I was going to use today's blog to do a rundown of the Canucks' overseas prospects whose seasons have already begun. But I went down a couple of rabbit holes instantly when catching up on the whereabouts of 2021 draft prospect Danila Klimovich. It turns out that he deserves spotlight treatment, for his current activities and all the possibilities of where he might play next season.
We heard awhile back that Klimovich is expected at the Canucks' training camp, hoping to make a strong first impression but also potentially open to playing in Abbotsford if that's what is best for him.
It'll be very interesting to see where he ends up playing next season. There are some reports on Twitter that Dinamo Minsk is still very interested in his services, after he joined them briefly during the KHL preseason.
Meanwhile, Canucks' general manager Jim Benning told The Athletic last week that he's thinking the QMJHL will be Klimovich's most likely landing spot.
Klimovich does appear on
the very lengthy preseason roster page for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, who selected him in the 29th overall in the 2020 CHL Import Draft.
The Huskies finished fourth in the QMJHL's West Division last season, with a record of 17-18-4-1 for 39 points in 40 games played.
In the high-scoring Q, the club was somewhat offensively challenged. Undrafted 20-year-old William Rouleau led the team in scoring with 36 points in 31 games. And while Colorado's 2019 third-rounder Alex Beaucage started very well with 14 goals and 20 points in his first 14 games, he was traded mid-season to Victoriaville, where he led the Tigres with 25 playoff points on the way to the league championship.
I gave Rouyn-Noranda's preseason lineup a quick scan, and didn't notice the names of any other top prospects jumping out at me. So I'd assume that if Klimovich does join the club, he'd get some high-end ice time and a chance to really establish himself as an offensive force, both at 5-on-5 and on the power play.
Meanwhile, Klimovich is currently suiting up for Belarus's national team. It's preparing for its Olympic qualifying tournament, which will run from Aug. 26-29.
Belarus is slotted into Group D, and will compete in Bratislava against Slovakia, Austria and Poland for one Olympic berth.
The team is playing two exhibition games against the KHL's Barys Nur-Sultan this weekend.
I found the boxscore and lineups for the first warm-up game
here. Belarus scored a 2-1 victory off goals from Yegor Sharangovich of the New Jersey Devils and Artem Demkov of Dinamo Minsk.
Klimovich does appear on the lineup. He's slotted onto right wing on the fourth line, presumably because he's one of the younger players on the squad.
It appears that he was
not in the lineup for the second game on Saturday, which ended in a 4-4 tie and saw one-time Canucks prospect Curtis Valk score twice for Barys.
In the other Olympic qualifiers, Latvia, France, Italy and Hungary will face off in Riga for one spot in Group E, while Norway, Denmark, Korea and Slovenia play in Norway to see who will represent Group F.
Canucks goaltending prospect Arturs Silovs does not appear
in Latvia's lineup for their 4-2 win over Norway earlier this week. One-time Canuck Ronalds Kenins is wearing the 'C' for the Latvian team, though, and tallied a goal and an assist.
I had heard some chatter about the NHL discouraging its players from participating in these Olympic qualifiers. But in addition to Sharangovich playing for Belarus, I see Mats Zuccarello had an assist for Norway, while the Latvian lineup includes both Rudolfs Balcers (San Jose) and Zemgus Girgensons (Buffalo).
Back on this side of the Atlantic, the Abbotsford Canucks added another player to their roster on Friday, announcing that they've signed forward Ethan Keppen to a one-year contract.
Originally drafted in the fourth round in 2019 out of the OHL's Flint Firebirds, Keppen fell from 59 points in his draft year to just 29 points in 44 games in the 2019-20 season, then was set back further by the OHL's shutdown in 2020-21. He eventually signed an amateur tryout contract with the Utica Comets, where he got into seven games. He recorded one assist and apparently made enough of a positive impression on Ryan Johnson to earn another chance, even though the Canucks elected not to sign him to an NHL deal before this summer's deadline.
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