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Vancouver Canucks sign Swedish defenseman Philip Holm |
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Looks like we now know who Jim Benning and scout Lars Lindgren were targetting during the World Championship.
The Canucks have just announced that they've signed Swedish defenseman Philip Holm to a one-year entry-level contract.
Holm is a 25-year-old left-shot blueliner who played the role of seventh defenseman on the deep Swedish blue line at the worlds. Listed on the Team Sweden roster at 6'2" and 194 pounds, he was 1-2-3 and a plus-three in the games he dressed for, despite playing very limited minutes—he averaged 4:41 of ice time per game. His goal was the game-winner in the Swedes' 8-1 win over Italy.
Earlier today, word came out from a Swedish source that the Canucks and Blackhawks were the two teams in the running to sign Holm. It didn't take long for Vancouver to come out on top.
“Philip is a mobile, two-way defenceman who adds depth to our blueline,” said Jim Benning in the Canucks' press release. “He made strides in his development last season with Vaxjo and played a strong series with Sweden at the World Championships. We’re pleased to welcome him to the Canucks organization.”
Holm played just 18 seconds in Sweden's three games in the knockout round—benched completely in the quarterfinal against Switzerland and the gold-medal game against Canada, and he got one 18-second shift in the third-period of the 4-1 semifinal win over Finland, when the game was in the bag.
Still, this year marked Holm's first-ever appearance with the Swedish National Team, and he earned a spot on a very deep defense corps. The invitation came after a breakout season in his first year with Vaxjo HC of the Swedish League, where he had four goals and 21 points in 52 games, finishing just behind Ville Leino in the team standings.
Holm will help add to the Canucks' defensive depth after the team lost Nikita Tryamkin and Philip Larsen from the main club and Chad Billins from the Utica Comets earlier in the offseason.
Another note today about one of the Canucks' late-season free-agent signings:
Shore was signed by the Canucks on March 12 and recorded two assists in the final 14 games of the season. To his credit, Shore was one of the few Canucks who managed to dress for every possible game—no small feat on last year's club!
Rick Dhaiwal reported that the Canucks did have some talks about Shore earlier this month.
Shore was a stop-gap signing late in the season—a player the Canucks could bring in without having to make more call-ups from Utica while the Comets pushed for their playoff spot. Considering the collection of bottom-six RFAs they have to choose from, it's not surprising that some won't be brought back. Good luck to Shore if he does choose to return to Switzerland.
The Canucks are holding their pro scouting meetings this week, but Jim Benning took some time out on Thursday to talk to Ben Kuzma about his plans for next season.
He basically reiterates some familiar themes—he wants to re-sign Ryan Miller and has no plans to move Chris Tanev...or, since he's now in the trade conversations, Alex Edler.
Though the Canucks have now acknowledged that they're rebuilding and working to bring in young players, Benning is still banging the "competitive" drum.
“As we’re transitioning these young players into our lineup, I feel that if we have solid goaltending on a night-to-night basis, we can be competitive,” Benning told Kuzma.
“There’s no worse feeling than trying to develop young players and get them up and going when you know you don’t have a chance to win.”
Kuzma suggests that the Dallas Stars would be willing to give up their third-overall pick in this year's draft for a player like Tanev.
“I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t listen and see if it (trade) is worth it, but it’s hard to find good defencemen,” said Benning. “Especially defencemen who are mobile and move the puck. I’m not shopping Tanev or bringing his name up in conversations with other GMs. They bring up his name.
“Unless it would make sense for our future, I’m not trading Chris. He means so much to our team. And we’re not looking to do anything with Alex (Edler).”
Over the past three years, we've seen Benning make similar statements before moving out players like Kevin Bieksa and Alex Burrows, so I don't take this as a hard no. Now that we're into the Stanley Cup Final and only a few weeks away from the expansion draft, the tradewinds will start to blow more strongly.
A reminder—the expansion draft will take place on the same night as the NHL Awards this year—June 21. Teams will be required to submit their protected lists on June 17, the lists will be released to teams and the public the next day, then the Golden Knights will submit their choices on June 20th for announcement at the event the following night.
If the Stanley Cup Final goes seven games, the last game would be played on June 14. Once the trophy is awarded, I expect we'll see all hell break loose in terms of player movement around the league.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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