The Vancouver Canucks have completed a trade with another Western Canadian rival, sending a conditional 2017 fifth-round pick to the Edmonton Oilers for the rights of defenseman Philip Larsen.
Larsen, a former fifth-round selection with 125 games of NHL tread, has spent the last two seasons in the KHL after a 30-game stint (in which he netted 12 points) with Edmonton in 2013-14.
TSN's Bob McKenzie is reporting that the fifth-round pick could be elevated to a fourth-round selection should Larsen hit production thresholds.
The Oilers, who acquired Larsen in the Shawn Horcoff trade, extended the slight defenseman a qualifying offer before he bolted to Russia, thus retaining his rights.
The fifth-round pick used to land Larsen is the second 2017 draft selection that the rebuilding Canucks have parted with.
McKenzie also notes that Vancouver intends to sign Larsen before July 1, and have him join the team for next season.
Vancouver acquired Markus Granlund from the Calgary Flames on Monday in exchange for top prospect Hunter Shinkaruk.
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The Vancouver Canucks are ready and willing trade partners ahead of the NHL's Feb. 29 deadline.
The team has let it be known that Linden Vey, Matt Bartkowski, Ronalds Kenins, Adam Cracknell, Chris Higgins, Brandon Prust, and Yannick Weber are all available, Bob McKenzie of TSN reports.
Vey and Kenins are RFA at end of season. Cracknell, Bartkowski, Weber, Prust all UFA at season's end. Higgins has one year remaining.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 24, 2016
Missing from the list are more prominent and attractive trade targets like Radim Vrbata and Dan Hamhuis, both of whom are set to become unrestricted free agents.
The Canucks sit well outside the Western Conference playoff picture with only two games remaining before the trade deadline, and appear to have resigned themselves to the role of sellers.
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Hunter Shinkaruk got a fair shake, at least in the mind of Jim Benning.
The Vancouver Canucks GM defended his contentious decision to part with the 21-year-old former first-round pick and perhaps the club's top prospect at wing to acquire Markus Granlund from the Calgary Flames in a trade completed Monday.
Related: Canucks deal Hunter Shinkaruk to Flames for Markus Granlund
"I don't think we gave up on Hunter Shinkaruk," Benning said in a conference call. "He's having a good year in the (AHL) for us this year. We worked with him to improve the details in his game. But we just felt that we're getting a good player for him in return.
"This is a move that when we get to where we want to be (competitively) and win on a nightly basis that Markus is the guy that can do that for us."
Benning further explained why Shinkaruk, who ranks seventh in American Hockey League goal scoring this season, had only been called up for one game in his brief tenure with Vancouver.
"When we call players up, it's to fit a role with our group," he said. "I think at the end of the day, we didn't feel he was ready to be a full-time NHL player yet. We thought it was important for him to stay down in Utica and keep developing the parts of the game that he needed to work on.
"Our goal, if we were to have kept him, was for him to be ready to play in the NHL next season."
Benning acknowledged Shinkaruk's penchant for finding the back of the net, but indicated he wasn't convinced that skill would translate to the next level.
Vancouver and its 29th-ranked offense sits nine points out of the final postseason spot in the Pacific Division.
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Hunter Shinkaruk probably needed a seat when he heard the news.
The 21-year-old was traded by the Vancouver Canucks to his hometown Calgary Flames on Monday, and while being dealt for the first time in his career is jarring, there's relief in knowing he's going somewhere familiar.
"I've never been traded before in junior or pro, so obviously it's a big surprise and a big shock," Shinkaruk said, according to the Vancouver Province's Ben Kuzma.
"Obviously my head is spinning," he added, "but I could not be happier."
More from #Flames Shinkaruk: "When you get a chance to play for the team you grew up cheering for, it’s a pretty amazing feeling."
— Wes Gilbertson (@WesGilbertson) February 22, 2016
"A kid growing up in Calgary, he wants to win in Calgary," Shinkaruk said. "So it's pretty cool I have that opportunity."
Shinkaruk never got much of an opportunity in Vancouver, the Canucks deeming him not NHL-ready. After a full season in the AHL in 2014-15, in which the winger scored 16 goals and added 15 assists in 74 games, Shinkaruk's taken strides this season. He has 21 goals - good for seventh in the AHL - in 45 games, along with 18 assists.
Shinkaruk will report to Calgary's AHL affiliate in Stockton, but he's a Flame, and will soon live out a dream he undoubtedly had as a child.
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For the second straight season, the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames have swung a deadline deal.
Vancouver has sent winger Hunter Shinkaruk - a former first-round pick and Calgary native - to the Flames in exchange for center Markus Granlund, the Canucks have confirmed.
Shinkaruk has appeared in one game - and logged less than 10 minutes - with the Canucks since being selected 24th overall back in 2013. He leads the AHL's Utica Comets in scoring in his second professional season, with 21 goals and 39 points.
Granlund, selected in the second round two years prior, has four goals and seven points in 31 games with the big club this season. He's seen time in the minors in all three seasons with the organization, amassing 14 goals and 14 assists in 86 total games.
Vancouver landed Sven Baertschi in exchange for a second-round pick in a deal with Calgary last spring. The Flames used the pick to select Rasmus Andersson, a defenseman contributing at nearly a point-per-game pace with the OHL's Barrie Colts.
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