Wake With Elias- Sept 29, 2021: Suspension SZN

CANUCKS NEWS

The waiting game continues for the Vancouver Canucks, as the attempts to re-sign restricted free agents Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes now hinges on D Travis Hamonic’s future. Hamonic is contemplating retirement through the NHL’s COVID-19 opt-out clause, which would free up enough money potentially to get both of those deals done. It’s a strange situation to be sure, but this franchise seems to run on things but somewhat south of normal.

While we await any developments on either of these stories, let’s take a look around the Smylosphere to see what’s shaking:

- Has the time come to declare Olli Juolevi a bust? He’s gone from a potential piece of the core to back end depth in the last few months. Craig Button was on CHEK TV’s Donnie & Dhali show to discuss the much maligned rearguard.

- Dan Murphy on Sportsnet650 discussing a couple of nerds the Canucks hope to have back soon.

- After a somewhat jarring introduction, Oliver Ekman-Larsson was one of the best Canucks on the ice, notching 3 assists in the win over Calgary on Monday night. A look at OEL’s drive to prove everyone wrong.

- The pairing of OEL and Tucker Poolman seems to be building some cohesion as a unit. Could it provide some much-needed stability on the back end this season?

- Getting some of the roster settled in Abbotsford may not be as easy as it seems. Canucks Army looks at which players could get scooped on waivers.

- Patrick Johnson of The Province on what cuts we can expect the team to make that could begin as early as today.

- And finally, our pals over at Matchsticks and Gasoline had us on their podcast to talk Canucks. Thanks to Mark for having me on!

AROUND THE NHL

The NHL announced a couple suspensions yesterday. Dylan McIlwrath of the Washington Capitals was suspended four games (two preseason, two regular) for this headshot on Steven Fogarty of the Boston Bruins.

Next up was Ottawa’s Ridly Greig, who got one and one for a pretty blatant cross-check on Winnipeg’s Pierre-Luc Dubois.

And while we’re on the topic of suspensions, the Ukranian Ice Hockey Federation came down pretty lightly on Andriy Deniskin for his disgusting racist gesture towards former OHL Flint Firebirds F Jalen Smereck in a game over the weekend. This is a pretty weak response, and Smereck’s team is already filing an appeal against the decision.