The big news of the morning is that the Anaheim Ducks have reclaimed the player they drafted, Emerson Etem, off the waiver wire this morning.
That triggered a subsequent move by the Ducks.
Etem was drafted in 2010, when Randy Carlyle was still coach of the Ducks, but the two would only have seen each other in training camps. Carlyle was into his second season in Toronto by the time Etem made his debut as a Duck during the 2012-13 season.
The move is good news for the family of the Long Beach native, who returns to Southern California with his brand new baby. The fact that he's replacing someone named Joseph Cramarossa on the roster says a lot about Anaheim's forward depth this season!
I wrote about this very topic yesterday for
Bleacher Report, in a piece on teams that I expect will decline this year. In addition to the fact that the Ducks replaced Bruce Boudreau with Carlyle and that restricted free agents Hampus Lindholm and Richard Rakell are both still unsigned (and Rakell is rehabbing from offseason surgery), Anaheim's forward ranks took a big hit with a number of UFAs not coming back after last season.
That's how Cramarossa—a 23-year-old third-round draft pick from 2011 who has never previously played an NHL game—cracked the roster in the first place. It won't take much for Etem to be an upgrade.
Etem was traded away from Anaheim during the summer of 2015, in exchange for a package that included the rights to Carl Hagelin. After scoring four goals in 43 games as a Duck, Hagelin was then moved to Pittsburgh in January for Adam Clendening and David Perron.
Hagelin, of course, went on to win a Stanley Cup as the "H" in Pittsburgh's famed HBK Line, while Perron was lost as a UFA last summer and Clendening was claimed off waivers before he even played a game in Anaheim. Not exactly stellar asset management, huh?
Etem will be the fourth ex-Canuck to join the Anaheim roster, along with Ryan Kesler, Kevin Bieksa and Mason Raymond, who was signed as a free agent during the summer and made the team as a third-line left wing. The Ducks kick off their season tonight in Dallas against the Stars.
One other bit of Canucks-related fallout from those Etem-related moves. Adam Clendening is now on his fifth team since being traded away from the Canucks during the summer of 2015 (if you count Anaheim and Montreal—he was briefly the property of both, but didn't play a game for them). Clendening finished out last season in Edmonton, then was signed as a UFA by the New York Rangers, where he has cracked the roster. Thanks to an injury to Kevin Klein, Clendening makes his official debut at Madison Square Garden on a second pairing with Brady Skjei.
Etem was waived in order to make room for PTO candidate Jack Skille. He's not at practice this morning—I suspect his paperwork wasn't completed in time, but the ink is now dry and he should be good to go.
Skille's deal, as expected, is for one year—a one-way contract for $700,000. For what it's worth, that's $75,000 less than Etem, who was inked for $775,000.
One other possible silver lining about Etem's waiver claim. It means the Canucks have one contract off their books, so they're still at 45/50 even now that Skille is signed.
With Skille absent from practice today, that leaves a spot for Jake Virtanen in the top 12. Some new-look lines!
Brendan Gaunce back on the wing, Markus Granlund back at centre and Bo Horvat in the middle on the fourth line—that's a lot to digest! Willie has been saying that he's pretty close to setting his lines, so it'll be interesting to see if this is what he uses on Saturday for the opener against Calgary.
Back on the blue line, the defense pairings are exactly as expected. In net, I'll guess that Ryan Miller will get the more glamourous season opener against the Flames, then Jacob Markstrom will face off—against his old buddy Eddie Lack?—when the Hurricanes roll into town on Sunday.
Wednesday night's NHL games involving the Canadian teams were certainly reminiscent of the goal-fests of the 1980s. I don't see any reason why the Canucks can't be competitive with those groups!
After a 7-4 loss to Edmonton, the Calgary Flames will host the Oilers on Friday night before visiting the Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday. Vancouver starts its year as a rested team against an opponent that has already taken a bunch of early body blows. That should bode well for a win, shouldn't it?
To finish off today, a note from the WHL. For the moment, it sounds like the Canucks' seventh-round draft pick Rodrigo Abols has become a man without a team.
Abols played 64 games with the Portland Winterhawks last season, but was waived by the team on Tuesday after playing two games.
Abols could land on a new junior team, or the Latvian might end up returning to Europe.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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