The 2016 first-round player has struggled as a professional and ranks fifth in the depth chart for the Canucks’ left-side defense.
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The Vancouver Canucks, stuck over what to do with 2016 draft bust Olli Juolevi, are apparently looking to move on.
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As First Reported by The Athletic and confirmed with league sources by Postmedia, Juolevi, who would require the waivers to be reassigned to the American Hockey League, and since his pedigree would likely be reclaimed, he is actively buying into the league.
Juolevi fell into the pecking order on the left side of the Canucks defense and now sits behind Quinn Hughes, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jack Rathbone and Brad Hunt.
If the Canucks can’t find a trade and decide to send it to AHL Abbotsford before Monday’s NHL opening day roster deadline, it will have to be on Sunday waivers. Of course, they could also keep him on the opening day roster, especially if salary cap machinations call for it, as the team seeks to get as close to the cap as possible before putting most of Micheal Ferland’s contract in reserve. long-term injured.
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The personable Juolevi was selected fifth overall in 2016 as the Canucks moved up to the higher potential blue line, and Matthew Tkachuk, to take it. Juolevi was seen as a solid but unspectacular option by most teams, probably in his teens. Most of the buzz surrounding Juolevi came at the World Juniors last winter, when he played a starring role for Finland.
Drafted after Juolevi, there was a trio of Blue Line players who have already built solid NHL careers and would look really good on the Canucks Blue Line today: Mikhail Sergachev, Jakob Chychrun and Charlie McAvoy.
All were written off as options for a variety of reasons, while general manager Jim Benning insisted that the team focus on selecting a defender in the 2016 draft, having chosen forwards Jake Virtanen and Brock Boeser in the first two rounds. previous. That’s why Tkachuk wasn’t on his list.
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The Canucks also overlooked a trade offer from the Carolina Hurricanes, which would have seen Carolina trade the 13th and 21st picks to Vancouver for the fifth overall pick. (Carolina used the thirteenth pick from Jake Bean, another defender Benning liked.)
Juolevi skated in four preseason games, but hasn’t been seen in practice with the main group in days.
On the first day of camp, Juolevi was pushed to the limit by the tough final skating test with which head coach Travis Green is known to close out opening day. The fact that Juolevi was on a losing streak didn’t set him too much apart from his teammates, but the fact that he later stretched out on the ice to catch his breath stood out.
Several veterans admonished him on ice for the act.
Two days later, Green acknowledged that the 23-year-old had done himself no favors.
And the work since then hasn’t exactly stood out. He struggled to defend the run in his first NHL season last year, though he demonstrated his keen passing skills more than once.
He suffered some serious injuries between his team and his NHL debut during the return-to-play portion of the 2019-20 season in Edmonton’s bubble, which undoubtedly hampered his development.
But despite all this, it now seems clear that a new beginning is on the table for the Finn.
Reference-theprovince.com