After such a tough 2015-16 season for the Vancouver Canucks and their fans, I was not expecting to see any team representation during Wednesday night's NHL Awards.
With that mindset, I was pretty thrilled to see young Jacob Tremblay repping in his Canucks jersey when he kicked off the show by presenting the Calder Trophy to Artemi Panarin. The nine-year-old Vancouver actor was nominated for an Oscar last year for his performance in the gut-wrenching "Room."
I was even more pleasantly surprised when Henrik Sedin was announced as the winner of the King Clancy Trophy.
Per NHL.com, "The King Clancy Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.
"The winner is chosen by select members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association and the NHL Broadcasters' Association."
Henrik's win comes after fellow Swede Henrik Zetterberg took home the award in 2015. No player has ever won the trophy twice; Trevor Linden is the other Canuck who has been honoured, back in 1997.
Here's a quick look at some of Henrik's community activities:
Click here to read the press release outlining Henrik's many accomplishments on and off the ice. He and Daniel don't get much notice for their creation of the Sedin Family Foundation a couple of years ago, but the Foundation has been launching programs and making a difference for kids out in the community.
It was a bit surreal to see who presented the award, but I think Henrik made the most of the moment when he name-checked the past leaders who set the standard in Vancouver: Stan Smyl, Orland Kurtenbach, Trevor and Markus Naslund.
Now—back to the draft and player personnel matters at hand.
Here's Jim Benning in Buffalo on Thursday, in what's being called his final media availability before the draft:
Key points:
• "As of right now, I'd say that we're keeping the pick and we're going to make the pick at five."
• On Milan Lucic: "He'd be a guy that we have interest in." After talks broke off between Lucic and the Kings on Wednesday, Dean Lombardi said that other teams were welcome to start speaking with Lucic before the interview window officially opens on Saturday, but Benning says he's not going to do anything until after the draft is complete; they'll start working on free agency on Sunday.
• On expansion, which is now official, he doesn't see any problems with the upcoming expansion draft or salary-cap situations.
• "It seems like the two hardest things to do right now are to move money—existing contracts—and to get extra draft picks." Sounds like he hasn't had any luck convincing other teams to possibly acquire Alex Burrows and/or Chris Higgins. Benning says buyout situation is fluid and they'll make decisions after the draft.
• On replacing Glen Gulutzan, Benning says he and Willie have put together a list of people they'd like to interview for the position. The interview process will start in Buffalo on Friday morning and continue into next week. He says they'll figure it out as a management team. He wants to have someone in place within 7-10 days.
One other tidbit that has come out today. It's official: Radim Vrbata, Yannick Weber and Matt Bartkowski won't be back next season.
not a huge surprise but Benning confirms #Canucks have told Vrbata, Bartkowski & Weber they will be UFA on July 1
It sounds like Lucic's agent is comfortable, also, taking a bit of time to get his client's situation sorted out, though he does mention that he'll speak with Benning during draft weekend.
Johannson : "Nothing has changed for us, not one thing." This despite getting permission to talk with teams about Lucic. #Canucks
— NEWS 1130 Sports (@NEWS1130Sports) June 23, 2016
Here's the latest on Eriksson:
JP Barry expected to meet with Bruins GM, Don Sweeney tonight on Loui Eriksson. Bruins stuck on 4 yrs. Eriksson wants 6. Likely UFA. Van?
I'm sure teams are calling, but I'd be amazed if the Canadiens end up moving him. I think he'll stay right where he is.
The only big move of the last 24 hours was the Florida Panthers inking Keith Yandle to a seven-year deal with a cap hit of $6.35 million per season. As with Alex Goligoski, I'm a little surprised that Yandle didn't wait to see if he could do even better, but that's big money and big term—from a financial standpoint, I doubt that he could have done much better.
The deal makes 29-year-old Yandle the 13th-highest-paid defenceman in the league, per General Fanager—and gives us some idea what the top targets are commanding in the marketplace—without bidding wars. Yes, the positions are different, but does this give us a sense of what Lucic and Eriksson's agents will be asking for next week?
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