Confirmed with Link: Canucks sign D Brad Hunt to 1-Year, 1-Way Deal for $800K

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Brad Hunt at eliteprospects.com

Depth d-man for the big club, or a star for Abbotsford.

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[Balls Mahoney]

I have been following Hunt since his Edmonton days since he's a bit of a strange player. Hunt has always been an undersized power play wizard who can't do much else. Probably the most one dimensional player in recent memory but it's an awesome dimension. I'm actually pretty stoked we signed him as he's a decent 7-9 guy on your depth chart.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

I have been following Hunt since his Edmonton days since he's a bit of a strange player. Hunt has always been an undersized power play wizard who can't do much else. Probably the most one dimensional player in recent memory but it's an awesome dimension. I'm actually pretty stoked we signed him as he's a decent 7-9 guy on your depth chart.

It'll be interesting to see how the depth plays out - ie, do they carry three extra defensemen. Schenn, Keeper and Hunt would appear to be the 7/8/9 guys. But who really knows?

 

[Balls Mahoney]

It'll be interesting to see how the depth plays out - ie, do they carry three extra defensemen. Schenn, Keeper and Hunt would appear to be the 7/8/9 guys. But who really knows?

I'm probably one of the most critical HFCanuck posters about the Benning regime but I really like those signings. There's a logic to each one of them and to actually load up on defensemen that can play at the NHL level with varying skill sets is something that's happened maybe once in the last 20 years?

Every season literally ever, the defense falls apart from travel and injuries. So to grab these guys is a big from me.

 

[F A N]

Brad Hunt has been one of the earliest names mentioned. Looks like he has an accurate point shot including a one timer.

 

[VanJack]

We're loading up with a plethora of NHL-AHL 'tweeners.....but how many of them will actually be able to play in Abbotsford? I mean how many veterans are you allowed in your lineup for each game?

 

[GreatSaveLuongo]

Uh where the hell do we fit all of these #7-10 guys? They're all 1-way, and guess we can bury a few of them and call up when necessary

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Uh where the hell do we fit all of these #7-10 guys? They're all 1-way, and guess we can bury a few of them and call up when necessary

Just IMO - Juolevi is going to be in Abbotsford. I think Schenn is No. 7 for sure, while Hunt and Keeper will jockey for the 8th and 9th spots.

 

[MarkMM]

It look like Benning and Aquilini are eating one-way deals to ice a competitive team in Abbotsford and invest in depth for the NHL then they deserve credit for that.

Poolman is my one reservation and that's by a year / $500k neither of which are fatal, and the rest I'm a fan of. Still worried how we're adding to spillover cap problems for the season after (Virtanen and Holtby buy-outs combined with Halak's bonuses) but it's still probably manageable.

 

[biturbo19]

It'll be interesting to see how the depth plays out - ie, do they carry three extra defensemen. Schenn, Keeper and Hunt would appear to be the 7/8/9 guys. But who really knows?

Unless we're talking about a Taxi Squad again...that'd be categorically insane to me.

We've got 8 NHL defencemen, and then some clutter like Hunt who is a really nice AHL piece, that you can call up if you absolutely have to. But you put guys like Hunt through waivers every day of the week, and twice on Sundays. He's the sort of player you sign to help your farm team succeed. I wouldn't blink on exposing him to waivers as a tweener old man. Juolevi may or may not be "better", but he's the far more likely candidate to be plucked by some team willing to burn a spot on a young guy with pedigree.

OEL-Myers (ughhh)
Hughes-Hamonic
Rathbone-Pool Boy

Juolevi-Schenn are probably your two healthy "extras" carrying 8D, which looks likely to me. But i'd expect plenty of rotation among those bottom-pairing guys.

The rest are all headed out on the commute to The Farm. Which frankly...for Hunt, is quite literally "home", yeah?

 

[iceburg]

Just listened to him being interviewed on SN650. Fantastic interview. Felt like jumping out of my seat and yelling Go Canucks Go....but I was driving at the time. Amazing energy.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Yeah, he's pumped to be here. Awesome to see.

 

[bobbyb2009]

Just IMO - Juolevi is going to be in Abbotsford. I think Schenn is No. 7 for sure, while Hunt and Keeper will jockey for the 8th and 9th spots.

Doesn't Juolevi have to pass through waivers now? If so, can't see them risking him- he would have to stay up.

 

[Boose Brudreau]

Doesn't Juolevi have to pass through waivers now? If so, can't see them risking him- he would have to stay up.

i bet he will outplay OJ by a country mile. If OJ can't outplay these types of players by now, i doubt very much that he ever will.

 

[The Stig]

I played with Brad as a kid. Even in peewee, he was built solid. Not the most skilled guy but will leave it all on the ice every night. Trust me on this, he will wear the green and blue with the same pride as a team Canada jersey.

 

[Javaman]

SN650 seems to think he's a slam dunk to be on the Canucks roster while simultaneously being unsure about the chances of Juolevi or Rathbone to make it.

Not really a good thing when a 32 year old, undersized, journeyman d-man is a better option than your top 2 defense prospects.

Welcome to year 8 people.

 

[orcatown]

Fun to see some of the players you watched playing minor League hockey around the Lower mainland emerge as decent pros and play some for Vancouver. Remember Hunt, as a youngster, skating around with hockey pants that were touching the ice.

Hunt has played passably well (and tons better than someone like Joulevi) at times in his career at the NHL level. Strictly depth but decent depth along the lines of Biega (although a different kind of player)

One thing I don't get here is any concern Joulevi gets taken off waivers. Why? What has he done outside of getting drafted high? Team would have to keep him on their roster and no one is doing that based on his play to date.

 

[VanJack]

The Canucks have three, stay-at-home right-shooting d-men in Schenn, Hamonic and Poolman. And the offensive guys are all on the left side; Hughes, Rathbone and OEL. Myers is a right shot d-man but sort of a hybrid. Julovi probably sticks if the Canucks decide to carry eight d-men.

Hunt is depth and nothing more. He starts the year in Abbotsford.

 

[lawrence]

I played with Brad as a kid. Even in peewee, he was built solid. Not the most skilled guy but will leave it all on the ice every night. Trust me on this, he will wear the green and blue with the same pride as a team Canada jersey.

oh my god I echo your statement.

I played with him in a beer league back in 2012! I know none of you guys will believe me. What happened was we were short players our goalie worked with his mom at a bank in Maple Ridge, and got us an "extra guy" to come in, sure thing, he played college, we like ok cool, he comes in, we meet him, blah blah blah, we ask his name, so for, Brad Hunt. We have a NCAA player playing with us tonight. Cool. He was so damn good he shot the puck so damn hard the goalie can feel the stink in his equipment absolutely hilarious, guys were trying to chase him and can't catch up he was deking guys out of their jock straps and the best part was , Brad Hunt is suuuuuuuch a cool and nice guy. Friendly guy no arrogance, no nothing he was just having fun, at this point he was unsigned, not drafted just having fun with us ya know. He might have known he might never play professional hockey and he's just playing for fun. We still lost btw, and at the end he was like oh yea this was very fun lets do it again, (of course he's an illegal player because he's not even on our roster). lol the ref that reffed our game shortly after had a chat with him and guess what the ref knew who the hell he was because he too use to play in his league.

I am sooooo happy for him, when he first signed with he Oilers I was soooooo happy for him and now he's made his way onto my Canucks, my gosh we are so happy for him. He's small though quite short actually but a locker room guy. He is the type of guy that will never swear, I swear! That's who he is!

 

[VanJack]

It's a nice story....Brad Hunt coming home to play pro hockey....at 32, this could be the last contract he signs. He's had a classic journeyman career, playing for five different NHL teams. But at 5'9" 177, he's definitely overachieved in his NHL career. Reminds me of Mike Weaver, an another under-sized d-man who kept getting signed.

This is actually Brad Hunt's second stint in the Canucks organization. He played on the Chicago Wolves from 2011-2013 when they were the Canucks AHL affiliate.

One thing's for sure.....this Abbotsford team is going to be fun to watch with guys like Hunt and Nic Petan who are thrilled to be coming back home to play pro hockey. I can see a lot of B.C.-born hockey players circling the Canucks organization and looking forward to playing in front of family and friends.

Have a sneaking feeling that the Abby Canucks are going to be a real success story.....never really saw it coming.

 

[Peen]

I’d bet money that Hunt starts over Rathbone day one because veteran.

 

[JAK]

I love these moves.

If OJ and Rathbone cannot out play the signings, then they don't deserve a spot.

 

[iceburg]

Rathbone doesn't require waivers, OJ does. That will factor in even though I think Rathbone has jumped over him on the depth chart. It may be that Hunt gets waived because it's less likely he will get picked up. That said, if OJ is 9th on the depth chart behind the top five, Rathbone, Schenn, and Hunt, I'm not sure it matters.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Rathbone doesn't require waivers, OJ does. That will factor in even though I think Rathbone has jumped over him on the depth chart. It may be that Hunt gets waived because it's less likely he will get picked up. That said, if OJ is 9th on the depth chart behind the top five, Rathbone, Schenn, and Hunt, I'm not sure it matters.

You really think that they would waive Juolevi over Hunt?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

SN650 seems to think he's a slam dunk to be on the Canucks roster while simultaneously being unsure about the chances of Juolevi or Rathbone to make it.

Not really a good thing when a 32 year old, undersized, journeyman d-man is a better option than your top 2 defense prospects.

Welcome to year 8 people.

All that proves is that the guys at 650 are idiots who don't know what they're seeing when they watch hockey. Rathbone is an nhl defenceman. We might be questioning whether he's our best defenceman in a few months. That says a lot about the rest of our defence. Welcome to year 8 indeed.

Great to have local guys like Hunt signed here. You can hear his character and love for the game in the interview. Guys like that can have a positive impact on a team just because of their attitude. Kind of like Stecher did.