Renaud Lavoie of TVA seems to have a direct line to the NHL's waiver wire.
He has spent most of the last two days tweeting out lists of players from around the league who are being placed on waivers for purposes of assignment to their AHL farm teams.
Here's yesterday's tweet, listing six Vancouver Canucks. Don't do what I initially did and count that last name, Luke Adam—he's property of the Buffalo Sabres:
The only other mention I've seen of this news is from Jason Botchford of
The Province, who also
picked up the news from Lavoie.
But here's where it gets curious. While none of the transactions is mentioned on the Canucks website, the
current roster list (as of Sunday morning, at least), is missing the forwards Jeffrey, DeFazio and Archibald but still lists the defensemen Sanguinetti, Biega and Andersson as being with the team.
Also, should we be alarmed that Bo Horvat and Hunter Shinkaruk are missing from the list of forwards?
I'm going to assume that's a clerical error. I'm very much expecting to see Horvat and Shinkaruk in the mix during these last three preseason games.
If we work from Lavoie's list—he's generally very reliable—and assume that Shinkaruk and Horvat are still at camp, the Canucks are now down to 28 players: 17 forwards, eight defensemen and three goalies.
They'll need to get to 23 by opening night on October 8.
I'm assuming now that Markstrom has been waived, the three-goalie idea has been put to bed, so expect Joacim Eriksson's departure to drop the number to 27.
Frank Corrado's likely the odd man out on the blue line after a less-than-stellar camp, though he's gotten more of a look than Yannick Weber. Best-known for his power play acumen, Weber got just 1:28 of ice time with the man advantage in the Canucks' win over Calgary on Friday, while Chris Tanev (of all people) led all the defensemen with 5:25.
That's not a real vote of confidence for Weber, who did clear waivers when he was sent to Utica by John Tortorella last November.
Corrado's still just 21 and might benefit more from the ice time he'd get in Utica than from being relegated to a seventh-defenseman role with the Canucks. In my mind, that would be the best reason to assign him to the AHL.
But how does Vancouver drop three more forwards to get down to 14?
Centre Cal O'Reilly is still in camp, strangely. The 27-year-old hasn't played in the NHL since six games with Pittsburgh in 2011-12, so he'll almost certainly be sent down.
That leaves two more forwards to cut.
If Brad Richardson is out for any period of time after being injured during Friday's game, that could buy Bo Horvat the spot he needs to try to impress during the first nine games of the season. If the Canucks have the roster space, they may as well see how he performs against proper NHL opposition before making the decision on whether to send him back to junior.
I know this isn't a popular position, but I don't think it would be the end of the world for Horvat to go back to the London Knights. For me, he hasn't dazzled enough to be a sure-thing in the Canucks lineup—a lineup that's already chock-a-block with centres.
Horvat would get tons of quality ice time in London and would get a chance to be a key player for Team Canada at the World Junior Championships—a high intensity tournament that is a very valuable stepping stone for young players. He made the team last year as an 18-year-old, recording three points in seven games. Another go-round could serve him well.
I'd like to see Hunter Shinkaruk and Nick Jensen start the year in Vancouver. A team that was 28th in offense last year can use all the scoring it can get, and both these young wingers have done a good job of putting the puck in the net in preseason so far.
The wild card looks like it will be Tom Sestito.
Ed Willes of
The Provinceoffers up a balanced look at Sestito's situation.
On the one hand, Vancouver has some tough competition to face against big Pacific Division teams this year. But on the other hand, fighting is slowly disappearing from the game. As Willes points out, 12 NHL teams didn't have a player with more than 100 penalty minutes last season.
Though the local media continues to peg Derek Dorsett as a middleweight, he's been a very capable fighter, which further muddies the picture. Can guys like Dorsett and Kevin Bieksa deliver enough toughness to keep the Canucks' skill players safe?
What do you think?
With three games to go, it's down to the wire. What's Richardson's status? Will Shinkaruk and Horvat keep on scoring?
Jim Benning promised us a fight for jobs, and so far the players are delivering. Here's hoping they can continue to live up to Benning's promises once the season begins.
TSN to Offer New Local Late-Night Show?
One other interesting note from Botchford's Saturday column. According to him, "TSN is planning a nightly, local highlight-based show which would be produced in a new downtown Vancouver studio," with Blake Price rumored to be the desired host.
Botchford says TSN will start test runs next week but has not yet committed to bringing the finished product to air.
For his part, Price sounds hopeful but non-committal:
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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