The season is over. The offseason has begun. Ryan Johnson has brought back a fan favourite.
Gatcomb coming back for another season. It sounded like he settled into a good grinding/bottom six role with Abby down the stretch.
Deserves it. He was excellent down the stretch.
AKL I’m a bit more surprised given the incoming RHD.
Just a small note of correction. Cap Friendly has completely butchered his name. It's 'Nikita Tolopilo' not 'Mikita Talpila'.I believe this is the updated depth chart for Abbotsford at the moment -
Goalie:
Arturs Silovs
Spencer Martin
Mikita Talapila
Defense:
Jett Woo
Jack Rathbone
Filip Johansson
Cole McWard
Alex Kannok-Leipert (AHL Deal)
Quinn Schmiemann (AHL Deal)
Forward:
Arshdeep Bains
Max Sasson
Aatu Raty
Danila Klimovich
Josh Bloom
Linus Karlsson
Aidan McDonough
Chase Wouters (AHL Deal)
Vincent Arseneau (AHL Deal)
Marc Gatcomb (AHL Deal)
A few of Hirose, Wolanin, Brisebois, Dries, Di Giuseppe and Studnicka may end up there as well.
Just a small note of correction. Cap Friendly has completely butchered his name. It's 'Nikita Tolopilo' not 'Mikita Talpila'.
Hopefully they get the name right on the back of his Abbotsford Canucks uniform next season.
Mikita Talapila it's transliteration from Belarusian(probably as in his passport) and Nikita Tolopilo - from Russian, which is more used in everyday lifeJust a small note of correction. Cap Friendly has completely butchered his name. It's 'Nikita Tolopilo' not 'Mikita Talpila'.
My apologies to Cap Friendly.....should have known they'd never get the spelling of any player wrong. They're religious about keeping the player movements and their site up-to-date and correct at all times.Mikita Talapila it's transliteration from Belarusian(probably as in his passport) and Nikita Tolopilo - from Russian, which is more used in everyday life
Upon further awareness, it was determined Cap friendly will remain a credible sourceMy apologies to Cap Friendly.....should have known they'd never get the spelling of any player wrong. They're religious about keeping the player movements and their site up-to-date and correct at all times.
Ryan Johnson's busy off-season continues.
He was the Captain of the Guelph Storm this year, where he played as an overager.
I assume you’re familiar enough with the rest of the AHL to make this claim, yeah?I'm really beginning to believe that Abbotsford might soon be the preferred destination for undrafted UFA's, if it isn't already.
It's one thing for guys occupying one of the Canucks 50-contract slots to show improvement. But seems to me the guys signed to AHL contracts by the Abby Canucks are making major strides on their own.
One thing is for sure. Cooper Walker will get a legitimate shot to make the Abbotsford Canucks next season. And as an undrafted UFA, that's all you can ask for--a legitimate shot to make it.
I know a lot of posters are discouraged about the state of the parent club these days......but the Abbotsford Canucks are easily one of the best things to happen to this franchise in the last decade.
I don't think it's an either-or situation, especially at the AHL level. You can have a solid top-6 and top-4 and still have room to give guys chances. The fact that players like Bains, Gatcomb, and Schmiemann all came in and got the ice time and development they did speaks well for other players coming in and doing the same. This isn't the NHL where spots can get clogged up so there's little worry about an AHL team being too stacked for a good player to see the ice.I assume you’re familiar enough with the rest of the AHL to make this claim, yeah?
Like, on this very same page you made a post about how "stacked" Abbotsford is for next season, but somehow Abbotsford is simultaneously the best destination for UFAs because it offers them a good chance of making the roster. Which is it?
I assume you’re familiar enough with the rest of the AHL to make this claim, yeah?
Like, on this very same page you made a post about how "stacked" Abbotsford is for next season, but somehow Abbotsford is simultaneously the best destination for UFAs because it offers them a good chance of making the roster. Which is it?
Like 85% of your posts are these "gotcha" posts to VanJack. Did he date your mom or something??
I dated both their moms & have to say, I know where RobertKron got his good looks from.Like 85% of your posts are these "gotcha" posts to VanJack. Did he date your mom or something??
You can monitor all the signings on Cap Friendly, A lot of clubs in the NHL mostly confine their signings to ELC's for players they've already drafted. A few others, have picked up an NCAA player or two.
So when you add in the UFA's the Canucks have signed from Sweden; along with guys from the NCAA; and junior ranks; I feel confident in saying there isn't a team in the league that has signed more young, free agent players than the Canucks.
And on the basis of their NCAA signings alone, the Canucks have added Sasson, McWard, Hirose and McDonough after the end of the NCAA season. And d-man Andy Carrol signed an AHL contract with Abbotsford. This is easily the most NCAA players added by any NHL team.
Most of these guys could have signed anywhere. So why is Vancouver such a favored destination for top NCAA players? It's because they feel they have a legitimate shot to make the big club or develop their game by playing in a solid AHL market like Abbotsford.
That's true but we also landed Kuzmenko and then a couple of the top-tier college UFAs. We used to miss out on those kinds of free assets and now we seem to be something of a destination for them.When you have fewer draft picks (and use most of them poorly), you have more contract slots to make UFA prospect signings. That's about all there is to it.
Not a single player from the 2018-2021 drafts signed with the team last summer and joined Abbotsford for the 22-23 season. That freed up the team to sign a bunch of older prospects in the last 12 months.
That's true but we also landed Kuzmenko and then a couple of the top-tier college UFAs. We used to miss out on those kinds of free assets and now we seem to be something of a destination for them.
Yeah, our current crop of UDFAs is a result of a few factors. Here's hoping we can keep it up for a while even if (hopefully when) we hang onto more draft picks than we have in the past decade.Oh, for sure. We have normal competent management now who have been able to leverage the opportunity provided by a thin roster into results. And Kuzmenko was a massive home run.
But generally speaking, the reason we've signed so many Euro/NCAA/CHL UFA prospects in the past 12 months is because we had few picks (and few good, signable prospects amongst the picks we did use) from the 2018-2021 drafts.
And again for 23-24 we have only one Canuck-drafted prospect turning pro (McDonough) plus Bloom acquired in a trade.
And to be clear, I have no problem with that. One of the reasons I've supported trading picks and running a pick deficit is that these things don't happen in a vacuum. If you trade a 4th round pick in 2020, that means you have one less prospect to sign in 2022 and you have the ability to sign a Bains or an Aman and you've lost nothing.