Spitballin’ (or Super Pass It To Bulis: All In, if you love adventurous acronymizing) is a feature that allows us to touch on a multitude of things really fast, because in the world of hockey, there are always lots of things to find and colour. Here are a few quick topics.
College free agent Alex Kerfoot meets with Vancouver brass
After a strong senior season at Harvard where he put up 16 goals and 45 points in 36 games, Alex Kerfoot chose not to sign with the team that drafted him, the New Jersey Devils, making him an unrestricted free agent as of August 15th.
Kerfoot began his tour of prospective teams on Wednesday by meeting with his hometown Vancouver Canucks. It was, according to his agent, a “productive” meeting.
Agent J.P Barry says Alex Kerfoot had a very productive and informative meeting with Linden, Benning and Green. #Canucks
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) August 17, 2017
I wrote in detail about Kerfoot, whose father is the majority owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps, a few weeks ago, pointing out that the main issue for signing him is his position. The Canucks don’t have a lot of room at centre at the NHL level, with six centres likely to start the season on the roster: Bo Horvat, Henrik Sedin, Brandon Sutter, Brendan Gaunce, Sam Gagner, and Alexander Burmistrov.
If Kerfoot is okay with foregoing an immediate NHL job — and at 23, he probably shouldn’t be — then the Canucks have a bit more room for centres in Utica. Still, it’s likely that other teams offer more opportunity for Kerfoot to make a quicker jump to the NHL.
TSN producer Grady Sas has sources that suggest Kerfoot will not be signing in Vancouver and has not waivered from that stance with reports of Kerfoot’s meeting with the Canucks.
Steve Dangle reflects on Henrik Sedin’s 1000th point
Sportsnet is running down the 100 best moments of the 2016-17 season. In what is, shockingly, not the only Canucks appearance on this list, Steve Dangle breaks down Henrik Sedin’s 1000th career point.
Dangle focuses mainly on the oddity of a Canucks captain scoring his 1000th career point on a former Canucks captain, which is fair, because the odds of that ever happening again in the history of the universe are astronomically high. He also points out the beauty of Henrik accomplishing this feat entirely with the Canucks.
“In this era, players are changing hands all the time,” she says, “It’s so rare that they stick around for Hall-of-Fame careers, all with one team.”
If you would like another break down of that goal, or perhaps a Breakdowning, check out PITB’s take on Henrik’s milestone.
Brock Boeser keeps racking up goals in Da Beauty League
As summer leagues go, Da Beauty League is a pretty special one, featuring games between some legitimate star NHL players, along with other NHL, AHL, and college players with connections to Minnesota.
One of those players is Minnesota-native Brock Boeser, who has been one of the top players in the league. I covered his first two goals in his debut, but he’s now up to 8 goals and 14 points in 7 games, the exact same goals and points as fellow Minnesota-native Kyle Okposo.
Two of those goals came on Wednesday. The first benefited from a slick setup by Iowa Wild forward Hunter Warner.
Brock Boeser makes it a 5-3 game with a great goal for @WalserAutoGroup ! @Canucks pic.twitter.com/L9lKP7DMXW
— DaBeautyLeague (@DaBeautyLeague) August 17, 2017
His second showcased a little seen element of Boeser’s goalscoring arsenal: a slapshot from the right side of the ice:
Brock Boeser ties up the game with his second of the game for @WalserAutoGroup !! 6-6!! pic.twitter.com/RvEWjpNPUC
— DaBeautyLeague (@DaBeautyLeague) August 17, 2017
We’ve seen Boeser use his slap shot on the power play from the left faceoff circle, but he’s evidently equally deadly from the right faceoff circle, drilling the puck just over the goaltender’s right pad and inside the far post.
Corey Hirsch delivers his assessment of the Canucks
Sportsnet 650 has tagged former Canucks goaltender Corey Hirsch to be the colour commentator for Canucks games next season. So what does he think of the team heading into 2017-18? He did a Q&A with Luke Fox on the Sportsnet website and it’s a good sign for radio listeners: Hirsch knows his stuff and has some strong opinions, ones that you might not always agree with, but that he can articulately express and defend.
On the Canucks approach with bringing in veteran free agents:
What the Canucks are doing by signing those [UFAs] is they’re keeping their team competitive. You can bring a bunch of young guys in, but if they go out and get schwacked every night, they don’t learn anything. The veterans will help keep them competitive and bring the young guys along in their development. That’s the best way to do it.
On Jacob Markstrom and what it will take for him to become a number one goaltender:
He’s a big, athletic goalie. So he has the ability to make saves he shouldn’t. His biggest [hurdle] is that sometimes he gets in his own way. During a game, I see things will bother him that shouldn’t. That’s part of maturing. He’s made his mistakes, and it’s time to turn the corner.
On the possibility of trading Chris Tanev:
[Trading Tanev] makes me a little nervous. Regardless of which direction you’re going, you need veteran players. He’s coming into his prime now, and I think that’s a mistake. From 26 to 32, defencemen are kinda in their prime. You’ve been with him for this long. Why trade him now when he’s about to become a really solid defenceman? If they make a Cup run three or four years from now, that puts him at 30, 31, which is perfect.
Click to read the entire interview.
This guy owns two game-worn Evgeny Namestnikov jerseys
The Georgia Straight is running a weekly series called “Jerseys of Vancouver,” highlighting some of the unusual jerseys that Vancouverites own and wear. The latest features Nicky Lau, a Canucks fan who has a large collection of jerseys. The most unusual jerseys in his collection? Home and away game-worn Evgeny Namestnikov jerseys.
Click through to the story to find out more about why Lau latched onto Namestnikov, of all players.
Namestnikov is certainly one of the lesser lights when it comes to Russian Canucks, playing a total of 37 regular season and playoff games for the Canucks over the course of four seasons. He is the father of Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vladislav Namestnikov and currently works as a scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
