Though we're deep in the dog days of summer, the Vancouver Canucks have pulled off some significant transactions in the past on this date in history.
On July 28, 2015, Jim Benning traded Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening and a second-round draft pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Brandon Sutter and a conditional third rounder.
That conditional pick ultimately turned out to be Vancouver's own third-rounder, which was originally dealt to the New York Islanders in exchange for Andrey Pedan. The pick was traded from the Islanders to the Sabres, then to the Penguins, before ultimately being returned to Vancouver—where it was used to take William Lockwood in June.
Also worth noting—the second-rounder that the Canucks gave up was the Anaheim pick that they'd acquired in the Kevin Bieksa trade. That ended up being pick No. 55, just eight slots ahead of the third-round pick the Canucks used on Lockwood. Pittsburgh took goaltender Filip Gustavsson out of Sweden.
Yeah, Nick Bonino went on to win the Stanley Cup in Pittsburgh, finishing in a tie for eighth in playoff scoring with 18 points and tallying two game-winning goals. He'll be remembered after his career is over for being part of the HBK Line and for "Bonino Bonino Bonino!" And he still has one year left on his current contract at a very reasonable $1.9 million.
But Bonino does become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2016-17 season. Ironically, if he continues to click with Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin, that'll make it tougher for the always cap-strapped Penguins to keep him in the fold after this season.
For their part, the Canucks have only gotten 20 games out of Brandon Sutter so far, but his five-year contract extension kicks in next season. Assuming Sutter can be healthier going forward, Vancouver does benefit from having his services locked up for a good stretch of time.
As for Adam Clendening, his most useful contribution last season was being the throw-in defenceman that went to Anaheim along with David Perron in exchange for Carl Hagelin.
That deal obviously turned out very well for Pittsburgh—Hagelin is signed for another three seasons at a cap hit of $4 million, while Clendening was placed on waivers by the Ducks less than two weeks after he was acquired, and Perron left for St. Louis as an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Also on this day...
Watch out for the link in that Tweet. If you click it, you'll be taken to a story about another infamous day in Canucks history—the signing of he-who-must-not-be-named on July 28, 1997.
I wish I knew which twin was administering the headlock in this photo, and which one was receiving it. Any guesses?
Thanks to LeftCoaster for pointing out yesterday that, next season, Henrik and Daniel should become the first players in Canucks history to break the 1,000-point mark.
Henrik's currently the all-time franchise leader with 222-748-970 in 1,166 career games, while Daniel has 355-587-942 in 1,143 games.
The only active players with more points than the twins are Jaromir Jagr (third in history with 1,868 points and should pass Mark Messier to move into second next season), Joe Thornton (28th with 1,341 points), Jarome Iginla (36th, 1,273 points), Marian Hossa (60th, 1,089 points), Patrick Marleau (69th, 1,036 points) and Patrik Elias (76th, 1,025 points, still unsigned for next season).
Chances are, though, Henrik will get passed on the active-player list next season. Alexander Ovechkin is currently just four points behind Henrik, despite having played over 300 fewer games.
Finally today,
click here to read a new feature on Thatcher Demko from Kevin Woodley at NHL.com.
From the way Dan Cloutier is talking in the article, it sounds like the team would be more than happy to give Demko two years of development in Utica before moving him into an NHL role. That seems like a long time—I'm so eager to see him play!—but he is still young. Demko won't turn 21 until this December.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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