Canucks plan to be patient with Juolevi
Olli Juolevi was cut Friday and nobody was complaining.
It’s not a good sign. This city has lost its marbles over Canuck hopeful Jordan Subban getting sent down to Utica, N.Y., and he was a fourth-round pick.
Juolevi went fifth overall in 2016. You would think someone would be shouting about him getting an opportunity to see what he could do to start the NHL season. Instead, crickets. There’s still a long way to go before we know what kind of pro Juolevi will be. But that reality doesn’t make his training camp any less disappointing.
To be fair, the Canucks didn’t do Juolevi any favours by saying he was 200 pounds — up from 180 — in July. He’s since been crossexamined about his weight more than Jonah Hill.
And when he wasn’t being questioned about his weight, he was being asked about getting walked by forwards in games.
That happened more than a few times.
Juolevi said all the right things. Listening, however, you couldn’t help but wonder if he was in the middle of a confidence crisis. Juolevi is too smart to be making the mistakes he did this month.
“As a young defenceman trying to crack an NHL lineup, it’s tough,” Vancouver GM Jim Benning said. “It’s a hard position to play. We like the improvements he’s made in his game. We just feel he needs to continue to get stronger. We talked to him about the battles. He’s going to continue to work on those things. We’re going to be patient with him.
“We think he’s going to be the player we drafted — a real good NHL player for a long time.”
The Canucks are still working out what’s next for Juolevi, and that may mean he goes back to his junior team or is transferred to a league in Finland.
Along with Juolevi, the Canucks cut forwards Nikolay Goldobin and Anton Rodin. Goldobin was assigned to Utica and Rodin will be placed on waivers. If he clears waivers, he’s on his way to Utica.