Earlier this week, I expressed concern that the Vancouver Canucks organization had not yet named a replacement for Rollie Melanson to work with Thatcher Demko and Richard Bachman in goal in Utica.
Problem solved:
Former #Canucks goaltender Curtis Sanford has been named Goaltending Consultant for the Utica Comets.
Now 37, Curtis Sanford backed up Roberto Luongo for two years in Vancouver between 2007 and 2009. As a Canuck, he went 11-11-1 in 35 appearances over those two seasons, with a .903 save percentage and 2.69 goals-against average—pretty much on par for his 144-game NHL career.
Sanford struggled to carry the load when Luongo missed 24 games after suffering a groin injury in November of 2008. Cory Schneider, then 22, was called up from Manitoba as backup and appeared in eight games, going 2-4-1 with a .877 save percentage and 3.38 goals-against average. He also injured his groin in late December, so the Canucks acquired Jason LaBarbera from Los Angeles in late December in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick.
In January, LaBarbera outplayed Sanford. When Luongo rejoined the team midway through the month, Sanford was sent down to Manitoba while LaBarbera stuck around as backup—though Luongo started all but two games for the rest of the regular season.
At the end of the year, LaBarbera moved on to Phoenix and the Canucks signed Andrew Raycroft as Luongo's backup for 2009-10, while Sanford spent the next two seasons with the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL. His 1.93 goals-against average was the best in the AHL in 2010-11 and he was named to the league's second all-star team.
Sanford did return to the NHL for one final season, playing in a career-high 36 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2011-12. After that, it was on to Russia, where he spent three seasons with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv of the KHL. He was named to the KHL's first all-star team in 2013-14.
According to his Wikipedia page, concussion problems led Sanford to decide to hang up his skates at the end of the 2014-15 season.
Sanford was teammates with new Utica general manager Ryan Johnson in St. Louis, starting in the 2003-04 season. Johnson remained a member of the Blues in 2007-08 when Sanford first moved on to Vancouver, then the pair were reunited as Canucks in 2008-09.
Since this appears to be Sanford's first post-hockey gig, I'm assuming that Johnson was probably a strong advocate for hiring him.
The Comets also announced this week that they have promoted Josh Gagnon from video coordinator to video coach. A Utica native, Gagnon has been with the team since its inaugural season.
While I'm on the topic of Utica, two player notes from the last couple of weeks. Forward Borna Rendulic has signed with Lahden of the Finnish Elite League while forward Cody Kunyk has signed with the Straubing Tigers, in Germany's top league.
On NCAA free agency watch, no deals to report yet. Alex Kerfoot had his meeting with the Canucks on Wednesday and is reportedly meeting with several other teams. I haven't seen anything concrete surface about those meetings, but his name does seem to be linked to the New York Rangers—and they could certainly use some organizational centre depth after trading Derek Stepan and losing Oscar Lindberg in the expansion draft this offseason. The Rangers, of course, also have a history of making successful pitches to NCAA free agents, having pulled in Jimmy Vesey and Kevin Hayes over the past three summers.
Will Butcher-watch is a bit more specific, but does not appear to include the Canucks:
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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