The Vancouver Canucks picked up forward Nikolay Goldobin from the San Jose Sharks last season, acquiring the former first rounder for veteran and Danish wonder Jannik Hansen.

Goldobin was considered to be a promising pickup for Vancouver. The Moscow native had put up 21 points in 38 games in the highest Finnish league in his post-draft season, then went on to boast 44 points in 60 AHL games during his first North American season.

After leaving the Sharks with 41 points in 46 AHL games for the San Jose Barracuda prior to his trade last year, it was hoped that Goldobin would be ready for the NHL full-time this season.

Unfortunately, that’s not looking like the case.

It was reported on Friday, via Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet 650, that Goldobin has been cut from preseason training camp and assigned to the AHL’s Utica Comets. That means that, barring a catastrophic injury to multiple Vancouver forwards before the start of the year, he’ll get the new season started in the minors – again.

Standing at just 5-foot-11 and 185 lbs, Goldobin is a fast, purely offensive talent who doesn’t have any qualms admitting that’s exactly what he is.

Unfortunately, that lack of a two-way game doesn’t bode well in Vancouver, where the team is looking for him to show that he’s got the initiative to be a bit more well-rounded before they bring him up full-time. That may not be fair (or, to you, it might be exactly what the team needs to do), but it is what it is.

If he can show a bit more willingness to work on his defensive awareness in Utica, though, there’s little reason to believe that Goldobin won’t find his way up in Vancouver at some point during the year.