[Alta_redneck]

Hey!!! It's time to make a move.

[N_Fiddledog]

Alta_redneck Alta_redneck:

Hey!!! It's time to make a move.

You're right. The honeymoon period is over for Benning. Better he should do something. Excuses aren't good enough.

You've earned the right to tease. Your new guy made some juicy trades, and drafted well. Good for the Oilers. It's about time they started to look like they know what they're doing.

On the other hand...don't get cocky. Shutdown artist Cole Cassels made Connor McDavid his bitch on the run to the memorial cup.

[Hyack]

Prust to Canucks for Kassian & 5th round pick

$1:

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Jim Benning announced today that the club has acquired forward Brandon Prust from Montreal in exchange for Zack Kassian and a fifth round pick in 2016.

Prust, 31, notched 18 points (4-14-18) and 134 penalty minutes in 82 games with the Montreal Canadiens in 2014.15. He ranked first on the Canadiens and was sixth in the NHL with 134 penalty minutes. Prust recorded 78 shots on goal, 122 hits and 34 blocked shots, with an average of 12:57 of ice time per game. The left winger also tallied four points (1-3-4) and 35 penalty minutes for Montreal during the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Since his debut in 2006.07, Prust has recorded 108 points (39-69-108) and 977 penalty minutes in 451 NHL regular season games.

A native of London, Ontario, Prust was the Calgary Flames’ second pick (third round, 70th overall) at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to joining the Canucks, Prust had played with the Canadiens, Rangers, Flames, and Coyotes during his NHL career.

Canucks acquire 2016 2nd round pick from Ducks

$1:

Vancouver Canucks General Manager Jim Benning announced today that the Canucks have acquired a 2016 second round draft pick from Anaheim in exchange for defenceman Kevin Bieksa.

“We would like to thank Kevin and his wife Katie for their incredible commitment to this team and community,” said General Manager Jim Benning. “It’s always a difficult decision to trade a player who’s been such a big part of an organization for so long and we wanted to make sure we did what was best for both Kevin and the Canucks. Kevin was a leader for us and will always be connected with our fans and the Vancouver Canucks because of all he did for this province and team. We wish him and his family the very best.”

[N_Fiddledog]

Well, at least they got what they said they were going after this time, with Bieksa (although they wanted the second rounder from 2015).

They've also taken Matt Bartowski from Boston as a free agent.

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/07/01 ... year-deal/

They signed Goalie Richard Bachman, but one suspects that's more for Utica with Markstrom expected to move up to fill Lack's spot.

http://canucks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=773285

They also signed somebody named Taylor Feydun. Has the feel of another Utica signing for spare parts.

http://canucks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=773288

[Hyack]

Brandon Sutter traded to Canucks for Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening



Willie Desjardins was part of the reason Brandon Sutter never made it to the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.

Now the pair will be working together to get the Vancouver Canucks back to the NHL post-season.

The club acquired Sutter and a third-round pick in 2016 from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday in a deal that sent fellow centre Nick Bonino, minor-league defenceman Adam Clendening and a second-round selection next year the other way.

The most recent member of the Sutter family to play in the NHL, Brandon Sutter was with the Red Deer Rebels when Desjardins, now Vancouver's head coach, was behind the bench with the Medicine Hat Tigers.

"He beat us while I was there twice in the first round of the playoffs," Sutter said with a chuckle on a conference call. "We definitely had a bit of a rivalry in junior with both him and [Canucks forward] Derek Dorsett. It'll be fun to be on the other side of it now."

Canucks general manager Jim Benning said the trade for the 26-year-old Sutter solidifies things down the middle for his club and will help both now and in the future as he continues with his plan of rebuilding on the fly.

"To me he's a foundation piece for our group," said Benning. "He's a playoff player. When the games mean something, that's when he's at his best."

Benning said he hopes to get a new contract done with Sutter in the next few days and is eager to see how he meshes with the group.

"He's got high-end intangibles," said Benning. "We have some young players that are going to make our team in the next few years. Along with the Bo Horvats and some of our other young players, Brandon will be the leader of that younger group."

Born in Huntington, N.Y., while his father Brent was playing for the Islanders, Sutter recorded 21 goals and 12 assists in 80 games with Pittsburgh last season in mostly a third-line role. In 495 career games with the Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes, he has 98 goals and 87 assists.
'Good, young team'

"It's exciting playing in Canada in a great city with a lot of support there," said Sutter. "It's a good, young team and I'm looking forward to getting a fresh start and trying something new."

​Sutter was also entering the final year of his contract and likely due a significant raise next summer. With a large portion of the salary cap eaten up by its star-laden core, Pittsburgh opted to move Sutter, who has a cap hit of $3.3 million in 2015-16, while it could still get some value from him.

A popular figure in the dressing room, Sutter was a steadying presence. He'll get a chance to do it now in Vancouver, which hasn't won a playoff series since reaching the 2011 Stanley Cup finals.

"He understands the game, understands how things work, understands things aren't always going to go right and adjust to that," Penguins GM Jim Rutherford said. "He accepted his role … I'm not sure that would have been the case a year from now when he's free to go."

link

[N_Fiddledog]

I like this one.

The Clendenning giveaway is curious though. Kind of makes you think (hope) Benning has something in the works to bring some more defense this way.

[N_Fiddledog]

$1:

The 2015 Young Stars Classic gets underway tonight as Jake Virtanen and the Vancouver Canucks face-off against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.

The game will be streamed live on Canucks.com with puck drop slated for 7:30 p.m.

[snip]

As for the lineup tonight, although nothing is set in stone, it appears Utica Comets head coach Travis Green, who will be running the Canucks bench this weekend, will go with Cole Cassels between Jake Virtanen and Hunter Shinkaruk, perhaps in a head-to-head matchup against McDavid. Jared McCann centred the second line at Thursday’s practice, between Brendan Gaunce and Dane Fox.

http://canucks.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id ... L|VAN|home

[N_Fiddledog]

I came in late about 10 minutes in.

Just as I turned it on, Virtanen had just introduced himself to McDavid and McDavid was sitting on the ass of his pants on the ice.

Then the Oilers had a big group pout and took a variety of cheap shots on Virtanen, who didn't seem to care and just kept laying out the hits. He's for real. McDavid has been doing this trick where he makes himself invisible since then.

It's the end of the first period. This is a fun game so far.

Some no-name has scored for the Oilers. It's 1-0 for the bad guys.

And I'll give the Oilers prospects this. They are consistently dangerous. They don't seem to need Superstar.

This Darnell Nurse guy is a monster.

[Canadian_Mind]

This belongs in a 2015/2016 thread right?

[N_Fiddledog]

Stupid Oilers.

2-0

OK, they're good.

Doesn't matter. I'm enjoying this. Our guys are fun to watch.

MacKenzie Stewart just flipped one of their guys around like a pancake in a fight. He's an interesting story. He started hockey late. He was deaf, and needed operations. He's getting a chance largely on pluck and desire. He's strong, I'll tell you that.

[N_Fiddledog]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

This belongs in a 2015/2016 thread right?

Hyack seems to like to post the regular season threads.

Me? I'm the Canucks fan who likes to know what the prospects are doing, so I sit hear talking to myself on old threads.

Oilers took charge in the second. It was 4-0. McDavid even snuck in to get an assist on a Darnell Nurse goal.

Then our guy, Brendan Gaunce finally got one. Yayyyy.

4-1 at the start of the third.

[N_Fiddledog]

So the Canucks lost to the Oiler young stars 8 -2. Ouch. But ya know...they didn't look that bad getting beat that bad. A lot of our guys showed touches, and Virtanen is ready for the show.

They met the Jets young stars yesterday and looked much better, beating Winnipeg 4-1.

Our guys are playing the Flames right now, and you can watch them here if you're around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pvOBGKMgtI

1-0 for Calgary towards the end of the 1st. Cassels just had an "almost" though.

Calgary was beat by Edmonton 6-3.

[N_Fiddledog]

Gotta love this 3 on 3 overtime.

Uberfun. Back and forth up the ice.

Jake Virtanen pots the winner. 3-2 Vancouver.

And that'll do it for the young stars tournament.

Lots to be hopeful for if you're a Canucks fan.

[N_Fiddledog]