Amid healthy scratches, Canucks have articulated a development plan to Danila Klimovich’s agent

Communication appears to be good between Danila Klimovich’s camp and the Vancouver Canucks.

On Sunday, Klimovich was healthy scratched for the third time this season.

The Abbotsford Canucks have played 13 games so far this season, and Klimovich has played in ten. Last season, Klimovich found himself a healthy scratch for just three games all year.

To match that number already this season came as a surprise to many Canucks fans, but on Monday, Klimovich’s agent Dan Milstein assured media that the communication between he and the Canucks is good and that a clear development plan has been communicated by the team.

Millstein told CanucksArmy that there is a plan in place and that he has weekly conversations with the Canucks about Klimovich’s development.

We don’t know what exactly the plan is, but Abbotsford head coach did offer this for an answer when he was asked about his deployment of Klimovich so far this season:

“He’s a young player who’s got to earn what he’s going to get, and I’m not helping him if I just throw him out there no matter what. You know, it’s also for the whole group. We want winning habits; we want to be willing to pay the price to move pucks forward and again to put the guys you’re on the ice within the spot to succeed.

“I think he’s had some really good stretches, really good shifts, we’re just looking for consistency.”

It seems clear that what the Canucks really want to see from Klimovich is a rounding out of his 200-foot game and consistent effort when it comes to the little things that occur during the course of a hockey game.

The Canucks drafted Klimovich in the second round with their 41st overall selection of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. The club felt that the best place for Klimovich to develop was under their watch in the AHL rather than playing in the CHL, and Klimovich elected to turn pro last season.

Last season with Abbotsford — part of which he played as an 18-year-old as he has an early January birth date — Klimovich tallied eight goals and 10 assists through 62 games played.

Klimovich has recorded one goal and two assists through 10 games so far this season with Abbotsford.