Vancouver Canucks: Andrey Pedan and 3 Others Assigned to Utica
Twenty-nine NHL teams passed on Vancouver Canucks defenseman Andrey Pedan while he was on waivers, meaning he will be headed to the AHL Utica Comets.
All is well in Vancouver Canucks nation, at least for now. Defenseman Andrey Pedan was placed on waivers yesterday with the purpose of being assigned to the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets. One day later, he remains in the Canucks organization as 29 NHL teams decided not to claim him and he will get to join Utica.
If you were on Twitter yesterday, you likely saw the words “asset management” tweeted a lot throughout the day. Sportsnet colour commentator John Garrett even mentioned it in the broadcast of last night’s 4-0 victory over the Calgary Flames. Many Canucks fans claimed waiving Pedan was poor “asset management”.
Canucks fans were afraid that Pedan would be claimed off waivers, just like defenseman Frank Corrado was last year. Just like Ben Hutton did to Corrado last year, the Canucks had defensemen that were pushing Pedan off the roster.
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However, there was one key difference between Pedan and Corrado. When Corrado was claimed off waivers, the Toronto Maple Leafs knew what they were getting because Corrado had seen significant preseason action as well as 25 NHL games. With Pedan, there is still a lot of uncertainty because he only played two preseason games this year — one of which was untelevised — and he only has 13 games of NHL experience, most of which was at forward. That is likely why Pedan was left unclaimed this year.
Although it might be hard to fathom for some Canucks fans, sometimes management does know what it is doing. Although there was certainly a risk attached to Pedan going on waivers, it was a risk worth taking to get him the minutes he needs in Utica.
Pedan will have the opportunity to go down to the Comets and log big minutes as a defensemen instead of being a seventh defenseman on the NHL roster. That will only lead to positive things with his development and, come September next year, we should have a better idea of the kind of player we are getting in Pedan.
Pedan was certainly the big story, but the Canucks also had Michael Chaput, Mike Zalewski and Jayson Megna on waivers for the purpose of going to Utica. They also went unclaimed and will be joining Pedan with the Utica Comets when their season kicks off on Saturday against the Syracuse Crunch.
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