Apparently there is a team that's willing to pick up the Canucks' castoffs after all.
In what has become something of a tradition for them, the Toronto Maple Leafs added another ex-Canuck to their roster when they claimed Frank Corrado off waivers this morning. He'll join Shawn Matthias in the 2015-16 Leafs lineup.
Even after the Leafs moved Stephane Robidas to injured reserve, Corrado becomes one of eight defensemen who will be fighting for ice time under Mike Babcock.
Conveniently for both sides, Corrado flew home to Toronto after Monday's waiver announcement and was at the Leafs practice facility within less than an hour of being claimed on Tuesday.
If Corrado's enthusiasm to play for his hometown team translates to an impressive run with the Leafs, that'll put some pressure on Ben Hutton to make sure his excellent preseason carries over to games that count—even if he wasn't the sole reason for the team's decision on Corrado.
I'm in the camp that thinks Corrado's development with the Canucks organization had stalled or even regressed a bit. When he was up with the Canucks last year, I kept waiting for him to assert himself in a way that made me think "Yeah, this kid deserves to be here!" But it didn't happen.
Corrado may have upside with a new team that'll surprise me, but there aren't too many ex-Canucks out in the world who have given us much reason to regret parting ways with them.
As well as Corrado, one other player was claimed from Monday's waiver wire. Calder Cup-winning goaltender J.F. Berube was picked up by the New York Islanders as they deal with a possible injury situation with Jaroslav Halak.
Linden Vey and Alex Biega both cleared, so they'll start the season in Utica.
The Comets have returned to their home rink after their training camp in France.
The Comets split their two games against the Syracuse Crunch over in Lyon, with a 1-0 win, then a 2-1 loss in overtime. Nicklas Jensen had the lone goal in the first game, while Blair Jones scored in the second.
The mini-tournament wrapped up with the Comets dropping a 5-3 decision to French team Dragons de Rouen. Jensen and Jones each got their second goals of preseason, while Dane Fox also chipped in. Jordan Subban and Andrey Pedan each picked up a pair of assists in the losing cause.
The Comets will open their regular season on Saturday in Rochester.
In light of the Corrado move—and two ex-Canucks dominating Monday's headlines for all the wrong reasons, I want to take advantage of this off day before the regular season begins to do a quick rundown of how the Canucks players that left the team during the offseason are faring.
Raffi Torres hasn't played for Vancouver since 2011, but he continued his habit of collecting record-setting suspensions when he was banished for 41 games on Monday following a charge on Anaheim's Jakob Silfverberg over the weekend. Torres missed the entire 2014-15 campaign with knee problems and didn't even make it to the regular season before he ran afoul of the Department of Player Safety. I wonder if this will be the end for the 33-year-old?
I'm sure you heard that the Zack Kassian situation has gone from bad to worse in Montreal, where he has been suspended without pay and placed in Stage Two of the league's substance abuse program,
per Josh Cooper at Puck Daddy.
Our collective befuddlement about the "Stage Two" designation speaks to how rarely it's invoked. Bob McKenzie has the bottom line:
This development means that Kassian did go through the privacy-protected "Stage One" portion of the program at some point in the past—either with the Canucks or during his rookie season with Buffalo.
With his NHL career now teetering precariously, I hope this incident turns out to be the wake-up call that Kassian needs to turn things around.
Elsewhere around the league:
• Nick Bonino was pointless and a minus-four during three preseason games in Pittsburgh. He's practicing, as expected, in the third-line centre spot.
• Shawn Matthias was pointless in five games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, despite firing 13 shots on goal. He's slotted in to start the season on Toronto's second line:
• Brad Richardson was pointless in three games with Arizona, with one penalty. Richardson had some injury issues in preseason but is projected to start the season as the Coyotes' third-line center,
per Left Wing Lock.
• Kevin Bieksa has had a good camp in Anaheim. He finished up preseason with a goal, two assists and a fight against Kyle Clifford of Los Angeles.
Bieksa's starting the season paired with Hampus Lindholm.
• Ryan Stanton had one assist in three games with Washington, but cleared waivers on Monday.
• Adam Clendening scored a shorthanded goal and added an assist in three games with Pittsburgh. Though he was said to have impressed at the Penguins camp, he's listed in the fourth pairing going into the season.
• Brandon McMillan is currently without a contract.
• Tom Sestito was released from his PTO with Pittsburgh on September 30 and is currently without a contract. He was pointless in three preseason games with the Penguins, but picked up 15 penalty minutes in a fight against Brandon Dubinsky. According to
Hockey Fights, Sestito received a game misconduct for being the aggressor in the fight, while Dubinsky didn't even get a fighting major—only a minor for slashing.
• Brandon DeFazio was pointless in three preseason games with Boston. He has cleared waivers and been assigned to the Providence Bruins.
I almost forgot!
• Eddie Lack had a strong camp with the Carolina Hurricanes, posting a 2.21 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in 136 minutes of action over three games.
Lack looks like he'll get a chance to challenge Cam Ward for the starter's spot. The Hurricanes signed him to a two-year contract extension over the weekend.
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