I'm waiting with baited breath for the rosters to be released for this week's Young Stars Classic, which runs from Friday to Monday at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton.
Still nothing official from any of the four teams in the competition — but Patrick Johnston from
The Province has the scoop on one of Vancouver's invitees, who has been skating with the group at the Scotia Barn over the past little while.
Max Namestnikov is an undrafted 18-year-old centre who spent last season with the Sarnia Sting of the Ontario Hockey League, where he posted 16 goals and 40 points in 68 games.
As Johnston mentions, he's small — listed at 5'8" and 174 pounds by
Elite Prospects. But he does have good bloodlines. His brother Vladislav, who's 12 years older (and four inches taller) has carved out a solid NHL career as a depth forward, with 236 points in 553 games over nine seasons with six different teams. Father Evgeny (John) Namestnikov played 35 games on the Canucks' blue line in the mid-90s.
One detail about the family that I hadn't heard before — Slava Kozlov is the uncle of Max and Vladislav, on their mother's side. That may help explain why the family settled in Michigan after John's playing days were over. That's where Max was born, in 2004. He played for the famed Honeybaked and Compuware minor-hockey organizations in Detroit.
As Johnston mentions in his article, a number of the Canucks' most intriguing prospects are playing in Europe or college this season, so they won't be available for the Penticton event this week. Looking back at the
Development Camp Roster, we won't be seeing players like Jonathan Lekkerimaki or Joni Jurmo, who are staying in Europe, or NCAA types like Aidan McDonough — set to be captain at Northeastern this fall — or Harvard's freshman goalie Aku Koskenvuo.
The four names that the Canucks teased when promoting ticket sales are all slated to suit up for Abbotsford this fall — and three of them are newcomers.
• We know about Danila Klimovich. Now 19, he went through a bit of a trial by fire as a very young AHLer with Abbotsford last season, then chose to stay in Vancouver this summer to work on his game.
• My hopes are high for Linus Karlsson in Penticton, as a 22-year-old centre who tore up the SHL last season with 46 points in 52 games. A third-round draft pick by San Jose in 2018, he'll probably be one of the older and more highly pedigreed players at Young Stars — certainly on the Canucks team. Hopefully he can make some noise and get people excited about what he might be able to bring to Abbotsford this fall.
• The other two highlighted players were offseason free-agent signings: 21-year-old winger Arshdeep Bains, who led the WHL in scoring with 112 points in 68 games for the Red Deer Rebels last season, and 22-year-old centre Nils Aman — a two-way forward who was drafted in the sixth round by Colorado in 2020 but will be coming to North America for the first time after playing his career to date in Sweden.
While we wait for updates to round out the roster, here's the latest from Scotia Barn on Monday morning:
We have a Tucker Poolman sighting! Although questions have swirled around the long-term health of the 29-year-old defender, GM Patrik Allvin said at his media availability last week that the reports he had received indicated that Poolman would be ready to take to the ice for training camp. This brings us one step closer.
Digging back a little deeper, Poolman actually made his on-ice debut late last week.
New arrivals on Monday include J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat. I believe Conor Garland and Curtis Lazar are also skating for the first time.
For a snapshot into Boeser's emotional summer, this new piece by Michael Russo of The Athletic is definitely worth your attention.
It's a tough read, as Russo takes us inside Brock's last days with his father Duke, who passed away in May at the age of 61. He also maps out the timeline of last season as Duke, who had previously come back from so many devastating health challenges in his life, slipped deeper and deeper into cognitive decline.
Based in Minnesota, Russo has developed a strong relationship with the Boeser family over the years. Mad respect to Brock and his mother, Laurie, for being willing to share all these heart-wrenching details. Hopefully it will help to bring them both some peace. After driving out from Minnesota late last week with his two dogs forever by his side, Brock will be looking to throw himself fully into hockey this season, knowing that his father finally isn't suffering anymore.
So let's end today on a more upbeat note — the latest snapshot of the rookie season of Vasily Podkolzin. On top of his professionalism, his friendly demeanour shines through once again. And I like hearing Quinn double-checking to make sure that his systems comprehension is on point!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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