Canucks Notebook: Mikheyev nears return, Allvin makes a flurry of moves

VANCOUVER — Of all the Vancouver Canucks on the transaction wire Sunday, none has the potential impact of winger Ilya Mikheyev, who fully practised for the first time since undergoing knee surgery eight months ago.

It felt like one-quarter of the lineup was in flux as the Canucks skated at the University of B.C. ahead of Monday’s National Hockey League roster deadline and the team’s season-opener Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers.

Vancouver general manager Patrik Allvin spent a fifth-round draft pick to acquire centre Sam Lafferty from the Toronto Maple Leafs, waived defenceman Christian Wolanin and winger Jack Studnicka, assigned centre Nils Aman to the American Hockey League and recalled Abbotsford Canuck defenceman Akito Hirose.

The flurry of activity came two days after left defenceman Carson Soucy followed teammate Guillaume Brisebois on to the injured list, and positions the Canucks to become roster- and salary-cap-compliant on Monday.

Aman and Studnicka had strong training camps and pre-seasons for the Canucks and head coach Rick Tocchet indicated they ordinarily would have been in the opening-night lineup on Wednesday.

“It's a cap thing and it's over my paygrade,” Tocchet said. “That's the thing that sucks. For us to carry six defencemen, we have to do this. (Aman) will be back. It's just a matter of time. He's definitely in our plans.”

None of these players is as important to the Canucks as Mikheyev, the fast, two-way winger who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee in his first pre-season game one year ago but kept playing until finally agreeing in January to come out of the lineup and undergo surgery.

After Mikheyev’s last game on Jan. 27, Allvin told reporters that the surgery was timed to allow the Russian to be ready for the start of this season. But although the 28-year-old has been flying around the ice in a non-contact jersey for the last two weeks, Sunday was his first full practice with the team.

He skated on a line with Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua, but will need a few more practices with contact before he plays.

“It's just one more step because, again, it's a long way (back from surgery),” Mikheyev said in his first media availability. “Now we don't need to rush. Just a little step every day, every week. It feels better.”

Mikheyev defended the timing of his surgery, saying that everyone recovers at a different pace and there was an expectation that he could be ready for this season.

He is going into the second season of the four-year, $19-million-US contract he signed as a free agent to join the Canucks from the Maple Leafs. Even playing on one leg, Mikheyev managed 13 goals and 28 points in 46 games last season, spent mostly alongside Elias Pettersson on Vancouver’s top line.

Mikheyev’s skating, the foundational strength of his game, is noticeably faster this fall.

“I think you don't understand how this feels,” he said, smiling. “It's amazing when you feel like your leg and your knee work, like, almost 100 per cent.”

Lafferty is expected to practise Tuesday and be available to play on Wednesday. Originally a 2014 fourth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins when Allvin ran the organization’s scouting department, Lafferty split last season between Chicago and Toronto and dressed in nine playoff games for the Leafs.

“I talked to a couple of his former coaches,” Tocchet said. “(They) gave him some good reviews. Kind of a heavier, grittier guy, really good skater, can score some goals. It's a chance to acquire a little bit of a stickier guy. That's why I think we did it.”

The trade made more immediate sense than the Canucks’ swapping left-side defencemen Wolanin and Hirose within the organization.

Wolanin was last season’s AHL defenceman of the year, impressed during a 16-game stint with the Canucks at the end of last season and stayed on the NHL roster through Friday’s pre-season finale against the Calgary Flames.

Hirose, a 24-year-old who signed with the Canucks last March as a college free agent, was among the early wave of players demoted from the main camp. He dressed for seven NHL games in April and impressed with his poise and puck movement, but was assigned to the AHL after appearing in only one pre-season game: a 10-0 shellacking by the Flames on Sept. 24 after Vancouver sent an over-matched, prospects-heavy lineup to Calgary to open the pre-season.

“I think it was a little tough, yeah, just knowing that I could show more,” Hirose said Sunday about his initial disappointment. “But at the same time, I think it's just having that first-year mentality. I mean, a lot of things aren't going to go your way, so you've just got to keep putting your head down, keep grinding, keep getting bigger, keep getting better.

“I said whether I was up or I was down, I just had to keep working. I guess I was a little surprised to get the call back up pretty quickly. I'm definitely happy, definitely excited.”

He should be because it seems likely that Hirose, pending any further transactions by the Canucks, will be playing on opening night against Connor McDavid and the Oilers at Rogers Arena.

“Hirose might be an option for Wednesday night,” Tocchet said when asked to explain the swap of Wolanin and Hirose. “I think against Edmonton you have to have some clean breakouts. I think you need intelligence. And I think Hirose has that. I think (Wolanin) is still in our plans. 

“You know, he's been okay. A couple of (pre-season) games against Seattle. . . I just felt the pressure kind of hit him. But he could be in there. I mean, who knows? I don't know yet. But I'd like to see Hirose up here and see what he can do in a couple of practices.”

Tocchet said Soucy, who appeared to injure his knee against the Flames, will be out week to week. The coach offered no update on Brisebois.

Tocchet ordered centre Teddy Blueger off the practice ice on Sunday to allow a minor injury to heal. Winger Anthony Beauvillier did not skate due to illness.