No Vey! With 50th Pick Canucks Acquire Linden Vey From LA

With basically the worst case scenario unfolding with the 36th overall pick and a desire to play a more “meat-and-potatoes” game, we were preparing for the worst. Instead, we at the Army were pleasantly surprised to see that the Canucks opted to trade the 50th overall pick to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for 22-year old Linden Vey.

And yes, a former Medicine Hat Tiger named Linden just swung a deal for a former Medicine Hat Tiger named Linden. Read past the jump.

There’s not a lot I don’t like about Vey. He’s a 22-year old playmaking right winger who instantly jumps ahead of every guy not currently in the CHL in terms of Vancouver’s prospect depth. He has a track record of piling up points in junior, and put up AHL points this year that Nicklas Jensen can only dream of. He was a young 1st line player on an extremely good Manchester Monarchs team. There’s a lot to like about Vey.

He also did this against the Canucks this year. You may remember it:

Vey is currently an RFA, but he’s coming off his ELC and has just 18 NHL games to his name. With his old Tigers coach now behind the Canucks’ bench, Vancouver shouldn’t have any problems re-signing him.

If there’s a question mark about Vey, it’s that he only carried a 50.5% Corsi on an extremely strong LA Kings team in 18 games. That being said, his most frequent linemates were Trevor Lewis and Jordan Nolan, and the sample size is only 18 games, so this doesn’t mean much.

All in all, Vey will have the opportunity to compete for a top-6 roster spot this upcoming season. Here’s to hoping that he works out in Vancouver, and that Roland Mckeown (the guy that LA took at 50th) doesn’t become a superstar.