Vancouver Canucks
Canucks Daily: Kadri and Klingberg Watch, Beer Flows with Stanley in Europe
All is quiet on the Vancouver Canucks transaction wire as we start the week, and it’s likely to stay that way unless the club moves some money. That could be in the form of a JT Miller or a Tyler Myers trade at some point, but there’s no indication we’re close to the brink and again, no sense of urgency. Without clearing some cash, there’s really no room to nab a free agent, etc.
We’ll hypothesize on those possible names later today.
What a difference a year makes. This week in 2021, then Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning handled a flurry of manoeuvres that were generally accepted as greatly benefiting the hockey club. Because of the schedule back-ups due to the Covid pandemic, this was actually ‘free agent frenzy’ week a year ago.
Last year, Monday was July 26th. On that day and in the couple of days that followed, Benning signed recently acquired forward Conor Garland to a five-year deal, bought out goalie Braden Holtby, traded defenceman Nate Schmidt to the Winnipeg Jets, signed back-up goalie Jaroslav Halak, signed D-men Luke Schenn and Brad Hunt, and re-signed forward Brandon Sutter.
Little did we know Schenn would play such an important role as the season moved along and that Sutter wouldn’t play at all due to long-term Covid complications.
NHL Free Agents
Actually jumping on two free agent names now, just because they’re compelling. Colorado Hockey Now tells us about the Nazem Kadri watch as it hits Week 2. It’s not as if he’s crazy expensive, coming off an annual cap hit of $4.5-million. Intangibles, as in mental make-up likely play a part here. What’s the dealie?
And any time you see a veteran right shot D-man hovering around, it makes one think of the Vancouver Canucks. John Klingberg, like Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko, recently married, is hanging around out there. The 29-year-old had a $4.250-million cap his with Dallas.
No Holiday for Stanley
While many in hockey management, marketing, and media are taking breaks at the moment, there is one serious monument on the move. That would be Lord Stanley’s chalice.
I love this instagram post from our pal Mike Bolt a couple of days ago, one of the ‘Keepers of the Cup’, as he and Phil Pritchard prepared for the European portion of their tour. Tough training but somebody’s gotta do it.
Cheers! Have a great week.
