The silence around the NHL grows louder as the braintrusts around the league hunker down to do their dirty work—finalizing their draft lists and working out the details of the other moves they'd like to make before draft day next Friday.
Another high pick could be in play—NHL.com
is reporting that Doug Wilson's open to dealing San Jose's first-rounder. The Sharks are scheduled to pick ninth.
Wilson's a befuddling character. After showing virtually no confidence in Antti Niemi as he swapped him back and forth with Alex Stalock during the 2013 playoffs against Los Angeles, Wilson also said Friday,
via NHL.com, that he hasn't ruled out a possible return for Niemi. Wilson says he won't be bringing back John Scott, Scott Hannan and Adam Burish, who was waived on Friday for purposes of buying out the last year of his contract.
Nothing new today in terms of waiver or buyout announcements—or that elusive salary cap number. The only other contract news is a new deal for center Mikael Backlund in Calgary.
A first-round pick from 2007—chosen 24th overall—26-year-old Backlund posted 10 goals and 27 points in 52 games. He missed two months of action due to an abdominal injury.
He's not a big point producer but I think we saw during the playoffs that he is a key part of the Flames lineup.
On the Canucks front, the team website has posted a new interview with Jim Benning. Not much new information, but he covers the team's meetings and preparations over the last few weeks as they prepare for the draft, as well as name-checking the usual suspects from the Utica Comets' playoff run.
Finally today—if you missed it, Tony Gallagher had an interview with ex-Canuck player and management figure Dave Babych in
The Province a few days ago.
Click here to check it out.
Though Babych played on the Canucks with Trevor Linden between 1991 and 1998, the big defenseman was relieved of his player development role with the team last summer when Linden and Jim Benning took over.
Babych spoke with Gallagher about prospects like Yann Sauve and Kevin Connauton, who have now shuffled through the Canucks system. Among today's group of prospects, Babych is upbeat about forward Alex Grenier and defensemen Frank Corrado and Ben Hutton:
“I think he’s a terrific player; he reminds me a lot of Kevin Connauton, just great instincts, a great wrist shot because he gets it through from the point all the time, which is an art in itself. He needs an opportunity because those guys are hard to find, they just have a knack for it. And he’s got an edge too; he plays hard in front of the net even in college hockey.”
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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