|
Vancouver Canucks send down Gaudette & Juolevi, put Gaunce on waivers |
|
|
|
|
|
After a day off on Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks announced on Thursday that they had trimmed their roster by three more players as they head toward their final preseason game on Saturday in Kelowna against the Arizona Coyotes.
Adam Gaudette and Olli Juolevi have both been assigned to the Utica Comets. Brendan Gaunce has been "designated for assignment," which means he'll be placed on waivers on Friday. We won't know until Saturday morning at 9 a.m. PT whether he clears.
It's likely, though. Once again, all players placed on waivers on Wednesday cleared. Here's the Thursday list:
Technically, this will be Gaunce's first time on waivers, though he was left exposed in the Vegas expansion draft. Drafted 26th overall in 2012, the 24-year-old has played 114 career NHL games, with five goals, 12 points and 45 penalty minutes. By his standards, last season was his best—in 37 games, he averaged a career high of 13:18 per game and delivered an even plus-minus along with four goals and an almost-respectable shooting percentage of 7.3.
Last fall, Gaunce stayed out of the preseason waiver discussion as he continued his rehab from shoulder surgery in April of 2017. He joined the Utica Comets for a two-week conditioning assignment in late October and by the time he was ready to join the Canucks 13 games into the season, the injury bug had already bitten the team, with Loui Eriksson and Alex Edler on IR and Markus Granlund temporarily out of the lineup. Essentially, Gaunce replaced Alex Burmistrov, who appeared in all 13 games while Gaunce was injured, then suited up just 11 more times for the Canucks before de-camping for Russia at Christmastime.
After Tuesday's disappointing game in Edmonton, it's not surprising to hear that Gaudette and Juolevi will start the season in Utica. Neither did enough during preseason to force the team to keep them.
So, the roster is officially down to the same eight defensemen as last year, and these 15 forwards:
Darren Archibald
Sven Baertschi
Jay Beagle
Brock Boeser - waiver exempt
Loui Eriksson
Sam Gagner
Nikolay Goldobin
Markus Granlund
Bo Horvat
Brendan Leipsic
Tyler Motte - waiver exempt
Elias Pettersson - waiver exempt
Tim Schaller
Brandon Sutter
Jake Virtanen
This excludes injured Antoine Roussel, as well as injured minor-league forward Wacey Hamilton and defenseman Evan McEneny. They can't officially be placed on waivers for assignment to the Comets until they get a clean bill of health.
Sven Baertschi is absent from practice on Thursday—another injury?
Baertschi played both Monday in Salt Lake City and Tuesday in Edmonton. Against the Oilers, he had seven shot attempts, starting out on a line with Bo Horvat and Loui Erksson.
Depending on Baertschi's status, the team will need to make one or two more cuts up front to get down to the 23-man roster limit for opening night. Tyler Motte and Darren Archibald continue to scrap it out—most likely against Brendan Leipsic and Nikolay Goldobin.
Thatcher Demko was not assigned to Utica on Thursday and is also absent from practice. Given that he was supposed to back up Jacob Markstrom in Salt Lake City on Monday but ended up being replaced by Anders Nilsson, and that the Nilsson/Markstrom tandem dressed again on Tuesday, this also smells to me like it could be an injury.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»