Remarkably, considering the time of year, there's a ton of news surrounding the Vancouver Canucks over the past 24 hours.
I'll burn through it as quickly as possible
Virtanen Excellent At Summer Showcase
Jake Virtanen was one of the stars of the show as Team Canada defeated the Czechs 7-1 on Tuesday in Calgary.
Brayden Point, the undersized draft pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, dominated with five points but Virtanen was right behind him with two goals, an assist and plenty of physical play.
Virtanen made his first impression when he drew a penalty late in the first period with his relentless determination taking the puck along the boards in the offensive zone. He helped Team Canada capitalize on the man advantage with a nice pass into the slot for Rourke Chartrier, pulling Canada into a 1-1 tie at the end of a first period that was dominated by the Czechs.
Virtanen added Canada's second goal on a nice back-door play with Point early in the second, then made the score 6-1 for Canada with a goal from the slot that caught the shoulder of Czech netminder Vitek Vanecek during the first part of the third.
During the game, TSN's colour man Craig Button mused on whether or not Virtanen would be available to Hockey Canada for World Juniors this year, or whether he might stick with the Canucks. He said Virtanen's strength as a player is his combination of size, skill and physical play, but that the Canucks will need to harness his talent and help him to become more consistent.
Button believes that if his development goes well at the next level, Virtanen will be a significant impact player in the NHL.
Button also pointed out that players who leave their NHL teams to go to World Juniors sometimes have a hard time making the adjustment and don't have a great tournament, but says it's easier for players like Virtanen who have already had the World Junior experience, as they know what to expect.
Button sounds like he expects the Canucks to take a good look at Virtanen this fall, but leaves the door open about whether or not he'll stick with the team—and whether or not he'd be sent to World Juniors if he does.
Team Canada's back on the ice against the Russians again tonight, with game time at 7 p.m. PT. It looks like Virtanen will play again:
As for Jared McCann, he's out of the tournament after sustaining that open-ice hit in Canada's opening game against Russia on Monday:
Ben Kuzma of
The Province has the reaction from coach Dave Lowry in
this story, although this quote from his general manager Kyle Raftis of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds is a strange one:
“Jared not returning isn’t a good sign, and they’re going to be doing some more testing in the next few days, because you’re not sure what any of the issues are,” said Greyhounds general manager Kyle Raftis, who spoke with Hockey Canada officials Tuesday and added that McCann has no history of concussions with his club.
“He was a little bit sore after the collision and I believe he’s also heading to Vancouver to meet with their (Canucks’) doctors."
In fact, McCann does have a concussion history with the Greyhounds. In March of 2013, his season was cut short due to a brain injury after an open-ice collision with Owen Sound's Cameron Brace, according to
this article from Neate Sager over at Yahoo.
Kyle Dubas was still the Greyhounds' GM when McCann was injured, so perhaps Raftis is simply unaware of his player's past history.
McCann missed the Canucks Youngstars tournament last year due to a bout of mononucleosis, so here's hoping he's well enough to make an impression in Penticton this September.
The Canucks' sixth-rounder Lukas Jasek also appeared in yesterday's game for the Czechs. He didn't make an impact on the score sheet, though I heard his name mentioned a few times. Hopefully I'll get a chance to form more of an impression when Canada and the Czech Republic meet again on Thursday.
Francesco Aquilini Recruits Tom Brady For Sports Science Lecture
I wasn't expecting to see a Canuck connection when Deadspin released a selection of Tom Brady's personal emails as part of the Deflategate hearings on Wednesday.
One of the highlighted email exchanges occurs between New England Patroits quarterback Brady and Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini as the Canucks travelled to Boston in late February to take on the Bruins as part of a five-game road trip through the Eastern Conference.
Aquilini sets up a dinner with Brady, as well as a meeting between Brady and his players to talk about sport science and conditioning.
Brady had just won the Super Bowl at the end of January—and the Canucks players have shown strong support for the Seahawks in the past. It's interesting to hear that Aquilini is continuing his pursuit of more information in the area of sport science, and continues to look outside the hockey world for perspectives. It's not 100 percent clear from the email, but it sounds like Aquilini and Brady have a pre-existing relationship that helped set up this meeting.
Brandon Sutter's Contract Finalized
I'll just touch on this briefly today since it has been discussed in so much depth already, but the Canucks announced Brandon Sutter's new contract on Tuesday:
I've given Jim Benning credit during his time with the Canucks for not handing out no-trade clauses but it seems he wasn't able to avoid the issue this time, with a player who has been traded twice in the last three years:
The money and term is basically what we had been led to expect but once the no-trade is factored in, now we really need to start hoping that Sutter pans out at the top end of his projections. Benning's going to have a tough time justifying this contract if Sutter doesn't score at least 20 goals and 40 points next season.
John Weisbrod Named Assistant GM, Other Front-Office Changes
One last item today. After cleaning house last month of a number of key members of the Mike Gillis regime, the Canucks laid out the plan of succession on Tuesday.
The biggest move—not unexpected—is John Weisbrod's ascent to assistant general manager. I don't think this role as Jim Benning's right-hand man was ever in doubt.
Some changes were also made at the scouting level, including promoting amateur scout Judd Bracket to head of the department after seven years with the team. I guess this means that Ron Delorme has been demoted, though he's not mentioned in the press release.
The team's
Coaches and Staff page on the website doesn't look like it has been updated yet with the changes, as Delorme is still listed as chief scout for the moment.
There are lots more names mentioned in the press release, which we'll sort through in the days and weeks to come. Read through the whole thing for an overview of who's in and who's moving up in Canucks Sports and Entertainment.
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