SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME

Yeah, basically every hockey federation in Europe (other than Russia) signed onto the current transfer agreement, which effectively creates an automatic “out clause” for every Euro player drafted after the first round. First round picks are exempt and so they are AHL assignment eligible (without needing approval by their European team), but often European first round picks will have a Euro assignment clause written into their contract anyway (Pettersson, for example, had one included in his ELC). The Swedes were the driving force behind increasing the age to 24 (for AHL assignment) and they were the most powerful body in the negotiations, but all the various federations reap the benefit of the new agreement. I think the Canucks had already tried to get Tryamkin to waive his clause and accept a full demotion before approaching him about the conditioning stint. Which probably ruffled his feathers and eroded trust between the player and club.

I don’t think Tryamkin needs quite that much. Sport Express reported his last contract at 42 million rubles per season. That’d be under a half million at today’s exchange rates ($470K USD). But it probably was equivalent to something between $500-750K/season at the time. So I guess he’d need something like $1-1.5M/season in the NHL to equal the takehome salary he was getting in the KHL. Then again, if you look at the way the ruble has been trending, maybe even a league minimum NHL salary (in USD) could leave him with more money in the bank by the end of next season. His minutes and shifts per game have also been going down the last few years, so I’m wondering if he’s even in line for a raise in the KHL? And his last contract, according to Sport Express, was actually a pay cut (he’d reportedly been getting paid 48M rubles in 2019 and just 42M in 2022). There are a lot of factors, but I don’t think it would take anything over $2 million for it to be worth it financially for Tryamkin. Quite possibly, just about any NHL salary (above league minimum and paid in USD) would end up being better than whatever he might get in Russia (in rubles).

Omg. I didn’t look at first and just clicked play, thinking this was just another one of those official Canucks team produced videos, and then got to the end and nearly spit out my drink.

Faber has the full groups A and B here: https://canucksarmy.com/news/joni-jurmo-dmitry-zlodeyevs-etas-ahl-recap-day-3-canucks-development-camp @NUCKER67 Group A: Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Vilmer Alriksson, Josh Bloom, Christian Fitzgerald, Lucas Forsell, Matthew Barbolini, Jackson Kunz, Lynden Breen, Kirill Kudryavtsev, Akito Hirose, Hunter Brzusrewicz, Jackson Dorrington, Hugo Gabrielson, Joni Jurmo, Aiden Celebrini, Nikita Tolopilo, and Ty Young. Group B: Jacob MAillet, Matthew Perkins, Max Sasson, Ty Mueller, Colby Saganiuk, Max Namestnikov, Cooper Walker, Jack Randl, Dmitry Zlodeyev, Elias Pettersson, Sawyer Mynio, Cole McWard, Quinn Schmiemann, Tom Willander, Christian Felton, Chad Nychuk, Mathis Rousseau, Sam Richard, and Aku Koskenvuo.

Don’t think anything’s been posted yet, but here are some of the notables from each group:

His real name is Roman Ka. The rest of the letters are just his professional abbreviations and certifications.

Wonder what this means for current athletic therapist Josh Termeer? He was just hired last year, after being the head athletic therapist for the Calgary Stampeders. Clearly the new guy has the bigger title. But Termeer is still listed on the team staff, so maybe he’s staying on, in a subordinate role?

Who’s the quack gold swing doctor? EDIT: Oh, you mean Harry Sese? I think he’s just a consultant but not really in charge of too much.

Fitzgerald was an excellent invite by the Canucks. Had a really impressive freshman season and I’m expecting a lot from him in his sophomore year. He’ll be transferring to Wisconsin, following his head coach (at Mankato), who took a new job coaching the Badgers. Wisconsin looks like they’re on the rise and will be a strong team next year, with around a dozen NHL drafted players on their roster, and a good mix of older and younger players. Here’s a recent interview with Coach Hastings where he talks about Fitzgerald (it’s around a two minute video in the link): https://www.keyc.com/video/2023/03/09/maverick-insider-hastings-christian-fitzgeralds-contributions-part-iv/ Definitely a smart move to bring this kid in and make some connections. Puts the Canucks in good position to sign him in a year or two or three as a free agent. And I have a feeling he’s going to be one of the top NCAA targets in the future.

He’s been an elite PKer in junior and scored 12 shorthanded goals his last two seasons (which I believe is tops in the OHL for that time period). Should be a great addition to Abby’s PK.

Maybe so. Especially when you’re talking about players who converted from forward to defence and were able to quickly establish themselves not just as offensive Dmen but as two-way defencemen with tons of poise, steadiness, and very strong defensive games (Willander IIRC has only played D for two years but he looks like he’s been doing it his whole life). That’s a steep learning curve and only players with really high level hockey brains are able to successfully make that kind of transition in a short period of time. Both Hirose and Willander are praised for their intelligence and it shows, both on the ice and when they speak in interviews. I think there’s good process behind scouting and targeting players with exceptional hockey intelligence (and also generally smart people). It’s much easier to coach someone with the mental capacity to learn very quickly and absorb tons of information. And that level of intelligence creates a much higher upside. Both of them seem to be students of the game, who are driven to learn and improve, which usually means they will continue to work on tweaking their own games and finding ways to get better, even when they’re established veterans (the Sedins were this type of player).

Ignorant people on Twitter making sexist comments about this. Ugh. LaCombe is a respected, up and coming skating and skills coach in the hockey world. And she’s also an accomplished former player. She’s worked with NHL players, including some big names (like Bobby Ryan). Having her at this camp is a good get for the organization. She knows her stuff and she’ll help these young players. Kudos to the Canucks for bringing her in as a guest coach.

I like Brady Keeper, the person, a great deal, but it’s true that Brady Keeper, the player, is very replaceable and losing him from the organization depth chart isn’t all that significant. Glad to see him signing on with another NHL team and continuing his journey. I will follow his career, wherever he plays, and I’m going to keep rooting for him.

Such a true statement. The way the twins used the rink was next level. From little bank passes off the side boards (to each other or to themselves), to those long passes off the end boards, to using the net to effectively create a pick, they were really effective in using the rink itself as a tool. They were such smart, innovative players.

What do you mean by 2 year deal? Lekkerimaki’s ELC (signed this May) is for three years. https://www.capfriendly.com/players/jonathan-lekkerimaki And he’s on a loan to Örebro. The Canucks control his rights. If they want him in North America, he comes over here. And as a first round pick, he’s exempt from age limits for AHL assignment under the transfer agreement. Basically, he plays wherever Vancouver wants him to. Next season, they’ve decided that’s in Sweden. And I think that’s the best choice for his development right now But if they want him over after one year and play in North America for 2024-25, then he comes over here, and can join either the NHL or AHL Canucks. (And even if he wasn’t signed and on loan, his contract in the SHL would immediately get replaced by the ELC when he signed to the NHL. That’s the basis of the transfer agreement. The NHL contract takes over and the Swedish team receives financial compensation. Any Canucks Euro draft picks (other than Russia) who aren’t yet signed to ELC’s are in this situation. So long as the Canucks hold rights, they can sign these players, regardless of their contractual situation in Europe. They just have to negotiate a contract during the prescribed window (from end of season until June 15th, or July 15th in year drafted), and any European contract is set aside, regardless of any years remaining on the deal, and replaced with the NHL contract. The player can then be loaned back, but the NHL club controls where their signed players will play hockey.)

Always funny to play this silly game, but if Chris Higgins is 6’0”, doesn’t Alriksson look more than 6’6”? Especially since he’s already doing the tall guy thing and hunching and leaning a bit while interacting with someone smaller. It doesn’t matter, I guess. He’s already huge. But really looks like he might even have another inch or two more than his listed measurements (which is possible since he’s just 18 and might still be growing).

Zlodeyev tagging every white shirt with his elbows, earning his name (Zlodeyev literally means “the villain”). (You guys know I’m kidding, I hope? Kid was just working hard in a drill but not really doing anything nasty. Good amount of contact, though.)

32. So he’s well into his age related decline phase. The question would be if he’s now actually passed through his main decline period (where you see the stats drop) and is reaching that cagey veteran stage where he can shift his game into something more mature/cerebral and less tied to physical performance. Some guys manage this transition really well and have a late career period of effective play (just not with the same impact or consistency as when they were young and in their prime), before the bottom drops out completely.

Play Hiro and Hro together on the Hero pairing.

Was trending pretty badly for a few years but actually had a statistical bounce back last season into some pretty respectable underlyings. Fancy stats had his on-ice impacts/effects valued at around $3.5M value for last season (based on WAR/GAR type metrics). On the other hand, he went from being a perennial 19 minutes a game defenceman to playing just 13 1/2 minutes average last season, so that puts him firmly into the bottom pairing/depth defenceman category on usage. Actual usage/role factors much higher in future salary than whatever picture the analytics might paint. As it should be. So he’s getting paid like a 13.5 minutes a game defenceman. But if the underlying numbers are accurate and predictive, he might be able to prove himself capable of returning to much higher minutes usage, while maintaining positive impacts. And if that happens, he’ll be a heck of a bargain for TBL. Otherwise, he should still be good, cheap depth for them.

You have my vote. Hero is such an obvious one but also really seems like the best nickname for him. Better than Kit or Rosy, which have been his most common nicknames on the teams he’s played for up to now.

Definitely. He’d be great in the room, fans would love it, and he still has some game left, as a bottom pairing guy. I was just looking at his underlying numbers and was pleasantly surprised to see Edler still providing around $1.5M value last season driven by his positive impacts on 5v5 offence and the penalty kill. Might also be a way, if he’s interested, to transition from retirement into a team role in something like player development, scouting, coaching, or whatever else might appeal to him. Would love to see Edler retire a Canuck and then join the organization in another role, after hanging up his skates.

And a good way to manage his waivers status as well. Hirose has 53 NHL games or two years (whichever comes first) of waivers exemption. So they can bring him up halfway through this coming season, and he’d still be waivers exempt for the opening 2024-25, which could help if they’re still having to manage LTIR capture, or if he’s just a little behind schedule and needs more AHL time.

Nice! Two more seasons at a very cheap salary. And Hirose will still be RFA when this deal expires.

Yeah, there’s definitely something to the “pack” mentality and every man taking it upon himself to immediately defend his teammate from harm. I got the sense last season that, while the Canucks had a lot of fights, a great number of them weren’t necessarily guys stepping up immediately when their teammates were targeted for abuse, but rather, it was often guys like Burroughs or Schenn taking it upon themselves to fight, often several shifts after some garbage play, to change the tone/temperature of the game, because too many offences against teammates were going unpunished/unchecked and without any reactions from guys actually on the ice at the time. Can’t really back any of that up with data. Just felt like there were a lot of times when there wasn’t an immediate response. And too few guys were actually willing to step up for each other in the moment. EDIT: I can remember times when some of our younger guys and/or skilled players got flattened by opponents and the response was… nothing. That never sat right with me. I understand being disciplined when you’re in a playoff race or a tight series and you can’t afford a penalty. But when you’re a losing team, you’re basically playing for pride and for each other. So there should be some unwritten rules and automatic responses: touch the goalie, the skilled guys, or the kids, and you will pay the price. That type of team response seemed to be missing from a lot of games last season.