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Dunc Wilson Passes Away

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Inaugural Vancouver Canucks starting netminder Dunc Wilson has passed away at age 75, the NHL Alumni Association announced yesterday evening.

Born in Toronto, Wilson made his NHL debut in the 1969-70 campaign, stopping 23 of 26 shots in a lone appearance for the Flyers. The 22-year-old would then be a Canucks expansion draft selection when they entered the league in 1970, splitting crease duties evenly with 37-year-old Charlie Hodge in the franchise’s first season. He took over as the full-time starter for Vancouver in 1971-72, recording the first shutout in franchise history and playing in a career-high 53 games. He remained in Vancouver through 1973, after which he served in backup roles for the Maple Leafs and Rangers through much of the mid-1970s. Just prior to the 1976-77 season, Wilson was traded from New York to the Penguins, where he would post a career-high 18 wins, .906 SV%, 2.95 GAA, and five shutouts, placing him fourth in All-Star team voting among netminders.

Wilson was transferred back to the Canucks early in the 1978-79 campaign, which would be his last playing pro hockey. It was a premature end, in part due to an extensive surgery required to treat skin cancer. Wilson sued the Canucks soon after his retirement, alleging improper treatment of the original mole that caused the cancer, but was unsuccessful.

Like many goalies, Wilson had quite the personality – often described as “rebellious,” he didn’t let his 5-foot-11 frame stop him from appearing in nearly 300 NHL contests, even if smaller goalies were the norm in his playing days. PHR sends our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

Latest On Conor Garland

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Just before the start of the season, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that the Vancouver Canucks had given forward Conor Garland and his agency full freedom to find a suitable trade partner for the winger. Unfortunately, for most teams at this time of year, especially teams that are destined for a postseason run at the conclusion of the season, cap space is hard to come by, especially to fit in Garland’s $4.95MM until 2025-26.

However, nearly a week ago, Kevin Weekes of ESPN reported that the Canucks would be willing to retain as high as 30% of Garland’s salary for the next three seasons, meaning any acquiring team would only owe him approximately $3.465MM in total salary. Realistically speaking, even with the hypothetical retention of Garland’s salary, there are only seven teams with enough cap space to take on a discounted Garland, without moving out a salary in the process.

On a positive note in regards to the potential trade of Garland, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period wrote in an article last week that the Washington Capitals are interested in adding a top-six forward, as the offense has looked completely stagnant out of the gate. In the same article, Pagnotta notes that the Capitals could look to move out forward Anthony Mantha in any deal made to acquire Garland.

Unfortunately, with a roster surplus and salary cap problems of their own, the Canucks would be unable to take on the $5.7MM owed to Mantha for the rest of the season, even if no money was retained on Garland, complicating that hypothetical deal entirely. In the same vein, passing on a note from Friedman, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic confirms that the Capitals are indeed interested in acquiring Garland, but are trying to move Mantha in a separate trade.

For Garland, if Mantha becomes the domino that must fall before he is eventually moved out of Vancouver, the time frame on a potential trade has likely been extended to the trade deadline. Given the fact that Mantha has now been healthy scratched by the Capitals to start the year, Washington will likely have to move out significant assets in any trade involving Mantha, simply to entice the other party to absorb the rest of his contract.

Canucks Activate Ilya Mikheyev Off IR

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The Canucks are getting back a key winger in the lineup tonight as the team announced (Twitter link) that Ilya Mikheyev will make his season debut, meaning that he has been activated off injured reserve.  He’s expected to skate on the second line with Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko.

The 29-year-old had a productive first season with Vancouver last year when he was healthy as he recorded 13 goals and 15 assists in just 46 games while logging just shy of 17 minutes per night.  His 28 points were four shy of his career high despite missing over 40% of the games due to injuries.

Mikheyev suffered a torn ACL back in February, undergoing surgery soon after.  At the time, the expectation was that he’d be ready for the start of the season but that wasn’t the case as he wound up not playing in the preseason while the team eventually scaled him back in practice to a non-contact jersey.  Fortunately for Vancouver, it turns out that he didn’t need too much more recovery time.

The Canucks had been carrying 22 players so they don’t need to make a corresponding move to create an open roster spot to activate Mikheyev.

Latest On Conor Garland Trade Market

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported today on the 32 Thoughts podcast that he believes that Luke Schenn’s injury will lower the probability that the Nashville Predators get involved in the Conor Garland sweepstakes. Friedman theorizes that the Canucks’ desired return for Garland could be defenseman Dante Fabbro, but given the injury to fellow defenseman Schenn, the Predators will likely have less of an appetite to make the move.

The Predators announced this morning that Schenn would be out 4-6 weeks with a lower body injury leaving Nashville a man short on the back end and unlikely to further deplete their defense core. The Predators have a need at forward, but given Friedman’s words, it appears that they don’t want to create a hole to fill another one.

For the Canucks, the injury could remove one potential suitor for the 27-year-old Garland from a trade market that already favors the buyer. The NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes reported today that the Canucks are willing to retain around 30% of Garland’s cap hit for the remaining two years, a step that may be necessary to move the player in a difficult trade market that has so many teams within $1MM of the salary cap ceiling.

The Canucks appear to be hopeful that they can clear some cap space with the Garland move to facilitate other transactions and give the team some much-needed salary cap flexibility. But, unless another team has an early season injury to a winger, the Canucks may need to be patient and wait until the trade deadline when teams will have more flexibility under the cap. The Canucks have been proactive in their approach and gave Garland’s agent permission to seek a trade to another, but nothing has materialized at this time.

Garland’s playing time has been down significantly to start the season as he has averaged just 11:34 of ice time through the first three games of the season, down substantially from the 15:16 of ice time he has averaged throughout his six-year career. The native of Scituate, Massachusetts, has posted 84 goals and 111 assists in 325 NHL games and has been difficult to play against throughout his career, despite being undersized.

Pacific Notes: Pettersson, Okhotyuk, Labanc

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Canucks star center Elias Pettersson missed practice today as he was “a little bit banged up,” per head coach Rick Tocchet. However, there’s little concern about his availability for Thursday’s matchup against the Lightning.

Pettersson took friendly fire from defenseman Tyler Myers to one of his legs during last night’s shutout loss to the Flyers but seemed “unencumbered” today when walking around. Pettersson, 24, has been nothing short of electric through three games thus far, displaying an added layer of physical maturity to his game while leading the team in scoring with six points. Entering the final season of a three-year, $22.05MM contract, Pettersson is perhaps the best pending RFA on the market, and his willingness to sign long-term will be a significant storyline to monitor as the Canucks begin their campaign, which is off to an up-and-down start. They’re in relatively good shape with a 2-1-0 record thus far, but a rather dominant performance by the basement-dwelling Flyers on Tuesday did not inspire much confidence.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division on this Wednesday afternoon:

  • It appears Sharks defenseman Nikita Okhotyuk is gearing up to make his debut for the team after he was acquired in last season’s Timo Meier trade with the Devils. A late second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, Okhotiuk sustained a sports hernia injury at the end of last season that prevented him from playing for either the Sharks or the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda after the trade, and a separate lower-body injury has kept him out of action since the beginning of the month. The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka says that Okhotiuk could be an option for Thursday’s game against the Bruins, likely the reason behind sending Henry Thrun to the minors earlier today. Okhotiuk remains on IR for the time being, and the Sharks needed to open a roster spot to activate him.
  • Staying with the Sharks, Pashelka also relays word from head coach David Quinn that winger Kevin Labanc will make his season debut against the Bruins after serving as a healthy scratch for the team’s first three games. Labanc, 27, is in the final season of a contract earning him $4.725MM per season, but his production has steadily declined from its 56-point peak in 2018-19, and he’s now fallen far out of favor with the Sharks’ coaching staff. He is, however, expected to get a look in the top six alongside Thomas Bordeleau and Filip Zadina.

Vancouver Recalls Friedman, Sends Hirose To AHL

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The Vancouver Canucks have recalled their latest player acquisition, Mark Friedman, to the NHL club. Akito Hirose has been sent to the AHL to accommodate this move. The Canucks acquired Friedman in a four-player trade that sent Jack Rathbone and Karel Plasek to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Friedman and Ty Glover.

Friedman has split time between the NHL and AHL over the last two seasons, recording 23 NHL games and 24 AHL games last year. He netted three NHL points and six AHL points in those games. Friedman’s longest tenure in the NHL came during the 2021-22 season, when he spent 26 games with the Penguins, tallying five points. Friedman joined the Penguins via waivers from the Flyers during the 2020-21 season, after operating as a healthy scratch for much of Philadelphia’s season. But despite the NHL attention, Friedman only appeared in nine games that year, losing time to healthy scratches and an upper-body injury sustained in the Spring.

Hirose has yet to play in his rookie NHL season, appearing in seven NHL games last season and a pair of games so far this year. He’s tallied three points, all coming during the 2022-23 season. This assignment will be Hirose’s first experience in the AHL, after signing with Vancouver following the conclusion of Minnesota State University-Mankato’s 2022-23 season. Hirose was a successful two-way defender in college, recording 27 points in 38 games last year – his junior year of school.

Vancouver is 2-1-0 to start the season, with a +6 goal-differential. Friedman will likely slot in as the team’s seventh defenseman, adding pressure to Noah Juulsen’s role on the team’s third pair.

Canucks Place Guillaume Brisebois On LTIR

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The Canucks announced Tuesday that defenseman Guillaume Brisebois has been placed on long-term injured reserve. In a corresponding transaction, forward Jack Studnicka was moved to the active roster after being brought up on emergency recall last Thursday.

Brisebois, 26, has not played yet in 2023-24 after sustaining a lower-body injury late in training camp. The 66th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft had remained on Vancouver’s roster as an extra skater but did not appear in their first two games of the season, both wins against the Oilers.

A mainstay with the Canucks’ AHL affiliate since turning pro in 2017, Brisebois played in a career-high 17 NHL games in 2022-23, recording his first NHL goal and adding two assists for three points along with a -2 rating. Averaging 16:32 per game, Brisebois’ defensive game didn’t translate well to the majors – he posted a rather aggressively low 37.6% Corsi share at even strength and averaged being on the ice for a goal against per game.

It’s unclear if Brisebois will remain on the roster once his LTIR stint is done or if he’ll be waived for the purpose of assignment to AHL Abbotsford once healthy. Assuming his LTIR placement is retroactive to the beginning of the season, he will be eligible to return for the Canucks’ game on November 4 against the Stars. Players on LTIR must miss at least ten games and 24 days of action.

Brisebois is in the first season of a two-year, $1.55MM extension signed with the Canucks in March. While the contract is a one-way deal in 2024-25, he’s still getting paid on a two-way structure this season – the minimum $775K in the NHL and $375K in the AHL.

Studnicka was brought up on emergency recall after cap constraints and injuries forced the Canucks to play short for their first of two games against the Oilers last week. Skating in a fourth-line role, Studnicka scored in 7:19 of ice time during the team’s 4-3 win over Edmonton on Saturday.

Carson Soucy Expected To Return Tuesday; Mark Friedman Recall Imminent

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  • Tuesday’s trade acquisition Mark Friedman will join the Vancouver Canucks on their upcoming road trip, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports. His recall likely spells the end of 24-year-old Akito Hirose’s time on the NHL roster, as he does not require waivers to return to AHL Abbotsford, and Vancouver is now carrying eight healthy defensemen on the roster with Carson Soucy now expected to make his season debut today against the Flyers. Friedman has appeared in two games thus far in 2023-24, both with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, recording no points and a -1 rating.

Penguins Acquire Jack Rathbone From Canucks

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The Penguins have acquired once-promising defense prospect Jack Rathbone from the Canucks and minor-league forward Karel Plasek, per a team release. In return, the Canucks receive a pair of players designated for AHL Abbotsford in defenseman Mark Friedman and forward Ty Glover.

Rathbone and Friedman will report to their new teams’ respective AHL affiliates, while Plasek and Glover will report to their new teams’ respective ECHL affiliates.

While a fourth-round pick in 2017, Rathbone’s stock as a prospect rose wildly in the 2019-20 season after recording 31 points in 28 games during his sophomore campaign at Harvard. He then turned pro with Ivy League schools shutting down in 2020 due to COVID, but he didn’t play much – just eight games with Vancouver and eight with AHL Utica, instead spending most of the season on the taxi squad.

2021-22 saw him put together an incredible rookie season in the minors, again notching over a point per game with Abbotsford – although he was held without a point in a nine-game NHL call-up. That led to optimism he would become a full-time fixture on the Canucks’ blueline in 2022-23, but it wasn’t to be. He played just 11 NHL games, recording two points, and his production took a significant step back in the minors – just five goals and nine assists for 14 points in 37 contests. He has a goal through two games with Abbotsford this season.

He’ll now try and get back on track with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he joins another young defenseman looking to reclaim his game – 2018 first-round pick Ty Smith, who’s just a year removed from posting back-to-back 20-point years with the New Jersey Devils. The 24-year-old Rathbone is a pending restricted free agent who’s owed a rather pricey qualifying offer of $997.5K this summer.

Pittsburgh also receives the 23-year-old Plasek, a Canucks sixth-round selection in 2019. He only has one season in North America under his belt – an injury-plagued 2021-22 campaign that saw him play eight games for AHL Abbotsford, failing to record a point. On loan with HC Olomouc in the Czech Extraliga last season, Plasek recorded six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 31 contests.

Vancouver’s return is not puny – Friedman is a two-way defender who excels defensively at the minor-league level and can provide reliable bottom-pairing minutes in a pinch. The 27-year-old pending UFA is signed to a one-way contract this season but cleared waivers pre-season with the Penguins. He appeared in 23 games for the Penguins in 2022-23, recording a goal and two assists while averaging 14:27 per game. He has the most career NHL games of anyone involved in this trade, with 65.

Glover, 23, was an undrafted free agent signing by Pittsburgh in 2022 after a pair of campaigns with Western Michigan University. He spent all of 2022-23 at the AHL level with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, recording seven goals and five assists for 12 points in 49 contests. However, he failed to crack the AHL squad out of camp this season and was assigned to ECHL Wheeling before the trade, although he’ll now likely join Vancouver’s affiliate at that level, the Kalamazoo Wings.

Ilya Mikheyev, Carson Soucy Close To Returning To Play

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William Carrier was spotted in a no-contact jersey at Vegas’ Monday practice, taking reps in his usual fourth-line role. He’s been announced as a game-time decision for the team’s next game. Of note, fellow Golden Knight Alex Pietrangelo was absent from the practice. Pietrangelo had a scary moment in the team’s Thursday night game against the San Jose Sharks when a high hit from Nicolas Hague left the defender bloodied.

Pietrangelo missed the team’s subsequent game and was announced as day-to-day, although the exact nature of the injury wasn’t disclosed. It appears he’s still grappling with this ailment as the team prepares for their October 17th game. Pietrangelo has recorded one point through two appearances so far this season. Kaedan Korczak stepped in for the injured Pietrangelo, playing in 14 minutes in the alternate captain’s absence.

Vegas has also sent Jonas Rondbjerg to the AHL, now that Brett Howden’s suspension has expired.

Other Pacific Division injury notes:

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