(Report) Canucks targeting Matt O'Connor

[DeNiro]

Of course that could change if the plan is to move Miller in the summer, in which case Markstrom would stay in the mix.

It all depends what they told Miller the plan was when he signed here, and went over all possible outcomes with him. It never looks good to trade a free agent signed for 3 years after one season, unless that was part of the plan.

[thejazz97]

Of course that could change if the plan is to move Miller in the summer, in which case Markstrom would stay in the mix.

It all depends what they told Miller the plan was when he signed here, and went over all possible outcomes with him. It never looks good to trade a free agent signed for 3 years after one season, unless that was part of the plan.

I would not be sad if that happened.

[Horvat]

A. if we dont sign o'connor;

1. Lack will be traded = Markstrom/Milller next season along with Ericsson as Uticas starter

2. Markstrom will be traded = Lack/Miller next season along with Cannata as Uticas starter, Ericsson leaves for Europe.

B. if we do sign o'connor;

1. Lack will be traded = Markstrom/Miller next season along with Ericsson and O'connor battling it out for top spot or Ericsson going to europe

2. Markstrom will be taded = Lack/Miller next season along with Ericsson and O'conner battling it out for top spot or Ericsson going to europe

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i'd be ok with (A.1), (B.1), and (B.2), although i would prefer (B.1)

[thejazz97]

A. if we dont sign o'connor;

1. Lack will be traded = Markstrom/Milller next season along with Ericsson as Uticas starter

2. Markstrom will be traded = Lack/Miller next season along with Cannata as Uticas starter, Ericsson leaves for Europe.

B. if we do sign o'connor;

1. Lack will be traded = Markstrom/Miller next season along with Ericsson and O'connor battling it out for top spot or Ericsson going to europe

2. Markstrom will be taded = Lack/Miller next season along with Ericsson and O'conner battling it out for top spot or Ericsson going to europe

_____________________________________________________________________________________

i'd be ok with (A.1), (B.1), and (B.2), although i would prefer (B.1)

Or Miller is traded to SJ and no one is sad.

[Horvat]

Or Miller is traded to SJ and no one is sad.

[DeNiro]

Or Miller is traded to SJ and no one is sad.

That may be the best outcome for everyone as long as Miller is on board.

If San Jose wants to go for it one more time with a different goalie, they probably have a better chance at being a contendr next season than we do.

[Guest Dasein]

Or Miller is traded to SJ and no one is sad.

SJ not interested

[GMJB]

Or Miller is traded to SJ and no one is sad.

Would be pretty sweet if we were able get trade him there and get a decent return but If San Jose misses the playoffs would they really be interested in trading for a guy who is going on 35 years old?

[DeNiro]

SJ not interested in keeping Niemi

Fixed.

[aGENT]

Would be pretty sweet if we were able get trade him there and get a decent return but If San Jose misses the playoffs would they really be interested in trading for a guy who is going on 35 years old?

We missed the playoffs and signed him when he was going on 34... Seems to have worked out pretty well for us (so far).

[Guest Dasein]

Fixed.

Not wanting Niemi =/= interest in Miller

[DeNiro]

Not wanting Niemi =/= interest in Miller

Miller>>Niemi

What are their other options? Stalock?

[thejazz97]

Not wanting Niemi =/= interest in Miller

Who else are they gonna go after? O'Connor, Montoya, and Markstrom are the only other ones that make sense. Stalock is a #1A at best, and it's not like there's any Lundqvists in this draft.

[Guest Dasein]

Miller>>Niemi

What are their other options? Stalock?

Sorry I wasn't aware that the only goalies that are going to be available this summer were Miller, Niemi and Stalock

[VegasCanuck]

I'm pretty sure Benning said he likes having lots of prospect depth in net.

Really hope they sign this guy and let him and Cannata run the net in Utica next year. Give Demko one more year of college hockey.

[DeNiro]

Sorry I wasn't aware that the only goalies that are going to be available this summer were Miller, Niemi and Stalock

Throw some names out that would be a better fit then.

We already know they had some level of interest in Miller befor he signed here, but they wanted to give Niemi another shot.

I think he'd be a great adidition to a veteran team like the Sharks.

[thad]

Throw some names out that would be a better fit then.

We already know they had some level of interest in Miller befor he signed here, but they wanted to give Niemi another shot.

I think he'd be a great adidition to a veteran team like the Sharks.

I dunno, I tend to think they'll go the other route and cut their losses with this core while they can still squeak out a better late than never retool. They may not want to go for miller or he may not like the direction that team is going either.. I know there's the wife thing, but gotta think cup dreams might still be high in his priorities at this age.

[oldnews]

SJ not interested

could you give us your E-scale rating on the certainty that you (can't but nevertheless) speak for SJ.

[Salmonberries]

I don't think I believe this rumor.

[bigbadcanucks]

Not sure if this article has been posted or not, but it's written by Bob McKenzie and appears on the TSN website...here's the part on O'Connor (link to full article: http://www.tsn.ca/a-tale-of-two-ncaa-prospects-1.243662)

A tale of two NCAA Prospects

One is from the High Park area in the west end of Toronto; the other is from Pickering, the first community east of Metro Toronto.

One just turned 23; the other won’t turn 21 until June.

One is a late-blooming 6-foot-5 goalie who may be closer to 6-foot-6, with the size, confidence, calm demeanor and puck-stopping ability that has NHL teams falling all over themselves to sign him as an unrestricted free agent; the other is a 5-foot-10 goal-scoring left winger who may be closer to 5-foot-9, with an edgy, chip-on-his-shoulder mentality and high skill level that is perhaps, finally, causing some NHL teams to at least consider the notion the unrestricted free agent can be successful in pro hockey in spite of his size, or lack thereof.

For all their differences, though, there is much Matt O’Connor and Drake Caggiula share: two Canadians, both products of the Greater Toronto Area, who have taken the hockey path less travelled to play pivotal roles for their respective U.S. college teams in a head-to-head match-up against each other a week this Thursday, in the semifinal of the 2015 NCAA Frozen Four at Boston’s TD Garden.

One is a junior who wears the red and white of Boston University in Hockey East; the other is also a junior but in the green, black and white of the University of North Dakota in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

One will win; one will lose; which means only one is guaranteed to play for a U.S. college hockey national championship a week this Saturday in Boston.

Which one moves on, and what happens to O’Connor and Caggiula beyond that?

Well, that’s why they play the games.

***

It wasn’t so much that Matt O’Connor was opposed to the idea of playing in the Ontario Hockey League as it just didn’t seem like it was in the cards.

As a 15 year old in the 2007-08 season, the big goalie played for the vaunted Toronto Marlboros minor midgets. His teammates that season included future pros Christian Thomas and Freddie Hamilton, who were selected in the first round of the OHL draft, and J.P. Anderson, his netminding partner who was an OHL second-rounder, as well as defenceman Adam Clendening, an OHL fifth-rounder.

O’Connor’s name was never called in the OHL draft, and he was fine with that. He wasn’t from what you would call a traditional hockey family. His Dad Kevin, president of an e-learning health and safety business as well as a green business consultant and entrepreneur, was a competitive rower who runs marathons. His Mom Lesley quit her job to become a yoga teacher and take culinary nutrition courses and focus on health and wellness interests. His older sister Katie was a competitive rower at the University of Western Ontario.

Education was always important to O’Connor. If the OHL wasn’t to be, it wasn’t to be. He attended prestigious Upper Canada College in Toronto and focused on his studies. He still was devoted to hockey, though, playing the better part of two seasons for the UCC-affiliated Ontario Junior Hockey League (Jr. A) Patriots. He still yearned to play at a higher level.

Late in his second OJHL season, he was traded at the deadline to the Burlington Cougars, who with Josh Jooris (Union College and a member of the Calgary Flames) and Greg Carey (St. Lawrence University and signed as a free agent by the Arizona Coyotes) provided more exposure to potential student-athlete opportunities.

"I was interested in D1 (U.S. college), D3 (U.S. college), anywhere really," O’Connor said of his quest. "I was really drawn to the Ivy League schools, I would email them, but I couldn’t get a full offer. I was applying to Canadian universities, I looked at Amherst College (D3). I was wide open to any of them."

Finally, after his second OJHL season, at age 18, O’Connor decided if it was his goal to play U.S. college hockey, he had better go south to the U.S. to make himself a more known commodity. He went to a United States Hockey League (USHL) tryout camp in Youngstown, Ohio.

"It was awesome," O’Connor said. "There were 11 D1 scouts at the camp, which is what I was after. But it was nerve wracking, too. There were 50 goalies there and they kept cutting it down until there were only two left and I was one of them. That’s what really kick-started things for me."

O’Connor soon had full U.S. college scholarship offers to consider. Merrimack was the first; not long after that Boston University. Once he went to BU on his official visit, he was sold.

O’Connor played two seasons with Youngstown in the USHL and entered BU as a 20-year-old freshman.

"I was just a late bloomer," O’Connor said. "Going from the GTHL (Greater Toronto Hockey League) to the OHL is a sprint, which is fine, but not if you’re not ready for it and I wasn’t. I grew a little bit later, I matured later, I got my confidence later."

O’Connor did get a cursory and fleeting look from the NHL along the way. It was during his second OJHL season with the Patriots that, in his first year eligible for the NHL draft, Central Scouting put his name on a mid-season Players to Watch list, identifying him as a low-level C prospect. Of course, nothing ever came of it. His name was never called in three consecutive NHL drafts.

BU head coach David Quinn first saw O’Connor during the goalie’s freshman year with the Terriers, but Quinn was on the Colorado Avalanche coaching staff at the time.

"The (NHL) lockout was on and I was watching a lot of college hockey and I saw this big goalie with size, athleticism and poise and I knew right then he had all the tools," Quinn said.

A year later, Quinn had left the Avs to return to his alma mater as head coach when the legendary Jack Parker retired. As head coach, Quinn watched O’Connor battle for playing time with battery mate Sean Maguire (Pittsburgh’s fourth round pick in 2012), saw him continue to develop but also hit some bumps in the road in what was a really tough BU season (ninth-place finish in the 11-team Hockey East). This season, O’Connor’s junior year, he took over as the undisputed No. 1 when Maguire took a medical red shirt year.

Both O’Connor and the Terriers fully blossomed this season. Freshman sensation Jack Eichel led the way up front; O’Conner shut the door in the crease. While NHL scouts flocked to see Eichel, a generational talent ranked second only to Connor McDavid, the reviews on the NHL free-agent goalie were also rave. It wasn’t long before O’Connor was tabbed as the premier UFA in U.S. college hockey, not that he necessarily snuck up on anybody. O’Connor has been to five NHL team summer development camps, two with Chicago (2013 and 2014) and one each with Ottawa (2011), New York Rangers (2014) and Vancouver (2014). The next time he shows up to an NHL camp it will almost certainly be with a contract in his pocket.

"He’s as mature a 23-year-old as I’ve ever seen," Quinn said. "Everything he does is to prepare himself to be (a professional goalie). Everything has a purpose. What he eats. How he trains. He just keeps getting better and better."

This is quite likely O’Connor’s final college season. He’s eligible to return next season for his senior year. He said he’s made no decisions yet; his focus is entirely on the ice and leading the Terriers to a national championship.

O’Connor is letting his family advisor Todd Reynolds of Uptown Sports deal with the considerable NHL interest. Most of the teams have called to express interest. Edmonton, Ottawa, Buffalo, the Rangers, Vancouver, Calgary and Philadelphia are believed to be amongst the most interested clubs with a chance to land him. Once his season ends, whether it’s a week Thursday or a week Saturday, it’s likely he’ll visit the NHL teams he’s serious about signing with.

"(NHL) teams have been respectful of me just playing and letting Todd handle the other stuff," O’Connor said. "If this does turn out to be my last (season) at BU, it’s been memorable. We’ve put up two banners (Beanpot champions and Hockey East champions) playing at the (TD) Garden this season and my only focus now is getting the third."