I still get the feeling there's a trade coming. Even AV's interview, I felt like he wasn't quite honest when he said Ebbett was the most likely Kesler replacement. It's the only reason why you would waive a guy ahead of time.
Plus the whole ******** about agreeing that what Volpatti needed was more ice-time when then Volpatti says this:
You're allowed to exceed the roster limit after a trade for one day to get anyone you need to on waivers, so I don't think they'd preemptively waive someone before a trade went through.
Ok, don't mean to go all conspiracy theory on everyone, but a lot of weird roster moves going on right now. Volpatti waived but Kesler not put on IR? Pinizzotto nowhere to be found and Ebbett still in Chicago instead of practicing with the big club. Seems rather strange to me. Usually Canucks do everything in a very organized, methodical fashion.
And now it looks like Kesler's on IR.
So I guess the plan is to give Volpatti away and go with zero extra forwards on the roster for the next while just to keep a guy with 17 GP in the last 2 years off of waivers? Makes sense.
Does Pinizzotto automatically come onto the Canucks' roster once he's finally healthy and cleared to play? Trying to remember if Ebbett went through the same...
He doesn't have to, but it sounds like that's what they're doing. Once he's cleared they could either put him back on the Canucks roster or they could waive him and assign him to the Wolves if he cleared. If the reports are true, it seems like they don't want to waive him so in order to get him AHL time they need to put him on a conditioning loan which means he still takes up a spot on the Canucks' 23 man roster and he counts against the cap.
To me it seems like a lot of hoop jumping and wasting of assets to prevent a 27 year old with 0 games NHL experience and who basically hasn't played hockey in 2 years from hitting the waiver wire. Anyone claiming him would have to keep him on their NHL roster, so I find it exceedingly unlikely that a guy in his situation wouldn't have cleared. Then he could take as long as he needed down with the Wolves (rather than a 2 week limit with a conditioning stint) and the Canucks wouldn't have to hobble along with a shortened roster in the meantime.
Of course that all assumes that the reports about them activating Pinizzotto are true. The Canucks haven't actually made any moves on that front yet.
He doesn't have to, but it sounds like that's what they're doing. Once he's cleared they could either put him back on the Canucks roster or they could waive him and assign him to the Wolves if he cleared. If the reports are true, it seems like they don't want to waive him so in order to get him AHL time they need to put him on a conditioning loan which means he still takes up a spot on the Canucks' 23 man roster and he counts against the cap.
To me it seems like a lot of hoop jumping and wasting of assets to prevent a 27 year old with 0 games NHL experience and who basically hasn't played hockey in 2 years from hitting the waiver wire. Anyone claiming him would have to keep him on their NHL roster, so I find it exceedingly unlikely that a guy in his situation wouldn't have cleared. Then he could take as long as he needed down with the Wolves (rather than a 2 week limit with a conditioning stint) and the Canucks wouldn't have to hobble along with a shortened roster in the meantime.
Of course that all assumes that the reports about them activating Pinizzotto are true. The Canucks haven't actually made any moves on that front yet.
Seems like a whole lot of hoopla over nothing then. If there's a choice, then I don't get why they won't just leave him on the Wolves until he's ready to come up, instead of activating him and then needing to waive him in order to send him back down again. Very weird.
He's not on the Wolves though. He's technically in the NHL right now, though he's Injured Non-Roster and hasn't been counting against the cap. In order to get him to the Wolves they'd either have to waive him or put him on a conditioning loan. It sounds like they're opting for the latter.
It's a little weird this year because of the lockout. The normal process is that anyone on an NHL contract comes to training camp and then the roster gets whittled down as guys are waived and/or loaned to the AHL in October. Because training camp was delayed until January, guys on NHL deals who spent the first part of the year in the AHL were automatically transferred to the NHL once the lockout was over and had to be dealt with then. Pinizzotto was injured already so nothing happened with him and he stayed in the NHL. But now that he's presumably healthy the team has to make a move with him.
I just don't get why they didn't throw him on waivers. How much interest could there possibly be and even if teams wanted him, are they really willing to let him get back into game shape in the NHL?
(Pinizotto is 28 years old and has never played a game in the NHL)
Ok, don't mean to go all conspiracy theory on everyone, but a lot of weird roster moves going on right now. Volpatti waived but Kesler not put on IR? Pinizzotto nowhere to be found and Ebbett still in Chicago instead of practicing with the big club. Seems rather strange to me. Usually Canucks do everything in a very organized, methodical fashion.
So you guys think they waived him knowing he'd be claimed? That's not at all consistent with their past behaviour (holding onto awful players simply because they didn't want to risk losing them)..
Because it is a careless loss of depth?
You call it careless loss of depth. I call it a completely minimal loss that builds up goodwill amongst the players which can lead to better rewards later on as players enjoy playing for franchises that treat them well. And yes putting Volpatti on waivers to give him a chance elsewhere is treating a guy well.
As well, 4th liner guys can be picked up via waivers throughout the season.
My problem is that until then, this moves Ebbett up the depth chart.....
You call it careless loss of depth. I call it a completely minimal loss that builds up goodwill amongst the players which can lead to better rewards later on as players enjoy playing for franchises that treat them well. And yes putting Volpatti on waivers to give him a chance elsewhere is treating a guy well.
I'm fully cognizant that the reasoning somehow isn't registering for you. That's fine, but I'll try again. The canucks don't want to use him in that role 4th line/Pk role because he needs to learn half that role and because well they want to be a better team than one that has to play Volpatti at all. They have other options or can get other options easily. They likely have no intention of keeping him a part of this organization going forward. Yes they could have kept him around, found a better time to send him down, stuck him in the press box etc in the name of depth. But doing that may just kill any chance of Volpatti getting himself any sort of NHL deal next year. In another franchise Volpatti may have a better chance to secure that contract because that organization may not be as deep. Saying things like it doesn't make sense or it is a careless loss of depth is only looking at it from the black and white of names on paper. But it isn't black and white. It's grey and other things like helping a player out play into it.
Gillis as an agent and GM has always had the players desires and feelings at the forefront of his mind. He will move guys that are struggling to find a place in this organization to ones where they might better succeed even if it temporarily cuts into depth.