Vasily Podkolzin, Sheldon Dries, Akito Hirose among 20 players cut from Canucks training camp

[Sophomore Jinx]

Story by Mike Gould, Canucksarmy

Vasily Podkolzin, Sheldon Dries, Akito Hirose among 20 players cut from Canucks training camp

 

The Vancouver Canucks announced 20 additional cuts to their training camp roster on Sunday morning.

Among them is Vasily Podkolzin, the Canucks’ 2019 first-round draft pick who split the 2022–23 season between Vancouver and the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks.

 

All 20 players cut on Monday have been assigned to Abbotsford, although five of them will have to clear waivers first. Jett Woo, Matt Irwin, Sheldon Dries, Jack Rathbone, and Zach Sawchenko will all be made available to the NHL’s 31 other teams before they can report to the AHL.

 

Additionally, Chase Wouters, Quinn Schmiemann, and John Stevens had all been attending Canucks camp on professional tryout contracts while on AHL deals. They’ve been released from their PTOs to report to Abbotsford.

In addition to Podkolzin, the Canucks assigned the following 11 waiver-exempt players on NHL contracts directly to the AHL:

• Danila Klimovich
• Aatu Räty
• Max Sasson
• Linus Karlsson
• Arshdeep Bains
• Tristen Nielsen
• Josh Bloom
• Aidan McDonough
• Akito Hirose
• Filip Johansson
• Nikita Tolopilo

With these cuts, the Canucks now have 25 players remaining in their training camp:

Forwards (13): Anthony Beauvillier, Teddy Blueger, Brock Boeser, Phil Di Giuseppe, Conor Garland, Nils Höglander, Dakota Joshua, Andrei Kuzmenko, Ilya Mikheyev, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Jack Studnicka, Pius Suter.

Defencemen (9): Guillaume Brisebois, Ian Cole, Filip Hronek, Quinn Hughes, Noah Juulsen, Cole McWard, Tyler Myers, Carson Soucy, Christian Wolanin.

Goaltenders (3): Thatcher Demko, Casey DeSmith, Arturs Silovs.

Overall, it was an underwhelming training camp and preseason for the 22-year-old Podkolzin. Right from day one of camp, Podkolzin was given a golden opportunity to play alongside JT Miller and Brock Boeser, but just hasn’t looked comfortable this preseason.

Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet has spoken at length about how much he likes Podkolzin and admires his work ethic.

Earlier this week, we wrote about how playing in the AHL under the watchful eye of Jeremy Colliton and the rest of the coaching staff might be the best thing for Podkolzin to start this season, and it appears the Canucks felt the same way. You can read that piece by clicking here.

Edited October 1, 2023 by Sophomore Jinx

[6of1_halfdozenofother]

I think Woo and Rathbone are the only ones likely to get claimed, with an outside chance that Sawchenko might as well.  Irwin and Dries are unprobable, unless a team is pretty desparate for warm bodies.

 

On the bright side, if they clear, we'll have some D depth to be able to call up when the inevitable injuries start to happen.

[KesLord]

Our AHL development needs some work. Who remembers the last time one of our AHL players really came in and made a difference? We need proper development so we can have the Burrows', Kesler's, and Bieska's of the world on our team again. 

Seems like our young guys in the AHL just go there and lose value.

[Coconuts]

Probably best for Podz to stick in the AHL for a long stretch, same deal as last season. Let him play top six minutes, play on all special teams, and be a go-to guy. If we want him to be more than a bottom six guy we need to give him top six opportunities elsewhere, he's not getting them as a Canuck.

 

The others are less surprising, I look forward to seeing how Klimovich, Raty, and Johansson perform this season though. 

[Down By the River]

Just now, KesLord said:

Our AHL development needs some work. Who remembers the last time one of our AHL players really came in and made a difference? We need proper development so we can have the Burrows', Kesler's, and Bieska's of the world on our team again. 

Seems like our young guys in the AHL just go there and lose value.

I'd argue that things have started to take a turn for the better. 

 

Hogz went down to the AHL and looks great. Arshdeep Bains is progressing, as is Tristen Nielsen. Jett Woo and Linus Karlsson made strides from last year. Will be intersting to watch the development of McDonough, Sasson, and Hirose. Abby Canucks are relatively young for an AHL team, they'll be fun to keep an eye on. 

 

You're right, we aren't seeing guys jump in the way Burrows/Kesler/Bieksa did, but part of that could be the way guys seem to get less time in the AHL given the importance of having ELCs on the 23-man roster to remain cap-compliant. 

 

 

[Sophomore Jinx]

21 minutes ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said:

I think Woo and Rathbone are the only ones likely to get claimed, with an outside chance that Sawchenko might as well.  Irwin and Dries are unprobable, unless a team is pretty desparate for warm bodies.

 

On the bright side, if they clear, we'll have some D depth to be able to call up when the inevitable injuries start to happen.

I agree, and I think the most likely of the two has gotta be Woo, but maybe another team will claim Rathbone, thinking they can teach him that there's another side of the puck.

 

As for Podz, I don't get this kid, golden opportunities continue to be floundered by him...he's a great kid, with all of the tools except for the hunger and drive that is needed. Can he be taught the mental game? Unlikely? 

 

Speaking of hunger and drive, Podz could learn a thing or two from Di Pizza (no pun intended) about tenacity, as well as from McWard, Studnicka, et al. 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Sophomore Jinx

[KesLord]

4 minutes ago, Down By the River said:

I'd argue that things have started to take a turn for the better. 

 

Hogz went down to the AHL and looks great. Arshdeep Bains is progressing, as is Tristen Nielsen. Jett Woo and Linus Karlsson made strides from last year. Will be intersting to watch the development of McDonough, Sasson, and Hirose. Abby Canucks are relatively young for an AHL team, they'll be fun to keep an eye on. 

 

You're right, we aren't seeing guys jump in the way Burrows/Kesler/Bieksa did, but part of that could be the way guys seem to get less time in the AHL given the importance of having ELCs on the 23-man roster to remain cap-compliant. 

 

 

Perhaps, there's still hope. 

Rathbone's drop of 40 points to 16 in the next season is pretty atrocious tho. To the point where I'm fine if he gets claimed. 

[DownUndaCanuck]

Surprised to see Brisebois and McWard still hanging around, not surprised by Wolanin to be honest. I really thought Irwin and Hirose would be revolving around the team. Don't think it's the wrong call but I'm a bit skeptical about how we're lining up our defence. A top pairing of Hughes and McWard against the likes of McDavid and Draisaitl will be interesting so not sure what Tocchet has up his sleeves for big player match-ups.

 

Up front, we acquired so many depth forwards I'm not surprised our AHLers are heading straight back to where they came from. There's simply no room. We should have tried to shed some forwards instead of gaining more. I like Suter and Blueger, they're good defensive sand-paper guys we need in our bottom-6, but having Beauvillier and Garland just ghost around the ice for 15 minutes a night is a bit of a waste. Still, we're pretty stacked/deep up front with I'd say 3rd liners.

[AlwaysACanuckFan]

Nice seeing McWard and Hoglander still sticking around.

[JeremyCuddles]

Hoping we see a turn around in player development. But been saying that with the last few management groups. I can't chalk up every failed prospect to bad drafting. At some point we aren't developing players properly. The only prospects that manage something are 1st and 2nd rounders. The picks we love trading. Which means we are straight up not drafting or developing NHL talent outside the rounds we routinely trade out of. Not a recipe for success given ELCs are one of the best ways to ice an competitive roster and staying cap compliant. Every year we like the players we draft and every year they amount to nothing at the NHL level. Woo and Rathbone look like two more players that just aren't NHL quality. Karlsson is getting up there in age too.

 

Hoping for big things from Hirose, Johansson and Raty in the A though. We need some homeruns otherwise we have a pretty major hole in the next tier of players after the NHLers. Organizational depth has been a talking point for a decade. But we can't seem to get a foothold there because we are constantly trading our 1st and/or 2nd rounders. And the few picks we do make aren't amounting to much.

[Down By the River]

22 minutes ago, KesLord said:

Perhaps, there's still hope. 

Rathbone's drop of 40 points to 16 in the next season is pretty atrocious tho. To the point where I'm fine if he gets claimed. 

Same. With Hughes and Hronek, I don't think there is much room for a guy with Rathbone's skillset. He needed a Ryan Ellis type shift in playing style that just did not happen. 

 

I think part of the problem with player development is that there really has not been much to develop.

 

There seems to be four pathways for Canucks prospects: (1) hit right away (Hughes, Petey), (2) hit somewhere else after being rushed too early (McCann, Forsling), (3) take a step backwards after being rushed too early (Podz, Hogz), or (4) bust (Virtanen, etc.). There needs to be another pathway where a guy gets drafted into the organization, takes four years to develop, and then is able to join the team playing consistent bottom-six minutes as opposed to being rushed into a top-6 role because the team couldn't manage its cap properly. 

[elvis15]

17 minutes ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Surprised to see Brisebois and McWard still hanging around, not surprised by Wolanin to be honest. I really thought Irwin and Hirose would be revolving around the team. Don't think it's the wrong call but I'm a bit skeptical about how we're lining up our defence. A top pairing of Hughes and McWard against the likes of McDavid and Draisaitl will be interesting so not sure what Tocchet has up his sleeves for big player match-ups.

 

Up front, we acquired so many depth forwards I'm not surprised our AHLers are heading straight back to where they came from. There's simply no room. We should have tried to shed some forwards instead of gaining more. I like Suter and Blueger, they're good defensive sand-paper guys we need in our bottom-6, but having Beauvillier and Garland just ghost around the ice for 15 minutes a night is a bit of a waste. Still, we're pretty stacked/deep up front with I'd say 3rd liners.

Those big matchups are what you have Cole and Hronek for. And I don't think any of our AHL'ers on the forward side would be an improvement in the roles Blueger and Suter will be playing. When you have players like Hoglander coming back in after some development, and others like McWard and DiGiuseppe finding spots, I think the mix is still pretty good while allowing players on the cusp to take another year to develop.

 

Outside of that, not sure of the chances someone like Woo or Rathbone getting claimed are. Less worried about Rathbone as he's organizational depth at this point vs really challenging for a spot, but Woo might still have a niche spot to fill we don't otherwise see in our young players and prospects.

 

Podkolzin is on the cusp, more mentally not quite having it right than anything else. I really hope he'll have a light bulb moment because he really is that close to being very effective on the NHL side of things.

[Goal_thecup]

59 minutes ago, KesLord said:

Perhaps, there's still hope. 

Rathbone's drop of 40 points to 16 in the next season is pretty atrocious tho. To the point where I'm fine if he gets claimed. 

Yeah, I don't think he's ever gonna be good enough.

I am intrigued by new managements decisions (in a good way for a change) and look forward to seeing what they do with the prospects etc. that they no longer need or want.

Can Rathbone add to the return we might get in some kind of deal?

2-Fer Deal of the day: Woo and Rathbone for a prospect RD?

(Or maybe a couple big tough wingers...)

[elvis15]

For anyone who hasn't seen it, here's the full list of waivers:

 

 

[kettlevalley]

Why do I think Rathbone gets claimed?

 

[RomanPer]

53 minutes ago, Down By the River said:

Same. With Hughes and Hronek, I don't think there is much room for a guy with Rathbone's skillset. He needed a Ryan Ellis type shift in playing style that just did not happen. 

 

I think part of the problem with player development is that there really has not been much to develop.

 

There seems to be four pathways for Canucks prospects: (1) hit right away (Hughes, Petey), (2) hit somewhere else after being rushed too early (McCann, Forsling), (3) take a step backwards after being rushed too early (Podz, Hogz), or (4) bust (Virtanen, etc.). There needs to be another pathway where a guy gets drafted into the organization, takes four years to develop, and then is able to join the team playing consistent bottom-six minutes as opposed to being rushed into a top-6 role because the team couldn't manage its cap properly. 

It looks to me like Klimovich is on this new development path. Seeing how much time he spends with the Sedins and how much believe they have in him, I have high hopes for the kid with great work ethic.

[JeremyCuddles]

There's a world where we can have DiPietro and Studnicka. Lets flip DeSmith for a 2nd rounder. He's looked good so far. Gotta have up'd his trade value

[gwarrior]

Knock on wood that Rathbone dosen't get claimed............

[IBatch]

2 hours ago, KesLord said:

Our AHL development needs some work. Who remembers the last time one of our AHL players really came in and made a difference? We need proper development so we can have the Burrows', Kesler's, and Bieska's of the world on our team again. 

Seems like our young guys in the AHL just go there and lose value.

Sure need that.   And will enjoy the "Burrows, do we really need him" and all the Bieksa slamming on this site when it happens.   

 

Not sure what you mean by the last paragraph.   Unless you're still waiting for Gaunce to show up.    Colliton has done an amazing job.    Manitoba was a long time ago.   The guys we are drafting that are high up the list, aren't even developing there the last half decade plus aside from Demko.   They are from Europe or the US system.   Looking at it from that lens it's not as bad.   And from another lens, it's still about drafting and we haven't  drafted f!ck all past the second round since Edler.   Hopefully that will change. 

[Jaimito]

Appropriate moves.  

 

Podz need to earn his way back up.  Hogs did it all yr last season and came prepared.  

[DavidGoliath]

What surprises me about the young guys is how few really want to “give ‘er” and create an impression by high energy and hitting in camp. Is this because we don’t give much credit for grit when drafting?

Also surprised at Matt Irwin not giving a more spirited attempt at playing for his home team - perhaps he’s lost the fire at his age or just doesn’t have the legs and lungs at this point. Seems like a nice guy though.

[Rekker]

1 hour ago, gwarrior said:

Knock on wood that Rathbone dosen't get claimed............

Meh, I'd rather have the player contract spot for future claims, or find a more physical, defensive D that fits our lineup better.

[The Colt 45s]

3 hours ago, KesLord said:

Our AHL development needs some work. Who remembers the last time one of our AHL players really came in and made a difference? We need proper development so we can have the Burrows', Kesler's, and Bieska's of the world on our team again. 

Seems like our young guys in the AHL just go there and lose value.

But they also benefited from having AV as a coach during their time on the Moose.

[gwarrior]

25 minutes ago, Rekker said:

Meh, I'd rather have the player contract spot for future claims, or find a more physical, defensive D that fits our lineup better.

Ok, I would too. But I would rather get SOMETHING for him in a trade, rather than lose him for nothing.

[Rekker]

17 minutes ago, gwarrior said:

Ok, I would too. But I would rather get SOMETHING for him in a trade, rather than lose him for nothing.

Rathbone isn't worth anything, imho. Seems like a great guy and all but he's shown very little to make him a plus asset. I'm guessing management has guaged any possible interest.