arbitration list—Detroit has agreed to a deal with goaltender Jared Coreau.
As the Canucks have been taking care of business with their RFAs, they have no players headed down the arbitration road. The side effect of that—they lose the opportunity to make future moves during the NHL's second buyout window in August.
Welcome back for another season, Alex Burrows!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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