After a string of signing successes, it sounds like the Vancouver Canucks have failed to get their man this time around.
Noted insiders Bob McKenzie and Elliotte Friedman, as well as Grand Forks, North Dakota reporter Brad E. Schlossman, are all reporting that UND senior winger Drake Caggiula has decided to sign his entry-level NHL contract with the Edmonton Oilers.
There's no word yet from the player or the organization, but here's some insight on what might have swayed him:
I'm a little disappointed. I liked the idea of the Canucks bringing in a feisty forward in the Brendan Gallagher mode who shows some abrasiveness—and who has already shown good chemistry with prize prospect Brock Boeser. But the Canucks have been on a real roll with their contract signings so far this year. Ya can't win 'em all, right?
Missing out on Caggiula will mean that Vancouver has the space up front to go after a different player instead—perhaps an established NHLer.
Yes, this circles us back to Milan Lucic, but there are also other options.
Click here to take General Fanager's list of the left wingers that will be available on July 1.
I dismissed the idea of Jamie McGinn when his name first came up as a possible target, but now that Anaheim has been knocked out of the playoffs, it seems a lot more likely that he'll move on to a new team this summer.
McGinn's appealing because he's in his prime at age 27, like Lucic, and plays a gritty game. And with a cap hit this season of $2.95 million, he shouldn't be a bank-breaker this summer.
I've seen McGinn play a fair amount over the years during his stints with San Jose and Colorado, and never thought he was much more than a utility winger. But his profile seemed to go up this year while he was with Buffalo, then was dealt to the Ducks for a third-rounder at the trade deadline—which would have been a second if Anaheim had reached the Western Conference Final.
All told, McGinn hit career highs of 22 goals and 39 points this year—although he also played a league-high 84 games thanks to the difference between team schedules when he was moved from Buffalo to Anaheim. That's only slightly better than his production from previous seasons, so it's probably safe to assume that he'll continue to be in that 20-goal, 40-point range going forward.
I wonder if the Ducks' first-round flameout will have much effect on McGinn's bargaining power leading up to July 1—and I wonder the same thing about Andrew Ladd. Ladd is making every indication that he'd like to extend his return to Chicago, but it seems like it will be very tough for the Blackhawks to be able to squeeze him into their salary structure, even at a reduced rate.
As far as Lucic goes, Kings general manager Dean Lombardi made it sound like he's still making every effort to keep the big guy in Los Angeles when he spoke on a conference call on Friday,
per Kings insider Jon Rosen:
“I think he’s a great kid, and there’s no question he’s a good fit, and probably that’s all I can say right now … There’s still some work to be done here, is probably the way I’d leave it at this point, so I wouldn’t worry about anything. I don’t see anything quickly here on the horizon right now, given some of the things we’ve got to work through.”
World Championship Update
Meanwhile, Day 2 of the World Championship is getting ready to begin here in St. Petersburg. Canada will be practicing before its next game on Sunday afternoon against Hungary. Since it's the first game of the day, it'll be a 2 a.m. PT start back in B.C. on Saturday night/Sunday morning.
The Canadians kicked off the tournament on a very high note on Friday, channeling their gold medal-winning approach from 2015 with a solid 5-1 win over Team USA.
Here's my game story:
For me, the big stories were how Team Canada took over in the second half of the game and the solid contributions from all four lines.
Our Canuck boys flew under a little bit under the radar. Ben Hutton finished with a plus-one but played just 3:57 in the game. He seems to have dropped to a seventh-defenseman role behind Michael Matheson, a 22-year-old Florida Panthers prospect. Matheson was chosen in the first round in 2012, the same year Hutton was drafted, but has played just three NHL games so far in his career. Matheson spent three years at Boston College before making the jump to the pros at the end of the 2014-15 season.
Matheson's ice time increased as Friday's game went on, to the point where he was second behind Morgan Rielly at 7:00 in the third period. He finished the game with 15:25 in total, just 36 seconds less than Chris Tanev's 16:01. Tanev was used extensively as a penalty-killer, which put him on the ice when Patrick Maroon opened the scoring for Team USA in the first period, but also made him part of Brad Marchand's shorthanded marker that rounded out the scoring in the third.
As expected, Canucks prospect Thatcher Demko is being used as a third goalie for Team USA. I caught him working out with Mike Condon and the U.S. coaching staff on Friday afternoon.
Demko continues to juggle his schoolwork while he's here.
Our other Canucks goalie in the tournament, Jacob Markstrom, got off to a good start. His Swedish team outshot Latvia 44-21 in their tournament opener but Markstrom needed to shut the door in overtime in order to give the Swedes a chance to notch a 2-1 win.
Ronalds Kenins played a solid 19:50 for the Latvians, but was on the ice for both goals against.
Yannick Weber's Swiss team kicks off its tournament today against Kazakhstan, while Jannik Hansen's Danish team plays Norway—both in Moscow.
The weather here in St. Petersburg continues to be outstanding. Here's my travelogue shot for Friday, looking west along the Neva River as I headed back to the hotel after the game.
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