Once again, tons of Canucks news floating around, with three days to go until free agency opens up.
First off—the Utica Comets have finally locked down a head coach for next season.
Born and raised in Ontario, Trent Cull is currently 43 years old. In his playing days, he spent 10 years as a defenseman in the AHL and IHL between 1994 and 2004. He won a Calder Cup with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2001 and was on the wrong side of a seven-game final in the IHL's 1999 Turner Cup as a member of the Houston Aeros.
After his playing days were over, Cull immediately moved into coaching. He spent two years as an assistant with Guelph in the OHL before move up to an assistant's role in Syracuse for four seasons. Then, he returned to the OHL as the head coach for the Sudbury Wolves for three years—and made the playoffs each year—before resigning to return to the assistant's role in Syracuse for another four seasons. According to
this article by Lindsay Kramer from Syracuse.com, Cull returned because he was anxious to be a part of the Tampa Bay development system when the Lightning took over the affiliation with the Crunch.
The Crunch just game off a six-game loss to Grand Rapids in the AHL's Calder Cup Final. Some of the players that have rolled through the Crunch during Cull's time in Syracuse include Nikita Kucherov, Cedric Paquette, Vladislav Namestnikov, Brett Connolly, Nikita Nesterov, Jonathan Marchessault, Richard Panik, Slater Koekkoek, Jake Dotchin, Brayden Point, Jonathan Drouin and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Safe to say, they've been pretty good at developing players!
This news comes after it was quietly confirmed on Tuesday that Canucks video coach Ben Cooper has left the team.
No further details available on this move, but Cooper was expected to be part of Travis Green's crew next season when the Canucks made their coaching staff announcement back on June 7.
Also on Tuesday, the Canucks announced the roster and schedule for this year's Development Camp.
Gone is the sumptuous campus of Shawnigan Lake school on Vancouver Island but instead, local fans will be able to more easily keep an eye on the proceedings. The team will hold practices at UBC on the mornings of Tuesday, July 4 and Wednesday, July 5, then host a "Summer Showdown Top Prospects Game" on Thursday, July 6, at Rogers Arena.
The sessions at UBC are open to the public, although viewing areas are limited. The Top Prospects Game is a season ticketholder event, but the public will be able to view the game from The Sportsbar at Rogers Arena.
The Prospects game will also be livestreamed on the Canucks Facebook page next Thursday at 6 p.m.
Here's the roster of players that will be attending next week's camp:
I'll dig into this in a bit more detail as the event draws closer. Key points at a glance:
• Brock Boeser and Griffen Molino, who both saw time on the big club at the end of last season, will be in attendance.
• NCAA prospects Adam Gaudette and Will Lockwood will be in attendance. Per NCAA rules, they will be responsible for paying their own way; they are allowed participate in development camp but not the YoungStars tournament or training camp.
• All eight of this year's draft picks will be in attendance.
• This will be our first chance to see Elias Pettersson and Jonathan Dahlen on the ice together—and our first chance to see Travis Green and Nolan Baumgartner at work with their charges.
You won't see a couple of names from the 2015 draft class on this list. Fourth-rounder Dmitry Zhukenov, a centre, signed a two-year-deal with Avangard Omsk of the KHL on Tuesday and Czech sixth-rounder Lukas Jasek committed to the Czech league on a two-year deal back in early May.
If Zhukenov and/or Jasek prosper in their European development, the Canucks will have a small window of opportunity to try to bring them over after their current deals expire.
Now, on to the latest free agent news.
First, Jordan Weal, who will get his sales pitch from the Canucks today.
The Flyers aren't letting him go without a fight.
Sounds like the other local boy, Karl Alzner, will also get a visit.
Defenseman Matt Hunwick is also now being linked to Vancouver. As previously discussed, so is power-play specialist Sam Gagner. Gagner's father, Dave, played 33 games as a Canuck before retiring in 1999, when Sam would have been nine. By the time Dave returned for his five-year stint in the Canucks front office starting in 2008, Sam was already a member of the Edmonton Oilers—he made the team as an 18-year-old in the fall of 2007.
Finally, on the free agent front:
I thought Miller could have been a good fit for Anaheim at the trade deadline, considering John Gibson's propensity for injury at key times. Sure enough, Gibson went down after the first period of Game 5 against Nashville, when the series was tied 2-2. Jonathan Bernier gave up two goals on 18 shots as the Ducks fell 3-1 in Game 5, then surrendered four goals on 16 shots in Game 6 to send the Predators on to the Stanley Cup Final.
So, it might be a little late but it's certainly a realistic possibility, especially given Miller's desire to play in California so he can be with his wife. He'll be happy and I'll be happy; I really want to see something fresh in the Canucks net—and no, that doesn't mean bringing back Eddie Lack!
UPDATE: It had been reported that the Canucks were interested in Mike Condon, but he has just re-upped with Ottawa for another three years.
Finally, to close a busy Wednesday, one more prospect profile from the draft:
Pick 135 - Kristoffer Gunnarsson - D - 6'1" 205 pounds - Born February 6, 1997, Molndal, Sweden
Late in the fourth round, the Canucks traded the pick that they acquired from San Jose in the Jannik Hansen trade to Chicago in exchange for picks 135 and 181.
With 112, the Blackhawks took Swedish winger Tim Soderland.
With 135, a fifth-rounder that the Blackhawks had previously acquired from Carolina, the Canucks chose Swedish defenseman Kristoffer Gunnarsson.
The oldest player selected by the Canucks at 20, Gunnarsson split his season between Oskarshamn of the Swedish Allsvenskan and Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League. He was also a member of Sweden's World Junior team, where he recorded one assist in seven games.
Video is getting sparse now that I'm into later-round prospects, but it does appear that Gunnarsson has no problem with upper-body strength:
He'll get a chance to throw his weight around next week at development camp.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»