Canucks Daily: NHL Signings and a Trade, Big Names Hit Market

The Vancouver Canucks Development Camp enters day two with more of the same, a mid-morning session with forwards crossing over with a late morning session with the defenceman, a simple flip-flop from when the two groups skated on Monday.

Speed and hard work were prevalent on day one with a healthy dose of competition. Other than a brief, mild setback for defenceman Elias Pettersson when he bumped his knee on a hit, the group came away unscathed. Of course, there’s always a few guys who struggle to find their wind; some gasping for air on occasion as they got used to the pace.

Let’s get skating before they do …

Busy in Pitt

Take Swedish forward Rikard Rakell off the list of potential Vancouver Canucks. The 29-year-old, right-shot left wing signed a six-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday at $5-million per season to avoid free agency.

Meanwhile, in bigger Penguins news, it looks like long-time superstar Evgeni Malkin will actually choose to test those unrestricted free agent (UFA) waters. After sixteen years and three Stanley Cups, ‘Geno’ appears to be leaving the roost.

He’s coming off an eight-year deal that paid him a whopping total of $76-million.

Johnny Pucks!

What they’ll be chanting about Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary if he leaves for another NHL club will only rhyme with pucks, it won’t be that friendly. One would think.

But that looks like where things are headed for Flames General Manager Brad Treliving and his leading scorer. They haven’t been able to come up with a deal and Gaudreau might be headed east. Philadelphia sits across the Delaware River from ‘South Jersey’, the lower portion of the state of New Jersey, and that’s where ‘Johnny Hockey’ grew up. In fact, the Flyers practice rink is in Jersey.

What NHL sweater will he be donning in the coming days? He’ll let us know on the way to the bank.

Newark, where the Devils play, is actually a couple hours north, a couple of clicks and a Hudson River crossing away from New York City. That’s been mentioned as another potential new home.

Murray Moves West

Well, not that far west, just a few hours across Ontario. Former Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup winning goalie Matt Murray was traded Monday from the Ottawa Senators with a couple of future draft picks to the Toronto Maple Leafs for ‘future considerations’.

He has two seasons remaining on a four-year contract that pays him $6.25-million per season. Murray signed it with Ottawa on Oct. 9, 2020. Let’s just say things haven’t gone that great since he left Pittsburgh and headed north.

He’ll try to fill the Maple Leafs goaltending position, or at least one of the two vacancies, as Petr Mrazek was traded already and Jack Campbell looks to go bye-bye via free agency.

— Anybody read this one about the Vancouver Canucks back on July 2nd. Starting to hear this concept elsewhere.

Cheers!