Connect with us

Vancouver Canucks

Canucks Daily: A Death in the Family; VAN Related Try-outs A’plenty

Published

on

Vancouver Canucks, Alex Chiasson
Alex Chiasson played last season with the Vancouver Canucks.

Condolences to Canucks legend Stan Smyl, his family, and their dear friends, on the death of his wife Jennifer Smyl. The club made the announcement of her passing on Friday.

Mr. and Mrs. Smyl were married 42 years, Stan a member of the elite group of Canucks with his number retired, Jennifer a very active participant with the club’s charitable programs, including her effort to help found Canucks Place, the children’s hospice started in 1995.

She is also survived by their children, Jillian, Natalie, and Spencer.

Let’s Skate Quietly …

We had a chance to talk to Danny Dekeyser on Friday, he of a pro try-out (PTO) opportunity with the Canucks, and a ten-year veteran of his hometown Detroit Red Wings organization. The lefty D-man has been paired with big Tyler Myers early on in camp.

“It’s been good, it’s been a hard couple of days, we’ve been skating a lot and battling out there, it’s definitely good to get the season going again,” Dekeyser said after the scrimmage Friday. “Just getting the opportunity to be paired with (Myers) out there, it’s a lot of fun, he’s massive, he covers a lot of ice and he talks a lot out there, so he’s good to play with.”

“So far he’s looked really steady, you can tell he’s been in the NHL,” Canucks Head Coach Bruce Boudreau said of Dekeyser. “His angles are really good … you can certainly tell he’s been in the NHL before, he looks healthy, he looks ready to play, so that’s a real good sign.”

Dekeyser contributed to a Calder Cup championship run with the American League Grand Rapids Griffins in 2013 before spending the rest of his time with a Red Wings club on the rebuild.

Other Try-out Ties

The last PTO the Canucks offered up turned into a successful one. Alex Chiasson made the club last season out of training camp and ended up with 22 points in 67 games, after being touted much of the season as a ‘power play specialist’.

Enough said. He’s presently attempting to go four-for-four on PTO’s (Washington, Edmonton, Vancouver) with the Arizona Coyotes.

Scrappy 32-year-old forward Antoine Roussel, who spent 2018 to 2021 with the Canucks, is giving it a whirl with the Philadelphia Flyers. The native of France has 607 regular season NHL games under his belt.

Jimmy Vesey played twenty games with the Canucks two seasons ago after being claimed off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs on St. Patrick’s Day 2021. He’s presently trying out with the New York Rangers, the team he started his NHL career with in 2016.

– We’ve already delved deep into the other Canucks related PTO, that of Jake Virtanen with the Edmonton Oilers. The 26-year-old is coming off a not-guilty verdict in a sexual assault trial this summer in Vancouver.

Click to comment
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Get VHN in your Inbox

Enter your email address to get notifications of new posts by email.

Follow VHN on Facebook!

Trending

Discover more from Vancouver Hockey Now

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue Reading