Confirmed with Link: Canucks sign F Nate Smith to 1-Year, 2-Way Contract ($775K)

[Tables of Stats]

Looks like some AHL depth is being picked up today as well.

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[Spectrefire]

Looks like some AHL depth is being picked up today as well.

Dude played for Team USA at the Olympics. Clearly he's going to be Petey's winger this seaosn.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Not exactly the AHL stud you would hope for for a guy who’s likely going to play in Abbotsford. Maybe Allvin and co. Think he has another level he can get to.

 

[Tables of Stats]

Not exactly the AHL stud you would hope for for a guy who’s likely going to play in Abbotsford. Maybe Allvin and co. Think he has another level he can get to.

How many AHL teams can boast an Olympian?

 

[alternate]

Can't believe all these years after drafting him in the 1st round, he's back in the organization. What a story!

 

[kcunac]

They’ll add a top 6 forward and d-man same as last year. Right now no need to use LTIR to start season means we can accumulate more cap throughout and will be more able to make deals. Plus we have near full draft capital. What we have added is one top 6 forward and excellent depth that is fast, physical, and can support scoring.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Can't believe all these years after drafting him in the 1st round, he's back in the organization. What a story!

greg adams vs elias pettersson vs nathan smith?

edit: and mike brown, one of whom was traded to us in the bure deal along with the first round pick that we used on... nathan smith

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

Can't believe all these years after drafting him in the 1st round, he's back in the organization. What a story!

Played in the Bertuzzi/Moore game IIRC.

Edit: Nope, wasn't in the lineup that night.

 

[MS]

Was a big-ish prospect in 2022 coming off a huge senior NCAA season and a strong Olympics showing. Didn’t sign for Winnipeg, got traded to Arizona, had a really strong showing to close out that season … and then has just flatlined since as a 0.5 PPG AHLer. Kind of a guy stuck in Studnicka land as a skill C at lower levels who isn’t top-6 NHL material and hasn’t been able to reprofile.

 

[StreetHawk]

Was a big-ish prospect in 2022 coming off a huge senior NCAA season and a strong Olympics showing. Didn’t sign for Winnipeg, got traded to Arizona, had a really strong showing to close out that season … and then has just flatlined since as a 0.5 PPG AHLer. Kind of a guy stuck in Studnicka land as a skill C at lower levels who isn’t top-6 NHL material and hasn’t been able to reprofile.

Goes for a lot of kids. Can score in the NCAA, CHL, and even A, but not enough production at NHL level. Once you get to an age like around 25 or so, you are no longer a prospect and that 4th line role that a team can spot you with offensive chances, the team then opts to move onto a younger prospect with upside. We had hopes for Gaudette and Madden (traded to LA, but he seems to be in the same boat as well in that he's not transitioning his game). Probably needs to play more like his father to make it in the NHL.

 

[TruGr1t]

Drance, this was a Ryan Johnson pick. mentioned Joshua in the article:

Smith is likely to open the season with the Abbotsford Canucks and serve as a Sheldon Dries replacement at the American League level, but this is a young player that Canucks assistant general manager Ryan Johnson has been keeping close eyes on since his college days. He may be American League bound to open the season, but the club targeted him with NHL upside in mind.

“He was highly touted out of school,” Johnson recounted to The Athletic on Monday, “He ended up in the Bryan Little trade to Arizona.

“He dealt with a bad ankle injury right out of the gate and I felt like he never really caught up to what I’d seen from him in college. I watched him closely, and knowing his situation, you started to notice by the end of last year and throughout this year, that he was standing out in terms of his details and skill level and compete.

“These second organization guys are guys I really look at. Do they need a different opportunity? A different look? A new setting? Some new belief in them?”

 

[Siludin]

He improved year-over-year in his two AHL years and has had some NHL experience at this point.
He is going to need to put up close to a ppg in the AHL to see additional NHL time this season though - Canucks are going to be looking to find depth opportunities for guys like Karlsson/Raty/Bains/Sasson who are ahead of Smith by default, plus "incumbents" such as Di Giuseppe/Aman/Podkolzin who are already the 12-14 forwards on the team.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

For what it's worth - Tucson didn't score very much in general last year. Their leading scorer had 46 points, and they had 8 guys (including Smith) with 30 points or more.

Canucks might be wondering if he can break out at the AHL level in a bit more of a freewheeling system?