Vancouver Canucks F Emerson Etem Claimed by Anaheim Ducks
The Vancouver Canucks placed forward Emerson Etem on waivers yesterday and now have to pay the price.
In an attempt to ice the best team they can, the Vancouver Canucks opted to sign professional tryout winger Jack Skille to a roster spot that would have been occupied by Emerson Etem otherwise. As a result, the Canucks placed Etem on waivers to reassign him to the Utica Comets. That project didn’t work out, as Etem was claimed off waivers by the Anaheim Ducks.
As the Canucks are attempting a “rebuild on the fly”, losing Etem for nothing is the peak of several questionable moves.
First, the club had a chance to claim 24-year-old winger Teemu Pulkkinen off waivers. Pulkkinen has yet to prove he can be a consistent NHL scorer, but his scoring potential is unquestioned. In 2014-15, he led the Grand Rapids Griffins with 34 goals and 61 points in just 46 games. For the Canucks, a young, free scorer would have been perfect.
Next, they placed Etem on waivers to make room for Skille. They sacrificed another young winger in order to sign an older player with close to no scoring potential and questionable overall value.
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That move would have been excusable, had Etem cleared. But he didn’t. So it isn’t.
Etem was Anaheim’s first round pick in 2010 and was later traded to the New York Rangers, along with the 41st-overall selection in 2015, for Carl Hagelin, the 59th-overall and 179th-overall picks in the same year.
Vancouver acquired Etem from New York in January for Nicklas Jensen and a sixth-round pick.
Getting Etem for Jensen seemed like a great move that finally saw the Canucks as the winners of a trade. But less then a year later, Vancouver once again simply gave a draft pick away for nothing.
This is bad asset management at its best.
Etem was outplayed by other players in training camp. It’s that simple. But, this was a decision based on a few games, which eventually saw the Canucks lose another young player without bringing a new one in.
Wanting to ice the best possible lineup is fine. Wanting to make the playoffs is the only right thing to do. Giving up on all kinds of picks, prospects and young players for guys who can “help now”, however, simply seems dumb.
The Canucks can be excused for a lot if they bring playoff hockey back to Canada’s Pacific coast. But losing young players for nothing can well haunt them in the near future.
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