Timing is right for Fyten’s arrival
But rehabbing winger won’t play against his former team, Lethbridge, tonight
Vancouver Giants fans looking for a good omen, and there are probably a few of them out there after all the lousy breaks last week brought, can turn to the timing of Austin Fyten’s arrival.
The Giants, who saw sniper Brendan Gallagher and starting goalie Adam Morrison go down with injuries in the same game Friday, welcomed Fyten, 20, a waiver-wire pickup from the Lethbridge Hurricanes, to their Ladner practice digs on Monday.
Fyten tore up his knee in an exhibition game with the Hurricanes in September and it required reconstructive surgery in October. He may not play at all for Vancouver. At best, he won’t be ready until March. He’s come to town, though, to work with Giants doctors and trainers in hopes of returning.
The first opponent with him now in the fold? It’s the Hurricanes, who invade the Pacific Coliseum tonight (7 p.m., AM 650).
“It’ll be a little bit weird, but it would be worse if I was playing,” said Fyten, a winger who had suited up for 193 career regular season games in Hurricanes garb over four seasons, and has 55 goals, 122 points, and 287 penalty minutes to show for it. “It will be good to see the guys from Lethbridge again.
“I was looking forward to coming to Vancouver after I got the call. I know they have a lot of good doctors out here. They have a lot of good rehab out here. I was pretty happy to hear I was coming out here. I know some of the guys, too.”
Among them is his roommate from last year in Lethbridge, winger Alexander Kuvaev, 18. The Russian scored 10 goals in his first 23 games last season with the Hurricanes, but ended up with just 11 goals in 58 games on the year, as he saw limited playing time down the stretch from coach Rich Preston.
He was released by the Hurricanes at the close of campaign, went home to play pro but was coaxed back to the WHL by the Giants in late December.
Kuvaev has said, via a translator, that he didn’t think Preston liked him as a player.
Fyten’s take is that you could see a particularly inspired Kuvaev this evening, when Vancouver (26-16-1-1) bids to end their two-game losing streak and Lethbridge (16-29-0-1), the last-place team in the Eastern Conference, tries to ride out a three-game slide.
Kuvaev has one goal and six points in eight games with the Giants, but he’s played better than that. There’s been at least a couple of games where he’s created chances galore but had trouble finishing.
“I don’t know what happened between them,” Fyten said of Kuvaev and Preston, “but he started off really well last season”.
As for Gallagher, Vancouver’s leading scorer with 55 points, including 28 goals, in 31 games, and Morrison, who’s 24-9-11 with a 2.60 goals against and a .906 save percentage since coming to the Giants in an early-season swap with the Saskatoon Blades, the official club report is that they’re out week-to-week with upper-body injuries.
Dalton Sward, a forward who was also hurt in that Friday game against the TriCity Americans, is also week-to-week, upper body.
Fyten, for his part, has been skating for the last couple of weeks, which is ahead of the original schedule.
“It’s going well,” said the 6-foot-2, 200 pounder from Sundre, Alta. “I’m happy with the progress that I’ve made. We’re going to try to speed it up here and see what happens.”