The Vancouver Canucks ticked another item off their summer to-do list when they inked 23-year-old left wing Mike Zalewski to a new deal on Monday.
At this time last year, Zalewski signed an AHL contract with the Utica Comets. The Canucks inked him to an NHL-level deal in January, before recalling him for a couple of games, then brought him back again at the end of the year. So, it's a vote of confidence for Zalewski to be locked in by the big club right off the bat this year.
Zalewski finished tied for sixth in Comets scoring last year, with 16-17-33 in 58 games, and earned praise from coach Travis Green. The left wing took a big step forward from his first season in Utica, where he went 3-9-12 in 55 games in 2014-15.
Since Zalewski played two games for the Canucks at the end of the 2013-14 season, when he was signed out of college by Mike Gillis, he does have three pro seasons under his belt. So,
CapFriendly shows that Zalewski will need to clear waivers next season.
Vadim Shipachyov Update
Here's the latest from Russia on the player who's hard to track because his last name gets spelled in many different ways:
The KHL regular-season schedule doesn't start until August 22, but training camps are beginning now. There's plenty of interest in Shipachyov from NHL teams, but he is currently under contract to SKA St. Petersburg. His agent will need to do some deft maneuvering if he actually manages to get Shipachyov to North America this season.
Arbitration Dates Set
On Monday, the dates were announced for this summer's arbitration hearings:
Most of these teams and players will reach settlements before the hearings. The most interesting cases include Tyson Barrie, on July 29, Chris Kreider on July 22, Brayden Schenn on July 25 and Jaden Schwartz, Marcus Johansson and Alex Killorn, all on July 20.
The Canucks don't have any current players going to arbitration, but two former players have filed. Frank Corrado and the Toronto Maple Leafs will meet on July 26, while Jordan Schroeder has his hearing with the Minnesota Wild scheduled for July 27.
Olli Juolevi's Summer Plans
In yesterday's blog, I laid out a preliminary depth chart for the Canucks' defense for next season.
I didn't include Olli Juolevi because I assume he'll be heading back to the London Knights for another year. He just turned 18 in May and needs to add some bulk to his 6'3" frame before he's NHL ready.
That being said, only three members of the 2015 draft class played full NHL seasons, and one of them was a defenceman. Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel got all the hype, but Noah Hanifin had what was arguably the harder job, stepping onto the Carolina Hurricanes' blue line and putting up a respectable 22 points in 79 games.
Like Juolevi, Hanifin was also chosen fifth overall. As a January birthday, would have been four months older than Juolevi when he started his time with the Hurricanes. More importantly, he's already listed at 206 pounds—and he had a year of college hockey under his belt when he was drafted; he wasn't coming straight out of junior.
Over at
NHL.com, Kevin Woodley has a feature on Juolevi from development camp that you might not have seen.
I was most intrigued by this analysis from Stan Smyl, after watching Juolevi in the camp scrimmage:
"He sees things so much different from other players," Smyl said. "Making a play, jumping in, backing off, for me at the end of the day, it's his poise. He doesn't get rattled, he knows what he's doing with the puck really quickly. Those are the things our scouting staff talked about and today was the first day I really saw it. You watch these kids and they all skate really well, but that's the separator, his hockey instinct and his poise. He doesn't get rattled by pressure."
Now that camp is over, Juolevi is headed back to Finland to work out with a small group of countrymen that includes Teuvo Teravainen and Jesse Puljujarvi.
"It's a pretty short (break), but when I get home and there is no media all the time and all those things, it's more relaxing for me just to work out," Juolevi said. "I have to get stronger if I want to play in the NHL at a high level."
Stan's trying to keep a cool head. "There is that patience side of it and I don't want to get too excited right now," Smyl told Woodley. "But what I saw in that first scrimmage is pretty impressive."
Luca Sbisa will be playing for Team Europe during the World Cup, so that'll open up a little bit of lineup space on the blue line during training camp. If Juolevi performs well through prospects camp and preseason, it'll be interesting to see if he gets a few NHL games, but the Canucks' waiver situation might make it impossible to find a spot for him on the team's opening-night roster.
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