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We've had so much news to digest over the past week, there hasn't been a whisper about what we should be expecting at the Canucks development camp, which is scheduled to start tomorrow over at Shawnigan Lake School on Vancouver Island.
I was Googling around this morning to see if I could find a roster or schedule for the proceedings. All I came up with was this:
I wonder if it was Tommy or Pam's idea to send their boys to a B.C. boarding school?
To me, this year's camp holds particular interest because the Canucks' moves over the past several days definitely pave the way for the kids to play a bigger role on the team next season.
Click here to review the roster list from 2014. Last year, at least, this camp was focused on kids with no pro hockey experience, so I wouldn't expect to see AHLers like Corrado or Clendening on the island this time around. We should get a first look at this year's crop of draft picks, as well as Canucks prospects like Subban, Cassels and McCann who played at the junior level last season.
Joey Kenward did a quick video interview with first-rounder Brock Boeser after the draft, if you'd like to get to know him a little better:
I'll go a bit deeper into Vancouver's other picks as the camp rolls on, when we start to see what they're all about.
I don't imagine that goalie-of-the-future Thatcher Demko will be around. He had surgery on both his hips in May.
#Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko ahead of schedule after hip surgery in May. He's off crutches and moving around at good pace.
— NEWS 1130 Sports (@NEWS1130Sports) June 15, 2015For now, let's take a moment to look at the sum total of the changes that Jim Benning has made to the Canucks since he took over as general manager in May of 2014. Here's what has happened to the players that were on the team's roster at that time:
Still on Roster:
Henrik Sedin Daniel Sedin Chris Higgins Jannik Hansen Alex Burrows
Alex Edler Dan Hamhuis Chris Tanev Yannick Weber Frank Corrado
Jacob Markstrom
Newly acquired:
Radim Vrbata Derek Dorsett Brandon Prust Nick Bonino Linden Vey Bo Horvat Ronalds Kenins
Luca Sbisa Matt Bartkowski Adam Clendening
Ryan Miller
Departed:
Ryan Kesler Zack Kassian Mike Santorelli Brad Richardson David Booth Tom Sestito Zac Dalpe Shawn Matthias Jordan Schroeder
Jason Garrison Kevin Bieksa Ryan Stanton
Eddie Lack
The Canucks also announced on Thursday that they've parted ways with three key management figures from the Mike Gillis era:
Laurence Gilman - vice president of hockey operations and assistant general manager Lorne Henning - assistant general manager Eric Crawford - director of player personnel
Sounds like, after a year of transition, Trevor Linden and Jim Benning are confident in the road map they've laid out and their plan to change the organization.
Here's Trevor Linden, talking about the team's moves on July 1:
Points of emphasis:
• Matt Bartkowski is "replacing Kevin." He's a "great skater who can transition the puck." • defense is going to be more mobile and younger
On the Kassian/Prust trade: • key was character, dependability, having players you can count on—Brandon fills that role • we've got a young group with Kenins, Baertschi, Vey, Horvat—every move can't be about getting younger • we've gotten younger, gotten quicker, but we've got to support those players as well
• nothing else is imminent; they've addressed what they wanted to address; for now, they're pretty much done
Jim Benning's media availability goes into a bit more depth, at just over 12 minutes. You can watch that here:
The success or failure of Benning's moves over the past few days won't depend so much on the returns he was able to garner over the past few days as it will on whether or not the young players are really ready to step up. The team has created the roster space to give those young players a real chance to contribute. It could make for some growing pains in 2015-16, but hopefully the rebuild will pay dividends before too long.