Mike Gillis and the Vancouver Canucks signed four separate players today, with the assumption that they will all likely be playing with the Manitoba Moose next season.

So is this the biggest sign yet that Cody Hodgson and Michael Grabner are locks to play for the Canucks this season?

Yes, it is.

Combined with the fact that the Canucks only notable acquisition this summer has been Mikael Samuelsson, it is safe to say that Hodgson and Grabner will both spend significant time, if not the whole season, with the Canucks.

Gillis and the organization have made a number of moves and signings this off-season to re-stock their minor league line-up. The sheer number of players that are slated to join the Moose this season leads me to believe that Hodgson and Grabner won’t be there very much.

I’m starting to think that Hodgson and Grabner were part of Gillis’s Plan A from the start.
If he and the rest of the staff didn’t see them as ready, then he would have gone out and been a little more voracious in acquiring more offensive talent.

But he hasn’t. Except for Samuelsson, Gillis hasn’t signed anyone else of note. So it appears, for right now, as though Hodgson and possibly Grabner will slot into the Canucks line-up, and Gillis will spend the rest of his cap money trying to acquire a puck-moving defenceman.

So the only question now is:
Will Cody Hodgson wear #19 next year? I sure hope so!

Go Canucks!

– Cam Davie