Confirmed with Link: W Sammy Blais signed to AHL Contract(Abbotsford) / PTO with Vancouver

[Vector]

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[Mr. Canucklehead]

Hard to argue with this. Worst case, he becomes a key veteran for Abbotsford, without having to clear waivers as he's on an AHL deal.

Best case, he earns a spot and sticks with the big club as 13th F.

He's got size, willingness to use it, and playoff experience to boot.

 

[dez]

lost a lot of his speed with the knee surgeries, will probably be fighting for the cc 13th forward spot

 

[Buresflyingelbow]

20 points in 31 games the year before. Easily a Podkolzin replacement type player.

 

[vancityluongo]

hell ya, we got the pieces now for buchnevich!!

 

[Bgav]

I like it. Canucks are building such a pain in the ass team to play against lol

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Now do Justin Schultz.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Good AHL signing. Could be a decent enough injury replacement for Vancouver too, I guess.

 

[Bgav]

Now do Justin Schultz.

Would be funny, i still remember that whole season we convinced ourselves he was coming to Vancouver because he was a canucks fan growing up

 

[credulous]

weird he signed an ahl deal already. i thought he'd look for a pto with a team offering a chance at an nhl deal

 

[wonton15]

I love this. Perfect fourth line depth for injuries.

Pain in the ass player - could see him being an annoying duo with Sherwood.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Cool

 

[Peter Griffin]

Nice, basically replaced the level of production we’d expect out of Podkolzin.

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

Not a bad vet to have down there.

As mentioned by others he's losing steps and isn't as effective as before but he has won a stanley cup in a similar structure to that of the Canucks now.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Good signing.

Aligns with the Pod deal.

 

[God]

really odd player - always impressed with his forechecking and speed with the blues, then he got traded to new york and did nothing for a year before being traded back to st louis and finding a small resurgence...before being absolute trash last year. but you sort of hope that last year was his "ACL recovery year", and he finds another step.

 

[Jerry the great]

really odd player - always impressed with his forechecking and speed with the blues, then he got traded to new york and did nothing for a year before being traded back to st louis and finding a small resurgence...before being absolute trash last year. but you sort of hope that last year was his "ACL recovery year", and he finds another step.

He blew his knee out early during his first season in NY (nov 2021)

predictably sucked when he came back in the 2022 season but was rounding into form when he got traded back to STL later that season. Once there he had a really strong finish (20 ESP in 31 games) and carried that momentum through to the WC where he was Canada's leading goal scorer.

Last season was horrible and it doesn't appear to be injury related. no idea what happened.

When he's right, he's an extremely disruptive forechecker/predatory hitter with some decent hands.

great addition as there is no downside and material upside.

 

[LemonSauceD]

Really like this acquisition and wanted to us to grab him July 1st. I thought he signed a KHL deal but I guess it didn’t work out?

Very easily should win a 4th line role/13F.

Blais and Sherwood are going to be shit disturbers together Lol

 

[StickShift]

Very little downside to this.

Prototypical Tocchet player—if his surgically repaired knee can handle the speed and rigor of the NHL. Stanley Cup run experience. Worst case he is a veteran leader for the kids in Abbotsford.

 

[MS]

really odd player - always impressed with his forechecking and speed with the blues, then he got traded to new york and did nothing for a year before being traded back to st louis and finding a small resurgence...before being absolute trash last year. but you sort of hope that last year was his "ACL recovery year", and he finds another step.

Yeah, he’s had a really odd career where he’s either a very good bottom-6 guy or utterly horrible with very little in-between.

When he’s right he’s a very physical, effective checker with a bit of skill.

Nothing to lose here - good addition to the organization.

 

[ziploc]

Replaces Podz but doesn't require waivers, is my understanding? That's a good pick-up. Again puts the pressure on the bottom few guys to see who sticks on the 4th line and in that 13th F position. PDG, Aman, Blais will be fighting it out.

 

[Vector]

Replaces Podz but doesn't require waivers, is my understanding? That's a good pick-up. Again puts the pressure on the bottom few guys to see who sticks on the 4th line and in that 13th F position. PDG, Aman, Blais will be fighting it out.

He's not signed to an NHL contract. Anyone NHL team can sign him to a contract at any time. He would need to pass through waivers to be assigned to the AHL if he was signed, though.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

From wikipedia:

Growing up, he played summer hockey with future NHL player Daniel Sprong until they were 10 or 11 years old.

Hmm.

 

[Spectrefire]

I find it hilarious that despite already re-signing Dakota Joshua, the Canucks decided that since they spent time coming up with a list of possible Joshua replacements, they might as well use it and just sign all those players anyways. Heinen, Sherwood, and now Blais.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

Let him cook