Canucks Cut 4, including 2013 1st-round pick Hunter Shinkaruk

Photo Credit: Bob Frid/USA TODAY Sports

Every year there’s at least one roster reduction that really gets Canuck nation’s blood boiling. Well, warranted or not, this might be that time.

The Canucks announced this morning that they have reduced their roster by four players, including Andrey Pedan, Carter Bancks, Wacey Hamilton, and most notably (by far) Hunter Shinkaruk.

The cutting of Shinkaruk – particularly after he was carved by Travis Green and Canucks management at the Penticton Young Stars tournament – isn’t much of a surprise frankly, though he did have a hell of a game last night. 

I thought that he might get another chance tonight, given that the Comets are leaving for Lyon France (where they’re having training camp) before the Canucks’ next game. This creates a pretty hard deadline for him considering he wasn’t going to break camp with the team, so when Jon Abbott revealed that Shinkaruk wasn’t playing tonight, you could see this move coming. The Comets France training camp has changed the landscape a bit as far as dictating when players are getting cut. Jordan Subban was already a victim of this, as he was cut earlier than he otherwise probably would have been, at least in part to organize living arrangements in Utica before flying to France.

The move may draw some ire from Canucks fans, but it isn’t unexpected. Shinkaruk wasn’t going to make the team over Jake Virtanen, Brendan Gaunce, Cole Cassels or Alex Grenier unless he absolutely blew some doors off in the preseason. Unfortunately for him, that wasn’t the case. 

Colour analyst John Garret mentioned in last night’s broadcast that it’s more frustrating not getting chances than not scoring and at least Shinkaruk was getting chances. After today’s announcement however, you have to figure that Hunter is regretting not converting on a couple of those chances.

This isn’t a do or die year for Hunter. He’ll join the Comets, where he is the frontrunner to be the top line left wing spot. He better get it. While Shinkaruk won’t have Cal O’Reilly to feed him passes anymore, he still has a good chance to increase his production this year in a big way if he can stay consistent. If he can do that, he may be a candidate for a late season call up, or to break camp with the club in 2015-16.

Defenceman Andrey Pedan will head to Utica, who are boarding a plane to Lyon, France on Monday for training camp. Pedan played well last night in Calgary and may have been their most noticeable defenceman, along with Frank Corrado. Pedan had 3 goals and 17 points in 48 AHL games last season, including 14 points in 42 games with Utica. He was acquired early in the season in exchange for Alex Mallet and a 2016 3rd round pick. The Russian blueliner is a bit of a beast at 6-foot-4 and 211 pound, and the Canucks believe he has the potential to become an NHL regular in the near future. I’d hazard a guess that he’s a decent bet for a call up later in the year.

Pedan became a cult hero in Utica after he knocked out Hamilton monster Jared Tinordi – however the fisticuffs that made him famous came back to bite him as he received a concussion in a later fight with Stu Bickell that ended his season. He returned to health late in the Calder Cup playoffs, but never got into a game due to the depth of the lineup, which allowed the team to be more cautious with Pedan’s recovery.

Winger Carter Bancks and centre Wacey Hamilton were released by the Canucks, but since both are already on AHL contracts, they will report to the Comets training camp. Both served their purpose last night on a line with Brendan Gaunce – a line that was together for much of last season in Utica. They worked hard and threw the body around, giving a glimpse of why they managed to stay in Utica’s lineup during the playoffs last year over younger, more pedigreed Canucks prospects.