So much has been going on in the hockey world this summer, I've barely had a moment to consider Da Beauty League. It didn't help that their livestreams were behind a paywall this year, either.
The regular season for Minnesota's summer league wrapped up on Wednesday. Once again, Brock Boeser was lighting the lamp.
With a 3-6 record, Boeser's Bic team ended up in last spot in the league that expanded to six teams this season. But on a personal level, he was as productive as ever. Boeser played in eight of Bic's nine games and finished third overall in league scoring, averaging three points a game with 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 total points. And how about that shooting percentage of 34.2%?
As far as other players with Canucks ties in the league, it was a good summer for Nate Schmidt, now of the Winnipeg Jets, who tallied 11 points in eight games with Team Walser. Travis Boyd had a solid summer with the Jimmy John's team, putting up 11 points in eight games. He has signed on with the Arizona Coyotes next season. Also with Jimmy John's, Nic Dowd of the Washington Capitals had seven points in four games. And one-time prospect Joseph LaBate had four points in three games with the Tria team. He has spent the last three seasons with the AHL's Belleville Senators, and is set to suit up for the Milwaukee Admirals next fall.
Schmidt's Walser team finished atop the league standings, with a 5-2-2 record for 12 points.
The league playoffs run next week, with the semifinals on Monday and the John Scott Cup championship game on Wednesday.
Next up — if you haven't had a chance to do so yet, I highly recommend that you take the time to listen to Henrik Sedin's one-on-one interview with Thomas Drance that ran this week on the VanCast.
The podcast runs ad-free inside The Athletic app. If you're not a subscriber, you can listen to an ad-supported version on other platforms.
Henrik says it's his first-ever podcast appearance, but he handles himself like a seasoned pro. I found it very valuable to hear him speaking, too, as he gave careful consideration to each question — sometimes quick and decisive in his responses, at other times very thoughtful.
In addition to offering a number of fun insights into his life and his personality, the real juice involves what he and Daniel have been up to since they signed on as special advisors to the general manager in late June.
They've each been given their own offices at the Canucks' headquarters, and came on board just in time to watch as one of the wildest offseasons in NHL history unfolded.
Henrik said they were in the office with Jim Benning, listening in on speakerphone as he talked with rival general managers about trades, and with agents about contracts and free-agent signings.
One quote that stood out to me: "Jim always said you work on 100 deals to get one to work, and that's really what happened." From the outside, we only see the moves that go down. We're in the dark about what else was going on — other deals that Benning might have pursued, or times that he said no to proposals that came his way.
Henrik seemed particularly animated when talking about player evaluation — both at the amateur and pro levels.
He singled out William Eklund as a draft-eligible prospect that impressed him. And Canucks fans could start getting a taste of what Eklund has to offer in the not-too-distant future, too. He ended up going seventh overall to San Jose, has signed his entry-level contract, and is skating at the Sharks' development camp this week.
Brian Witt of
NBC Sports Bay Area reported earlier this week that, while Eklund is planning to return to Sweden after development camp wraps, he will return for training camp and try to crack the Sharks' lineup. He's also open to playing in the AHL if that doesn't happen immediately.
If he does stay in North America this year, Eklund could be an interesting player for Canucks fans to watch, whether it's against Vancouver or Abbotsford.
On the pro side, Henrik said he and Daniel have enjoyed looking at players on the Canucks and on other teams. He says Daniel, in particular, is showing a zest for the analytic part of those evaluations.
With all that in mind, I thought it was interesting to hear what Henrik had to say about Oliver Ekman-Larsson, the most significant — and divisive — acquisition of the offseason.
Henrik acknowledged that OEL's game has "gone a little sideways, maybe, the last couple of years." But he said once the reasons for that decline are taken into account, he's confident that the 30-year-old will have a bounce-back year in this new environment.
In hockey, no one hits home runs 100 percent of the time — and there can always be extenuating circumstances. Daniel and Henrik probably aren't in any position to have veto power on deals at this stage, but I imagine their support of the Ekman-Larsson acquisition will be duly noted as we start to see what he delivers on the ice in a Vancouver uniform.
There's lots more in the interview as well — all packed neatly into a package of just over 20 minutes. Well worth your time!
And to close up today, one more piece from The Athletic — this one about summer skates in Michigan, from
Max Bultman.
The skates are led by Brandon Naurato, who worked with the Red Wings in player development for the last three years before signing on as an assistant coach with the University of Michigan for the upcoming season. Canucks prospect Will Lockwood, of course, is a Michigan alum himself, so he takes part in the skates at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth along with players like Zach Werenski and B.C. boy Dennis Cholowski, who was a Red Wings prospect before being plucked by Seattle in the expansion draft.
According to Bultman, Lockwood said he got a "long list" of things to work on during the offseason from the Canucks, "things that will help him realize their vision for him as a gritty, hard-to-play-against bottom-sixer."
He looked pretty good in that role during his two-game call-up last season, so it's encouraging to hear that he's putting in the work. There will be a lot of competition for those bottom-six spots, and Lockwood remains waiver exempt, so it'll be easy to assign him to Abbotsford. But he's another player whose development should be fun to track next season, whether he's suiting up downtown or in the Fraser Valley.
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