Wow. The Vancouver Canucks are all in on the kids.
Jake Virtanen, Jared McCann and Ben Hutton look like they've just been given roster spots to start the season with the team.
Jim Benning and Willie Desjardins weren't kidding when they said they were ready to make some hard decisions. And they were true to their word when they said that if kids were ready to play, they'd make room for them.
Before you panic, please bear in mind that Renaud Lavoie has five long tweets full of players who are also on waivers today—including former first-round defensive prospects Dylan Olsen in Florida and Tim Erixon in Pittsburgh as well as former Canucks Ryan Stanton and Mason Raymond. Not to mention Flyers defenseman Andrew MacDonald and his $5 million-a-year cap hit.
Also, remember that throughout the preseason, only one player on waivers has been claimed.
I suspect this morning's furor will turn into much ado about nothing, as I think the likelihood of any of the Canucks players being claimed is minimal. Remember, the rest of the league considers the Canucks to be a bottom-feeding team. Who could possibly benefit from their castoffs?
Jim Benning will be on hand at UBC during this morning's Canucks practice to take questions from the media.
Here's the crazy part—though Virtanen, McCann and Hutton will get the lion's share of the attention, Linden Vey really lost his roster spot to Adam Cracknell. The big forward will be starting the season with the big club—presumably continuing in his fourth-line centre role.
For me, it makes sense to have Cracknell in the lineup over Vey for the Canucks' first two games of the year against Calgary. A little extra protection for the kids—and the veterans—shouldn't be a bad thing.
I can see why the Canucks aren't using that "Change is Coming" slogan anymore. This rebuild is happening much more quickly than we anticipated!
General Fanager is shuffling players around like crazy to stay up to date.
Click here for the latest update, which looks like it'll be Vancouver's 23-man opening-night lineup.
Note—Chris Higgins is still on the list. Ben Kuzma points out in
this article in
The Province that, in order for him to be moved to long-term injured reserve and generate extra roster and salary-cap space, his injury would have to be serious enough to keep him out of the lineup for the rest of the month:
To be eligible for LTIR, Higgins must miss 10 games or 24 days and in a replacement player, the Canucks can’t exceed the $2.5 million he earns. It also means the fractured foot injury he sustained Sept. 21 would keep Higgins out until Oct. 30.
As things stand, the Canucks have $246,000 of available cap space. Though I think management legitimately favours Cracknell over Vey at this point, the salaries also work in Cracknell's favour.
He's making just $575,000 while Vey's salary is at $1 million. That differential would have been enough to put the Canucks over the cap ceiling if Vey had stayed.
One other interesting point from Kuzma that follows up from our discussion last week: he pegs Hutton at 210 pounds, saying that he added 10 pounds of muscle during offseason training.
In his story
today, Kuzma breaks down how Vey and Corrado lost their roster spots.
Despite big promises to bring a new level of grit and tenacity to his game, "the new Vey looked much like the old Vey — no points, six shots and a minus-2 rating in five games," despite getting some prime top-six minutes along the way.
As for Corrado, he "was slotted in as the seventh defence man and had an assist in four games but struggled with positioning and was a minus-3. It paled in comparison to the poise and coolness that the 22-year-old Hutton has shown."
I hope they'll both clear, but I can understand management's belief that they're not ready to be everyday NHLers on this team at this point in their careers.
It'll be interesting to see how Willie sets up his line combinations at practice today. My guess is that the Sbisa-Hutton pairing will endure, but will the Canucks plan to use both McCann and Virtanen on opening night? As a member of the Calgary Hitmen, Virtanen has played plenty of games in the Saddledome. You can bet he'd love to start his NHL career on that ice.
Also—if you're not convinced that the Canucks can be better off without a former player, look at the situation that's unfolding in Montreal today.
Zack Kassian is now reported to have suffered a broken nose and broken foot from a 6 a.m. car accident on Sunday morning, when his truck crashed into a tree. Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin is not happy, to say the least, with the turn of events.
Those in the know are suggesting that the Kassian incident could lead to bigger repercussions than just him being "on a short leash" when he's healthy again.
It certainly didn't take long for Kassian to bring shame to the hallowed Canadiens crest. As much as anything, I'm now a bit surprised that he never messed up this publicly during his time here in Vancouver.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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