The Vancouver Canucks have made their first round of cuts ahead of pre-season action.
Six players have seen their chance to make the Vancouver Canucks come to an end after the Vancouver Canucks announced their first round of cuts ahead of tonight’s action against the San Jose Sharks.
Vancouver’s 2016 seventh-round pick Rodrigo Abols will be headed back to the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks and will look to repeat last season where he led the team in goals. However, he presents the Winterhawks with an interesting situation according to OregonLive.
In June, [GM Mike] Johnston selected 18-year-old Danish forward Joachim Blichfeld and 17-year-old Finnish defenseman Henri Jokiharju in the import draft. If Abols, who would be the Hawks’ leading returning goal scorer, comes back, the Hawks would need to trade him or release one of the other two, who are ineligible to be traded in their first year in the league.
Vancouver’s other 2016 seventh-round pick, Brett McKenzie, is headed back to the Ontario Hockey League’s North Bay Battalion, where he will be taking on a leadership role with the team. He doubled his goal total from 11 to 26 last season, so Canucks fans should look to see that number improve again this year.
This year’s sixth-round pick Jakob Stukel, a Surrey B.C. native, will look to have a real breakout season in his first full campaign with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen. Stukel struggled while with the Vancouver Giants but really blossomed into a good offensive forward.
The 2016 fifth-round pick Cole Candella heads back to the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs and will be a big part of their blue line this year.
Tate Olson, a seventh rounder in 2015, rejoins the WHL’s Prince George Cougars. The 6-foot-2 defenseman is an offensive catalyst and will be a part of a veteran blue line that could help the Cougars make some noise this year. He’ll need to work on his defensive game if he wants to make the Canucks in the next few years, as that was an area I thought he struggled in.
A 2015 fifth rounder, Carl Neill will rejoin the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Sherbrooke Phoenix and will provide stability to their blue line while working on his defensive play, something that still looked to be an issue in the Young Stars Classic.
None of these players were projected to make the Canucks roster this year, but it is interesting that Neill, Olson and particularly Abols will not be given the chance to get into preseason action. Abols and Neill also have an option to head to the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets, but instead, the Canucks decided to send them straight back to the junior ranks, which can’t feel good for either of them.
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