Will the World Junior Championship make it to the start line?
The teams are now in Edmonton, but it was a bit of a rocky travel road for several of the European Clubs on Sunday.
The Canucks' two prospects in the tournament, Vasily Podkolzin of Russia and Arvid Costmar of Sweden, flew over together on the same plane, along with Team Finland. But they nearly didn't take off, with officials concerned about overcrowding the cabin.
Eventually, it was decided that the gear could travel on a separate cargo plane.
Still, it seems like everybody was squeezed in pretty tightly on this flight. And with everything we know about virus spread being exacerbated by singing, perhaps this isn't the best way for these players to be passing their time on a super-long flight that required two re-fueling stops, in Iceland and Newfoundland.
A second group flying out of Vienna — the teams representing Austria, Slovakia and Czech Republic — went through similar issues with their gear. Plane No. 3 carried the Swiss, Germans, and the IIHF brass, who are based in Zurich.
Of highest concern to Canucks fans: the Russians have made it to Edmonton.
Now — it's four more days of quarantine for everybody in their hotel rooms, before they can get on the ice for practice ahead of their exhibition games, which are scheduled to start next Sunday.
But here's the rub: My understanding is that if one person tests positive, everyone else on the flight must quarantine for 14 days, according to Alberta Health rules.
Exhibition games are scheduled to start in six days, and the main tournament start date is 11 days from now. Organizers have said that contingencies are in place to run the tournament with as few as eight teams if necessary — but if three teams end up in quarantine due to these flight arrangements, what happens then?
I'm nervous. Seems like everything is on the line over the next few days.
As for the NHL, there's nothing new to report. Word is that the league and the players continue to try to grind toward an agreement, with timing for the new season still very much to be determined.
If you missed it, NHL.com is running its usual '31 in 31' offseason content this month. The Canucks were the featured squad on Sunday.
The content package includes several stories and some fresh quotes from general manager Jim Benning.
For me, the
Top Prospects piece was most interesting, in terms of both how the prospects were ranked and the projected landing dates for each player.
One thing has definitely changed: all five of these players legitimately look like they'll play NHL games. And writer Pete Jensen has three of them pegged to land this season.
Vasily Podkolzin is ranked No. 1, and Jensen isn't shy about speculating that the Russian power forward could get a look on the right side with Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson before the year is out.
"When [Podkolzin's] season is finished in Russia, we've communicated to him and his agent that we'd like to get him signed and bring him over," Benning said. "We think he can for sure step in and play in the NHL right now."
Olli Juolevi is ranked No. 3, and also projected to get minutes this season — something that seems all-but-assured as long as he rolls through training camp smoothly and can stay off the injured list.
"[Juolevi has] always been a very smart player in his reads defensively," Benning said. "He has great vision of the whole ice. He makes quick decisions and is a good transition player. … If it wasn't for the injuries, he would've been up and playing in our lineup a long time ago. … We feel he's ready to play in the NHL and be a consistent everyday player for us."
And — this one's a bit of a surprise — Jensen ranks Brogan Rafferty at No. 5, but also pegs him for game action this season.
"Rafferty's a little bit older, has a little bit more experience [than Juolevi and Rathbone]," Benning said. "His strength is his ability to handle the puck and slow the play down. There were a couple of things he worked on last year when he was down, and he improved on those things, so we think that he can come into camp and earn a spot on our group."
The other two players on the list are Nils Hoglander at No. 2 and Jack Rathbone at No. 4 — both projected to be ready for the 2021-22 season.
According to
Mike Raptis of The Province, Hoglander's loan to Rogle of the Swedish League is now officially over, and he's on his way to Vancouver for training camp.
The left winger finished up with five goals and 14 points in 21 games, including this spectacular goal from last week that I'm sure you've seen by now:
Here's his outlook on what awaits for the rest of the year:
What Hoglander lacks in size at 5'9", he seems to make up in tenacity. I wouldn't rule him out for a taxi-squad position, depending on what he can show at training camp.
Wrapping up the list, we've got Jack Rathbone at No. 4 — another player that Canucks fans have not yet had much opportunity to watch in person.
Jensen projects his arrival for next season, and Benning seems to be preaching patience.
"The way [Rathbone] can skate, his mobility, he's a new-age defenseman in that way," he said. "Sometimes coming out of school, there's an adjustment period that goes on, but I know he's working hard now, and we think he's going to come in and challenge for a spot on the back end. We'll do what's best for his development as a player because we feel he has a high ceiling and could turn out to be a real good player for us over a long period of time."
One other minor note: the Canucks announced on Sunday that they've re-signed Tyler Graovac to a one-year, two-way contract. CapFriendly is showing the terms as $700,000 at the NHL level and $125,000 at the AHL level — a step down from the last two seasons, where he was guaranteed $400,000 in the AHL in 2019-20 and $300,000 in 2018-19, when he was with the Calgary Flames organization.
Another sign of how real-money economics have changed in the world of Covid-19.
The big center, now 27, played eight games for the Canucks last season, scoring two goals. He was injured while he was up with the big club, so he would have collected his NHL salary while he was on injured reserve, which kept him sidelined until mid-February. He was in the bubble as one of the extras with the Canucks during the playoffs this summer. A nice depth signing for Vancouver. 
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