Defenseman Andrey Pedan is the latest member of the Vancouver Canucks organization to be placed on waivers before the team is required to submit its opening roster to the NHL on Tuesday.
Ben Kuzma at
The Province called Pedan's demotion "a good thing."
Pedan was pointless in four pre-season games, but what the Canucks like is that the 6-foot-5, 213 pound blueliner showed up in great shape. He played a simple and smart game to get pucks out of his own zone and his positional play improved. He also didn’t take big chances to deliver big hits in the neutral zone to put himself out of position.
As I mentioned in Sunday's blog, Pedan spent a good part of last spring in Travis Green's doghouse in Utica, earning himself frequent healthy scratches. Even if he didn't make the final cut with the Canucks this time around, he has taken a step forward by showing Green that his game has improved.
If Pedan can deliver consistent play in Utica, that could help him earn the first call-up when defensive injuries inevitably arise—and possibly even get him into the lineup instead of just sitting in the press box. Last year, he was recalled three times by the Canucks but didn't dress for a single game.
The Canucks are on the ice for practice this morning at Rogers Arena. Here's how the remaining eight defensemen are being deployed.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is how the team starts the season next Saturday—with pairs of Edler/Tanev, Del Zotto/Gudbranson and Hutton/Stecher, then Wiercicoch and Biega as the extras.
There's nothing definite yet on where Olli Juolevi will play this season. That needs to be cleared up soon.
Juolevi has taken quite a bit of heat for not being NHL ready, but here's another illustration that defensemen develop at different rates. Despite being outstanding with Team Canada at last year's World Juniors, 2015 draftee Thomas Chabot was a late cut by the Ottawa Senators even though it had been widely assumed that he'd earn a spot out of camp. Instead, it's 18-year-old Alex Formenton, a second-rounder from 2017 and a teammate of Juolevi's from the London Knights, who's still in the running to earn a roster spot.
Another Juolevi teammate, Victor Mete, may also make the cut in Montreal. Like Juolevi, he's 19—but he was taken 100th overall in 2016. It'll be fascinating to see how both those players fare this season if they stay in the bigs.
Up front with the Canucks—Jayson Megna and Michael Chaput have both cleared waivers. So did everyone else around the league from Sunday's group. Like last season, they'll start the year in Utica.
Sven Baertschi and Bo Horvat are both back at practice today, taking a regular rotation. Henrik Sedin is absent—I'd guess that with five days until their first game, he's taking a little time off to heal his face after taking that high stick from Jussi Jokinen in the third period on Saturday.
Nothing carved in stone here. Care to read the tea leaves?
Here's how things stand if Horvat, Baertschi and Henrik are all ready to start the season on Saturday:
• 13 healthy forwards on roster - Baertschi, Boeser, Burmistrov, Dorsett, Eriksson, Gagner, Granlund, Horvat, Daniel, Henrik, Sutter, Vanek, Virtanen
• 2 forwards on injured list - Brendan Gaunce and Cole Cassels
I found
this handy injury chart at the CBC website yesterday, which has more info than I've seen anywhere else about Cassels.
"Cassels has an injury to his arm and will likely need an extended absence to recover."
Because the injury happened while he was in training camp, Cassels will stay with the Canucks until he's healthy. I believe that also means he earns the NHL salary off his two-way contract while he's on the injured list.
As we have heard before, the CBC chart projects that Gaunce will be sidelined "until at least the beginning of November" as he recovers from his offseason shoulder surgery.
Two other players are still with the team: PTO candidate Ryan White and AHL forward Darren Archibald. Since they are not currently under contract to the Canucks, they don't have to be included in the roster count.
Archibald would need an NHL contract to play on Saturday, that's certain. What I'm not sure about is if he could stay in Vancouver this week and continue practicing with the team, as he has done today.
With the waiver wire now essentially closed, the only remaining ways to make room for him on the roster would be to send down a waiver-exempt player (Boeser or Virtanen) or to put another player on the injured list. Henrik? Dorsett? I dunno.
I don't think the Canucks need to make any more moves before Tuesday's roster deadline.
According to CapFriendly, they'll still be comfortably cap compliant after Alex Biega is officially added to the roster.
Sending Archibald down would be the easy move, but I haven't dismissed the possibility that he'll be in the lineup against the Oilers next Saturday.
No one has made any promises yet to Jake or Brock:
As the Canucks keep sending players to Utica, the Comets need to keep making room. They released another four players today. The only one that was at the Canucks camp was amateur tryout defense candidate Aaron Irving.
The Comets rebounded from Saturday's preseason loss to Syracuse with a 3-1 win on Sunday. Michael Garteig earned the win in net, while Alexis D'Aoust, Michael Carcone and Anton Cederholm picked up the goals.
Utica GM Pat Conacher sounds like he was pleased with the attitude he saw from some of his higher-profile new arrivals:
Conacher also had praise for defensemen Philip Holm and Jalen Chatfield. Sounds like Jonathan Dahlen's adjustment is a bit of a work in progress, which is understandable considering he's getting over his illness and playing on North American ice for the first time other than at World Juniors last year.
To close today, I love this news!
I can't believe Jagr signed not just in the Western Conference, but in Canada for the first time. What a treat that we'll be able to see him play on the regular this year.
The Flames' first regular-season visit to Rogers Arena is less than two weeks away, on October 14. Can't wait!
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