Allvin was busy last off-season, signing a bushel of free agents....and guys like Blueger, Suter, Cole, Soucy and Mikheyev gave them decent service for the most part. And they added depth guys like Lafferty, Friedmann and DeSmith via minor trades and re-signed Di Giuseppe,
But longer term, it's an unsustainable strategy. At some point, all successful NHL franchises are graduating players from their AHL farm team who can fill those depth roles on affordable ELC's.
But as we all know, during most of Benning's lost decade, the Canucks graduated hardly anyone from their AHL farm teams in Chicago and Utica. So all you can do is cross your fingers that things are about to change.
And one hopes that young guys like Sasson, Karlsson, Bains, Raty, Silovs and McWard are ready to take the next step. I'm sure they'll all be given a long look at training camp.
At long last, it looks like the Canucks have a real, tangible AHL pipeline.