We have just one more day to wait until the 2016-17 NHL season begins but as Canucks fans, we won't see our boys in game action until they host the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
The team will make up for the late start by the end of the month, though. Vancouver plays nine games in 15 nights—all at home except for a quick weekend trip down to Southern California for back-to-backs against the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks.
In
this article the
The Province, Ben Kuzma suggests that heavy early schedule factored into the decision to assign Troy Stecher to Utica.
In his college career at North Dakota, Stecher played only about 40 games a season, primarily on weekends, so diving into his pro career with six games on the first nine nights could have been a very big ask.
“He had good camp, did everything we asked and it surprised me how well he played,” coach Willie Desjardins said to Kuzma about Stecher. “I knew he could play in the NHL, but I didn’t know he’d be this close right away. But the biggest thing, is you try to set guys up to succeed. We have a heavy schedule to start and I don’t know if that would be setting him up to succeed. He’s used to two (college) games and a week off.
“If things go south on him early, maybe it affects him for a while. We’ll see him up here again.”
Next—five players did get selected off the waiver wire today.
There was some talk that the Canucks should have gone after Teemu Pulkkinen, the Detroit Red Wings winger known for his slick shot. He was claimed by Minnesota, so the Canucks had a crack at him—as did 12 other teams that finished below the Wild in the standings.
I was intrigued by this comment from Ray Ferraro—who's typically a great judge of talent and who had plenty of occasion to watch the Red Wings while he son Landon was a prospect there.
Ferraro's tweet was in response to this comment by Patrick O'Sullivan:
Ferraro went on to say that he wouldn't necessarily bypass Pulkkinen, as a player can improve his skating. But it seems the Canucks brass are happy enough with the players they have in the mix that they didn't think Pulkkinen would be a worthwhile reclamation project—especially since he'd have to stay up at the NHL level.
I think (hope?) this also means that the prognosis isn't tooooo bad for Anton Rodin.
“That (LTIR) is a consideration and I feel there’s no reason bringing him back until he’s 100 per cent,” Desjardins told Kuzma about Rodin, who is still having lingering issues from that knee injury he suffered last January. “He’s a quick player and didn’t show it in camp and you have to wonder about his leg. It’s one thing to say it may have felt good, but it’s another when you don’t have the jump.”
My read on that comment is that they believe that Rodin is on the cusp of being able to play, but the team has enough options up front that there's no harm in being cautious.
So—that leaves incumbents Jake Virtanen and Brendan Gaunce, and PTO candidate Jack Skille fighting for the last two spots at forward.
Willie gave Alex Burrows a vote of confidence, reminding Kuzma that he's a key penalty killer and defensive player.
But do Virtanen, Gaunce or Emerson Etem fit this description? "I want a 13th forward who’s good defensively, won’t get scored on and won’t disrupt team by complaining he’s the 13th guy."
That comment from Desjardins might explain this, hot off the press from practice this morning:
One more tidbit to chew on:
And one final wrinkle. Where's Emerson Etem?
Stay tuned!
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