TSN's Darren Dreger welcomes us back from the long weekend with a pretty sure-fire tweet that Jim Benning will assume the general manager's position in Vancouver sometime this week:
Expect the Vancouver Canucks to finally name Jim Benning as their new GM later this week. Hiring coach will be next. Trotz high on the list.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 20, 2014It would be great if that part of the process can be complete and the team can start moving on to the other tasks at hand.
We can take it one step at a time as far as the coaching position is concerned. Barry Trotz is not the only name being bandied about this morning.
The Score reports that Bob McKenzie talked about the possibility of Doug Houda—currently an assistant in Boston—and that Dreger and Jason Botchford are floating the name of Texas Stars' head coach Willie Desjardins.
Houda's connection to Benning looks clear enough. Desjardins is linked to Glen Gulutzan from his time with the Dallas organization.
Ben Kuzma of The Province has the skinny on Desjardins here.
The Texas Stars are now through to the AHL's Western Conference Final against the Toronto Marlies, so Desjardins is still busy with work for the moment. Game 1 goes Friday.
The Canucks have not yet asked the Dallas Stars for permission to speak with Desjardins, but expectation is they will.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 20, 2014Canucks Sign Cederholm
The Canucks have just announced that defenseman Anton Cederholm has been signed. Drafted in the fifth round in 2013, Cederholm played an important role in the Portland Winterhawks' run to the WHL Championship before they eventually fell to the Edmonton Oil Kings. As such a late pick, I'm happy to see him in the mix as a prospect with potential. At 19, Cederholm has done more than expected this season—we'll have to wait to see if his growth continues.
London Knights Struggling at Memorial Cup
Bo Horvat's London Knights have had a tough time so far in the Memorial Cup tournament. The Knights have lost their first two games—1-0 to Val D'Or last Friday and 5-2 to Edmonton. They have one more game in the round robin—Wednesday against Guelph, which has already secured a spot in the finals after two decisive victories. Horvat is pointless in the tournament.
Canada Wins Group A at World Championships
The news from Minsk is better. Team Canada finished out its round robin with a 3-2 win over Norway, giving them top spot in Group A over Sweden on the basis of goal differential.
Canada went 5-1-1-0 in the round robin, and even the overtime loss to France doesn't look so embarrassing in hindsight—France is also advancing to the medal round.
Canada will play Finland on Thursday, who went 3-1-0-3 over in Group B. The Finns aren't scoring much, but the challenge will likely be solving Pekka Rinne, who has allowed 10 goals in six games so far.
Kevin Bieksa and Jason Garrison both wrap up the round robin with four points. Alex Burrows missed his second game on Tuesday against Norway with his charley horse, but there is hope that he'll be able to suit up against Finland.
As for the other Canucks: Sweden also advances, and Joacim Eriksson was solid in his lone appearance in net, a 5-1 win over Italy on Monday where he faced just 11 shots on goal.
The news is not so good for Denmark, who won't make the medal round after posting a 1-1-0-5 record. Jannik Hansen had two goals and two assists in about 18 minutes of ice time a game, while Nicklas Jensen had a goal and an assist in about 15 minutes a game.