There will be five fewer chairs at the table when the Vancouver Canucks hold their pre-draft amateur scouting meetings starting next Monday.
On Friday,
Patrick Johnston of The Province reported that the team has cut ties with Derek Richard, Tim Lenardon, Brandon Benning, Pat Conacher and Ted Hampson.
According to Johnston, Benning, who is the son of former general manager Jim Benning, scouted the WHL, as did Lenardon. Hampson focused primarily on the USHL and NCAA, Conacher looked mostly at NCAA free agents, and Richard's territory was Eastern North America.
It seems a bit odd to be making changes right after a full season of scouting is in the books, but before that work is put to the test at the draft in July. But I feel like we've seen this sort of timing before, and Johnston says it's typical for clubs to want to have their scouting staffs for next season in place by draft time.
The mid-season overhaul of the organization most likely also plays a part in these decisions.
At the season-ending media availability on Tuesday, Patrik Allvin said that meetings with the management group were set to begin later that day, and the scouting departments would be a topic of conversation. "I want to hear my management and staff's opinions," he said.
Allvin praised amateur scouting director Todd Harvey, who has been running the draft and will continue to do so.
"Todd is a very knowledgeable person," he said. "I didn't know him before, but I get to know him. Very prepared, very detailed. We will support Todd."
Rutherford offered a bit more insight into the reporting process when asked how he feels about his management group, explaining that assistant general manager Cammi Granato is overseeing that part of hockey operations.
"Really happy, really proud of this group," he said.
"They really work hard. They communicate all the time. Everybody's part of all the decisions made; everybody gets their input.
"As part of Cammi's role — the director of amateur scouting and pro scouting and player development, they report to her. And they feel really comfortable with that approach because now they're getting some direction and she will make them accountable for things, making sure the reports are proper and that they're in. That we follow the reports and we're making decisions and all that.
"That's just one example of how things are really working for us, but I really like everyone."
I did a story on Cammi for Forbes SportsMoney during her first season scouting with the Kraken, in 2019-20. At that time, she explained her work process to me — how the reports are filed through a system called RinkNet, and a little bit about what she was looking for when she scouted games — which was specific to the Kraken's needs, as they prepared for their expansion draft. It's interesting to hear that she is now overseeing all of the Canucks' scouting and player development personnel.
And while the management group determined that changes needed to be made on the amateur side, Johnston reports that everything is status quo in the pro scouting department.
As things currently stand, the Canucks have six picks in the 2022 Draft. The second-rounder went to Arizona as part of the Ekman-Larsson/Garland trade.
Another interesting note: while Rutherford's contract as president of hockey operations only requires him to be in Vancouver on a part-time basis, both he and Allvin are now putting down roots in the city.
In other news, Canucks' senior director of player development and general manager of the Abbotsford Canucks, Ryan Johnson, held his season-ending media availability via Zoom on Friday.
Still dealing with the disappointment of Abbotsford's quick playoff loss to the Bakersfield Condors, he spoke on a wide range of subjects including the many challenges that the Baby Canucks faced this year — with their very short runway in getting the organization up and running before the beginning of the season to an oft-depleted roster due to injuries and call-ups and travel challenges that included the fact that when they were wrapping up their season on the road in Manitoba last weekend, they still didn't know where they'd be opening their playoffs.
With those difficulties at the front of his mind, Johnson was quick to praise his coaching staff when saying that they're all under contract for another year.
"I couldn't be happier with the the job that they have done since Day 1, in bringing in this group, their attention to detail and the support they have from our development staff," Johnson said.
He went on to emphasize their efforts in bringing players along to the NHL level — how Will Lockwood was up with the big club by the end of the year and Jack Rathbone could have gotten a chance had it not been for injuries and other situational issues like the salary cap conspiring against him. Also, how far Danila Klimovich moved forward as a raw 18-year-old from a completely different culture. He added that Klimovich is planning to stay in town to work more on his game this summer.
Johnson also mentioned Zack MacEwen, Jonah Gadjovich and Kole Lind — initially pencilled in as part of Abbotsford's depth this season, but lost on waivers in MacEwen and Gadjovich's cases, and in the expansion draft for Lind — and who all played NHL games this season.
Finally — we got word on Friday that one of Johnson's farmhands will be representing his country at the World Championship. Arturs Silovs will be backing up Elvis Merzlikins for Team Latvia.
The 21-year-old hasn't played a lot this year. He had a so-so season in Abbotsford, putting up a 3-6-0 record in 10 games, with an .888 save percentage, 3.10 goals-against average and one shutout. He also logged 10 games with the Trois-Rivieres Lions in the ECHL, where he had an impressive record of 6-3-1 with a 2.37 GAA and .920 save percentage.
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