The Vancouver Canucks development camp is in the books for another year, but there's still a steady stream of news surrounding the team.
To wrap things up for the kids, have a read of Jonah Gadjovich's blog on the Grouse Grind experience and the second half of camp.
Gadjovich explains that no individual times were kept. The groups of five were staggered 30 seconds apart, and each group's time was based on its slowest member.
He didn't mention who won, but he did get philosophical while focusing on putting one foot in front of the other:
The grind is definitely a metaphor for life, and a gruelling hockey season. There are ups and downs and you can't get through it without the support of your teammates, or friends and family.
We'll see more of Gadjovich later this month, as part of Hockey Canada's World Junior development camp. He and goaltender Michael DiPietro have been selected to try to earn a spot on Canada's 2018 World Junior Team—and while there was some talk earlier in the week that Kole Lind would also be attending, he's currently
not listed on the roster on the Hockey Canada website.
On Friday, the Canucks also got another player under contract.
Now 24, Joseph LaBate impressed with his 6'5" frame and his willingness to drop the gloves during his 13 games with the Canucks last season.
According to
CapFriendly, LaBate's new deal is a one-year, two-way contract that will pay him $650,000 at the NHL level and $95,000 in the minors.
Organizationally, it was announced on Saturday that Rollie Melanson has left the Canucks organization to sign on as the new goaltending coach with the New Jersey Devils.
Melanson first joined the Canucks as their goaltending coach in 2010 and immediately brought impressive results. The 2010-11 season was the stingiest in team history, when Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider shared the William M. Jennings Trophy and led the league with an average of just 2.20 goals against per game.
In 2011-12, the tandem slipped to fourth in goals against (2.33), then to ninth in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season (2.40) before Schneider was dealt to the Devils for the first-round pick that became Bo Horvat in the 2013 draft. In March of 2014, Luongo was traded to Florida, ushering in the Eddie Lack/Ryan Miller/Jacob Markstrom era.
During the summer of 2016, a desire to relocate back east to be closer to his ailing mother led Melanson to swap places with Dan Cloutier, becoming a part-time goaltending consultant with the Utica Comets while Cloutier took over as the Canucks' full-time goaltending coach.
Trevor Linden told
Jason Botchford of
The Province that he was on board for Melanson's new opportunity.
"Rollie’s done a good job," said Linden. "He’s a good coach. I fully supported him in this opportunity which he thought was the right fit."
The new job will reunite Melanson with Cory Schneider, whose best statistical season came when the pair worked together in Vancouver in 2011-12. In 33 games, Schneider put up a 1.96 goals-against average and .937 save percentage to go with his 20-8-1 record.
Now 31, Schneider struggled last season with a 2.82 goals-against average and .908 save percentage—his worst numbers since he first broke into the league. It's not hard to understand why the Devils would want to turn to Melanson to help their starter try to regain his mojo.
Linden says Dan Cloutier will be tasked with the responsibility of hiring Melanson's replacement in Utica.
"It will be up to Dan to identify and find that person," Linden said. "That will ensure they speak the same language and they believe in the same types of things."
The new hire will also have a scouting element in his job description, working to help identify and develop future goaltending prospects.
"Dan’s always had a vision of that position being someone who works with the goaltenders in Utica but also supporting the scouting staff," Linden told Botchford. "Getting out and identifying talent.
"Dan’s vision is a bit of a goaltending department, if you will. That (Melanson’s replacement) talk on prospects and draft eligibles as well as manage Utica.
"We’ll look to develop that over the summer."
Melanson was the last holdover in the coaching staff from the Alain Vigneault era.
The Canucks are also said to have now executed the expected shuffle in the scouting department.
There had been some talk that assistant general manager John Weisbrod and/or chief amateur scout Ron Delorme could be on the chopping block, but it appears that both men will be staying in their current positions. As of Sunday morning, the
staff page of the Canucks' website has not yet been updated to reflect these changes—although I do see that "Lucien Dubois" is most like actually former NHLer Lucien DeBlois and that "Mike Odessa" is actually Mike Adessa.
All told, pretty minor moves, with the biggest change being the retirement of 62-year-old Harold Snepsts, who's a member of the Canucks Ring of Honour.
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