at CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments
The Vancouver Canucks will be without Ethan Bear for the next little while, after he suffered an injury last night. Bear was moved to injured reserve today, with Noah Juulsen recalled in his place.
Vancouver is quickly running out of options for a team that is expected to move at least one defenseman at the deadline. Bear joins eight other players on IR (regular or long-term) for the Canucks, including Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Travis Dermott, and Tucker Poolman.
at CDT | by Brian La Rose 15 Comments
The Canucks are expected to be adding a young forward to their lineup as they’ve acquired winger Vitali Kravtsov from the Rangers. Going to New York is winger William Lockwood and a 2026 seventh-round draft pick. Both teams have announced the deal.
Kravtsov was the ninth-overall pick in 2018 but has struggled in limited NHL action and has just three goals and three assists in 28 games this season. He also played in 20 games back in 2020-21 and produced at a similar rate, notching two goals and two helpers in 20 contests.
Last season, Kravtsov opted to return to the KHL instead of reporting to New York, picking up 13 points in 17 games with Traktor Chelyabinsk during the regular season before adding seven goals in 15 playoff contests. That was enough for New York to give him a one-year, one-way $875K contract for this season. He’ll be arbitration-eligible this summer and will be owed a $840K qualifying offer.
To make room for Kravtsov on the roster, the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that center Curtis Lazar has been placed on injured reserve. It’s the second trip to the IR for the 28-year-old who has five goals and 124 hits in 45 games this season.
As for Lockwood, the 24-year-old has been up and down this season, getting into 13 games with Vancouver where he picked up an assist along with 37 hits while averaging just over 10 minutes per game. He has been more productive with AHL Abbotsford though, collecting a dozen goals and six assists in 26 contests. He’s on a one-year, two-way deal with $750K in the NHL and should remain in the minors with his new team.
It’s certainly an underwhelming return for Kravtsov, once viewed as a key piece of the future for the Rangers. However, his struggles in the NHL and the potential for him to return to the KHL certainly deflated his value. But this move, coupled with the waiving of Jake Leschyshyn earlier today, will open up some extra cap space for New York to try to add another piece down the stretch; Chicago winger Patrick Kane has been speculatively linked to them recently and these deletions would be enough to squeak him in at 25% of his AAV. Meanwhile, it’s about as low-risk an acquisition as possible for Vancouver who will now try to see if Kravtsov can become more of an impact player with a new organization.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Kravtsov was being traded to Vancouver.
at CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment
The Vancouver Canucks haven’t had Thatcher Demko in net for an entire game since November. More than anything, his absence has been a considerable part of the organization’s collapse this season. Demko’s strong play likely shrouded some of the issues the team faced last year, and when he struggled at the beginning of this season, they were revealed.
His injury, which has kept him out since a game on December 1, went through several levels of severity as he dealt with setbacks. Demko is now, finally, expected to be back for the Canucks in the next few days, according to Sportsnet broadcaster Brendan Batchelor.
at CDT | by Josh Erickson 3 Comments
Few fits between player and team in the NHL are more evident than Brock Boeser and the Minnesota Wild. As the Vancouver Canucks still look to remain active on the trade market and the Wild debate whether or not to make a deadline-day splash, the door to a union between Boeser and his home team remains open.
at CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment
The Vancouver Canucks announced Wednesday that they’ve recalled forward Aatu Raty and defenseman Guillaume Brisebois from their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, also assigning forward Phillip Di Giuseppe to Abbotsford.
This could be Canucks fans’ first look at Raty in the NHL. Raty, still just 20 years old, was the centerpiece of the trade return for captain Bo Horvat when he was dealt to the New York Islanders late last month. After a strong start with the Islanders’ farm team in Bridgeport, though, it’s been a tough adjustment for Raty in Abbotsford. He has just one assist in eight games since joining the AHL Canucks.
It’s likely best not to read too much into Raty’s offensive struggles post-trade. A mid-season, coast-to-coast move across country borders would be understandably taxing on the young Finn. He’ll now get his second chance in the NHL this season after recording two goals in 12 games with the Islanders before the trade.
Raty and Brisebois will join the Canucks in St. Louis as they wrap up a road swing through the Central Division. Brisebois, a 25-year-old defenseman, has posted a goal and five assists in 36 games with Abbotsford this season. He saw time up with Vancouver in late October 2022, recording his first NHL point in a brief three-game stint.
Di Giuseppe, who signed a one-year, two-way contract to return to the Canucks last July, has recorded two goals and an assist in nine games with Vancouver this season. The 29-year-old will look to continue his strong offensive pace in Abbotsford, where he’s combined for 25 goals and 41 assists in 75 games since 2021.
at CDT | by Ethan Hetu 3 Comments
at CDT | by Gavin Lee 5 Comments
The Vancouver Canucks are the latest team to start protecting assets before the trade deadline, as Luke Schenn will sit out tonight’s game against the Nashville Predators.
Schenn, 33, has been the subject of trade speculation for weeks, thanks to his unique mix of physicality, reasonable cost, and championship pedigree. He carries a cap hit of just $850K this season, leads the NHL in hits with 258, and recently won the Stanley Cup twice with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Any contender in the league could fit Schenn into their cap situation by moving a single player off the roster, and almost all of them are looking for defensive depth. At one point, a reunion with the Lightning was rumored, but recent reports had the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames linked to him.
Just a few days ago, Schenn told the media that he expected to play every day until he was traded, meaning a move could be imminent if he’s being pulled from the lineup.
The right-shot defenseman has 21 points in 55 games this season, his highest total since 2011-12 and a pace that will easily have him set a new career-high by the end of the year. He won’t be going anywhere for his offense, but a three-assist game a few days ago only would have helped his profile around the league.
Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV was first to report the fact that Schenn would be scratched.
at CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments
It has been a tough season, to put it lightly, for Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. It just got a little tougher as head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters including Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province, that the veteran will be out “some weeks” due to an ankle injury.
The 31-year-old has struggled considerably in his own end which has helped contribute to Vancouver allowing the second-most goals in the NHL heading into today’s action. On top of that, Ekman-Larsson has underachieved offensively, scoring just twice while picking up 20 assists in 54 games, numbers that are well below what he was putting up with Arizona when he had a six-year stretch of recording at least 39 points. As a result of his struggles, his average ice time per game has dropped to 20:11, three minutes below his career average and his lowest since his rookie campaign back in 2010-11.
Ekman-Larsson still has four years left on his contract with Vancouver being responsible for a $7.26MM cap charge; Arizona is covering an additional $990K. With that much term remaining, it will be extremely difficult for GM Patrik Allvin to move him; carrying an eight-year buyout charge certainly isn’t ideal either. There’s no good situation for the Canucks moving forward when it comes to the veteran and now they’ll be without him for at least a few weeks. Christian Wolanin was recalled from AHL Abbotsford earlier today and could have an opportunity to get into the lineup fairly quickly.
at CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment
The Canucks have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their tonight against Philadelphia, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Christian Wolanin from AHL Abbotsford while placing defenseman Travis Dermott on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury.
Wolanin is up for only the second time this season with the first stint lasting less than 48 hours. The 27-year-old has found another gear offensively in the minors this season, recording an impressive 55 points in 49 games. That’s good for a tie for fourth overall in AHL scoring while he leads all blueliners by 10 points at a minimum. Prior to this season, the most points that Wolanin had in the minors in a single season was 31. He has 70 games of NHL experience under his belt with three different teams and has seen NHL action in each of the last five years.
Dermott, meanwhile, has had a tough season, missing more than 30 games with a concussion and now he’s on the shelf again having last played on January 25th. When healthy, the 26-year-old has been limited to just 11 games where he has only a single goal while averaging 13:45 per game, a career low. He’s in the final season of a two-year, $3MM contract and is owed a qualifying offer of $1.75MM this summer. With his struggles and Vancouver’s cap situation, he looks like a potential non-tender candidate this summer.
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