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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Matthias Terrier (F)
From: Chamonix
To: Chamonix
Information: 1 year
Source: https://www.pionniers-chamonix.com/actualite/loffensive-2021-2022/

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Fabien Kazarine (F)
From: Chamonix
To: Chamonix
Information: 1 year
Source: https://www.pionniers-chamonix.com/actualite/loffensive-2021-2022/

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It’s August, folks, and besides salary arbitration cases, most of the biggest pieces of news are probably either (a) complete or (b) waiting until September.

In the meantime, let’s celebrate the turning over of the calendar with the mailbag!

This is probably the case. If the Flames are going to do anything but – not necessarily Jack Eichel, but something that substantial – they need to know what their cap structure looks like for the next few seasons. And since Johnny Gaudreau is their most foundational piece on the roster right now, his extension is probably the big domino that needs to be dealt with.

All we’re hearing right now is they’re working on it, but you typically get no hints or clues from general manager Brad Treliving until he has something to announce. He’s been asked about it frequently, and he always has the same general answer: they’re working on it.

Probably the reason you’re not seeing Dustin Wolf’s name kicked around in trade rumours is because goalies are voodoo, and the Sabres might prefer a bunch of young skaters rather than a goalie. They’ve also got Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi in their system, so they might not want another goalie right now.

Wolf, a first round pick and Emilio Pettersen likely falls short of the reported “four first round pick equivalents” price we’re hearing for Eichel.

With the price that Buffalo wants, teams have to be sure that he’d be the big difference-maker for them. For the Flames, the big question for me is: are the Flames a Jack Eichel away from winning a Stanley Cup? If Eichel was 100%, definitely healthy, my answer is “maybe.” And it’s a maybe because of the price tag: you’re looking at adding Eichel but possibly/probably losing something along the lines of Sean Monahan, Dillon Dube, a first round pick and one of the top prospects (Zary/Pelletier/Coronato). That’s a big, big hit to your depth both right now and for a couple years.

And then imagine, whoops, Eichel isn’t 100% and might not ever be again. The price tag is scary. The prospect that you could pony up that price and not get the Eichel you think you’re paying for, that’s doubly scary.

But I don’t think the team necessarily needs a full tear-down; they have good enough pieces to stay competitive in the Pacific Division for awhile. But if they want to potentially contenders, and ideally time it for the opening of the new building in 2024, maybe they should do a strategic retreat and move some pieces for futures and bank on their younger pieces flourishing over the next few seasons. That said, the money they’ve put into guys in (or approaching) their 30s like Blake Coleman and Jacob Markstrom says flat-out that a rebuild or retool isn’t in the plans.

Nope, and nope for two reasons. The cap hit wouldn’t work within the team’s cap space right now, so they’d need to jettison something significant to fit that deal in. And giving up four first round picks when the team likely isn’t one piece away from a Stanley Cup and really needs to keep accumulating young prospects who can be somewhat productive during their entry-level years… that’s just too big a price to pay to grab a good player.

Jacob Markstrom was out for a few weeks with his concussion and then took another few weeks to really get his groove back after missing all that time. The Flames missed the playoffs by four points. It’s not at all crazy to say that had Markstrom not suffered a brain injury that cost him time (and probably really messed up his off-ice rhythm, too) that the club would’ve made the playoffs. It’s probably the case.

The FlamesNation mailbag is brought to you by Deuce Vodka!

“In life, there are so many moments to celebrate, I don’t want to waste a great moment on a bad drink. That’s why I choose Deuce Vodka.” – Brett Kissel. Click here to find Deuce Vodka in a store near you.

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Juuso Forsström (F)
From: SaPKo
To: SaPKo
Information: 1 year
Source: http://www.sapko.fi/juuso-forsstrom-jatkosopimukseen/

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When the Canucks were up to make their selection in the sixth round with their 169th overall selection, I was hoping for one of two names.

The first was local Vancouver boy, Trevor Wong, who ended up going undrafted. After Wong, my dream pick for the Canucks was Hugo Gabrielson out of Frölunda’s J20 program.

Gabrielson was another one of those J20 Nationell players who had their season ended early due to COVID-19. He was forced to go play in the HockeyEttan league after being the defence partner of the sixth overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Simon Edvinsson. Both Gabrielson and Edvinsson are solid two-way defencemen and Edvinsson received much more hype due to his 6’5″ frame and the fact that he played well in the Allsvenskan and SHL while Gabrielson went to the HockeyEttan after his league shut down.

Edvinsson and Gabrielson played as one of the top pairings in the J20 Nationell league, it was actually Gabrielson who led the way in scoring on the pairing. I’m not saying that Gabrielson is a better prospect than Edvinsson — it’s far from that as Edvinsson is one of the top defencemen in this year’s draft and will be on a fast-track to the NHL while Gabrielson is a late-round pick that you hope makes it to the NHL one day.

That being said, there’s reason to be high on Gabrielson’s potential. In my recent article about Jonathan Myrenberg, there were noticeable habits in the defensive zone that were worrisome. With Gabrielson, the tape is just so damn good. It’s hard to find consistent habits in both the offensive or defensive zone that worry talent evaluators.

The knock you could have is that he played in a U20 Swedish league and third division HockeyEttan league. Everything that he did in these two leagues was done with pace, precision and almost always was the right decision.

Aside from maybe going for this open-ice hit…

I asked Gabrielson if he remembered this play.

He did.

“Lightweight,” he said while laughing. “In my mind, I was going to destroy him because I thought he didn’t see me but then I was flying.”

Defence

Primarily, Hugo Gabrielson is a defensive defenceman. He’s not the type to overpower you in the corners but he is the type who will use a low centre of gravity to position himself closer to the puck. Additionally, his stick work is at such a high level that it seemed as though he was able to strip the puck away from any competition that he faced this season.

At 6’1″, 176 lbs, he isn’t small but there is a lot of room for him to add muscle to his teenage frame. Once he adds more strength, his defensive habits are going to make him a very strong defender in the SHL by the time he’s 20.

Here’s just a small clip but a good example of Gabrielson working around his own crease.

An unabating manner in his game is how often he is scanning his own zone for threats. His head is on a Goture swivel and he will move around in the defensive zone to best position himself to limit scoring chances. If he continues to develop his defensive game, his smarts at such a young age show potential for him to play in the NHL. We’re a long way from that day but if he keeps this type of commitment to the defensive side of the ice, he will get a ton of minutes in Allsvenskan next season and will find himself playing a ton of minutes in the SHL in 2022-23.

You have to find him here on the right side of the play, behind the net to begin the clip. Watch how well he boxes out the opposing forward as he looks to drive the net and Gabrielson completely boxes him out of the play.

In this next clip, on the penalty kill, Gabrielson makes a clean hip swing as he goes back to be the first man on the puck. The pass skips over his stick but he brings defensive pressure on two opponents, forces a turnover, and clears the puck down the ice.

His fluid skating and flexible hips give him an advantage on racing to loose pucks and being able to get an extra second to make a decision when chasing down dump-ins. Those extra seconds won’t be there at the next level, but he has the building blocks to be able to adapt at the next level and be an impact defenceman.

Breakouts

First off, here’s a 125-foot stretch pass that immediately creates an offensive rush.

Props to the goalie on that little stick point.

The best part of Gabrielson’s game is likely his passing and how he can quickly transition to an attacking rush from his own zone. His passes are hard, accurate and are made with confidence. This is something that you can see on a consistent basis at the J20 level as the league is very much suited for defencemen to spring forwards in the open ice format due to lacklustre defending in the neutral zone.

When breaking out the puck, Gabrielson often realizes when the opposition is changing. He wastes no time as he snaps the puck up to a forward and continues to follow the play for an added offensive option in the offensive zone.

In this clip, Gabrielson makes a nice cut to give himself space. He then takes another important step to set up the breakout and makes the safe pass at the right time to get around the forechecker.

In this play, Gabrielson makes a strong pass to send in his teammate on a break as he finds open space in his own zone, moves past the blue line, and snaps a pass to send his teammate in on the break.

As mentioned earlier, his tape in the J20 and HockeyEttan leagues repeatedly showcases his high hockey sense and the true question will be if he is able to look this good at the next level. Gabrielson will play for Västerviks in the Allsvenskan next season and will be the youngest defenceman on the roster that has one other drafted defenceman in Michael Brodzinski (2013 fifth round of San Jose) on it.

A final part of his breakouts that needs to be mentioned is that for the majority of his season, Gabrielson played his off-side as a left-handed, right-side defenceman. He moved around the ice well and as you can see in the last two clips, he was able to use an inside-step move to create better passing lanes for his breakouts.

“I’ve always played both sides of the ice and I think that’s because there are more left-handed players than right-handed,” said Gabrielson. “I like to play on the right side too and I think I can play both sides of the ice. It’s nice to have the stick on the inside of the ice. You can cut into the middle of the ice and make some plays.”

Shooting and work in the offensive zone

His shot wasn’t something that stuck out but the part that I liked about his shot is how often he can find open ice for good scoring chances. From those scoring chances came some goals and his wrist shot isn’t below average, though his slap shot was almost non-existent last season.

He can shoot through screens and his shot often finds the net. He averaged 3.25 shots per game through his final eight games in the J20 league.

Right now, at face value as a sixth-round pick, there’s not a lot to dislike in his game. He’s got great instincts in both the defensive zone and offensive zone while his intelligent movement during offensive zone cycles to help create offensive chances leaves you wanting to see more.

The big question will be if he can translate those skills at the next level. He’s still pretty far away from the SHL but once he gets there if he shows growth in his all-around game, there’s a good chance we are all wondering when Gabrielson will be coming over to North America.

It’s tough to find NHL players in the sixth round and Gabrielson may not end up being an NHL player when it’s all said and done. For now, the Canucks have an extremely smart defenceman, who dominated the J20 league and is ready to take the jump into Sweden’s second division. The next two years are crucial for Gabrielson as he works his way up to the SHL. We should save our NHL hopes until he makes it to that level. Once he cracks an SHL roster and is competing in one of the best leagues in the world, then the real conversation begins on if Gabrielson has a future in the NHL.

The Canucks went with high upside in their late-round picks. It makes you wonder if some of these talented J20 Swedes snuck through the cracks of a weird draft year. No team in the J20 Nationell was able to get more than 20 games in this season. It’s a league that had so much talent and the Canucks went to that well three times with Jonathan Myrenberg, Lucas Forsell and Hugo Gabrielson. We will now see what each of these three players can do next season as they make the jump into the top two Swedish leagues.

As of today, the only thing holding him back from achieving that goal is the ladder that he needs to climb through the Swedish hockey leagues. The talent and smarts are there for Gabrielson, now it’s about playing to his potential as he moves up in competition.

Västervik is set to open its training camp on Friday, August 6th, and plays its first preseason game on August 20th. We will have instant coverage on everything that Gabrielson is up to as he makes the jump to the Allsvenskan league.

So far, so good.

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Remember when Kevin Lowe and Brian Burke were looking for a place to meet so they could physically punch each other out after months of verbal sparring? That was almost 15 years ago, although in some ways it seems like yesterday when Lowe and Burke, two guys who had been friends, came off the rails.

You might recall Burke, then the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks, got so sour at Lowe, then GM of the Edmonton Oilers, for putting an offer sheet on Dustin Penner, he spent months giving it to Lowe every chance he got. Lowe finally got pissed off enough to challenge Burke to a fight in a radio interview. That prompted Burke to tell Lowe he should meet him in a barn in Maine so they could settle things the old-fashioned way. Sure.

“That really pissed me off, because I knew the player wasn’t worth the money,” Burke recalled on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast. “And I knew I had Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf coming, and now I gotta pay them something north of there. So, I was really sour at him. He didn’t ’t even call me to tell me that he put in an offer sheet, the league called me.

“I called Glen Sather and said, ‘That bastard challenged me to a fight on the radio, I’ve never been challenged to a fight before and not taken the challenge’,” So he’s fighting me, I said ’I’m going to be at the Holiday Inn in Lake Placid on August 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I’ll rent a barn, I’ll kick his ass, I’ll drive him to the hospital and we get this behind us.”

Well, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman got wind of what was going on and told Lowe and Burke there wasn’t going to be a fistfight or there would be trouble – and suspensions. Cooler heads prevailed, which is something when you consider the passionate hair-triggers of Lowe and Burke. It should also be said that Burke’s son Brendan, who died in a car accident in 2010, urged his dad and Lowe to mend fences and played a significant role in putting the feud in the rear-view mirror. Rebuilding the friendship began there.

TOAST OF THE TOWN

Oiler special supplement Kevin Lowe , Doug Weight , Ryan Smyth. Tom Poti, Janne Niinimma Rem Murray , Todd Marchant, Bill Ranford, Ted Green and Craig MacTavish KEVIN LOWE driving the bus with other team players behind him / 990923.SOU EDMONTON OILERS SEP 30, 1999 PAGE I1 CREDIT: GREGORY SOUTHAM

That hatchet long buried, Lowe and Burke will square off again, rightly moderated by Sather, as part of second The Toast of the Town fundraiser Thursday to raise funds for the Cure Cancer Foundation in support of the Cross Cancer Institute. It’ll be held at the DoubleTree Hilton at Mayfield. No barn this time.

In the first event two years ago, former Oilers’ equipment man Barrie Stafford was the honored guest, raising about $100,000 for the CCF. This time, Lowe is the guest of honor. The hope this year, with Thursday’s event sold out of 300 tickets, is fundraising will approach $200,000 toward research and cell therapies for multiple forms of cancer.

You can read where the funds raised at this event, one of several affiliate events for the CCF and the CCI – The World’s Longest Hockey and Baseball games staged by Dr. Brent Saik are two such affiliated fundraisers — will go here.

There’s a heavyweight guest list for this one. Ron MacLean, Burke and Sather are part of the program. There’ll be one hot stove with both sides of the Battle of Alberta represented with Craig Simpson, Paul Coffey and Glenn Anderson getting into it with Tim Hunter of the Calgary Flames. In the second hot stove, Lowe and Burke will have at it with Sather in the middle.

Craig MacTavish will be in the mix and there’ll be a lot of other members of the Edmonton Oilers Alumni there – Coffey, Anderson, Al Hamilton, Ron Low, Mike Krushelnyski and Louie DeBrusk, to name just a few of over 20 attending. There’ll be a VIP reception, a dinner and online and in-person auctions as well, the whole nine yards. While the event is sold out, people who would like to donate to support the research and trials being done can do that here.

THE BOTTOM LINE

I’m guessing it won’t take Burke long to give Lowe the business about how long it took him to get inducted in the HHOF and the barn date that never was is guaranteed to be a hot topic as well. When you’ve got guys like MacTavish, Sather and Low in the mix, the chirps will be epic.

The bottom line, the object of this exercise Thursday, is to keep making strides in the battle against cancer and that takes funds for research and testing. That’s something – no matter who you’d have bet on when all that talk about throwing down in a barn was going on years ago — we can all relate to. Thanks for reading.

Previously by Robin Brownlee

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Kilian Duplan (F)
From: Valais-Chablais Futur U20
To: HCV Martigny
Information: 1 year
Source: https://www.facebook.com/2032155523770011/posts/2994888334163387/?d=n

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Adam Byström Johansson (F)
From: Hudiksvalls HC
To: Hudiksvalls HC
Source: https://www.hockeyettan.se/2021/08/02/pressmeddelande-bystrom-johansson-klar-sin-tredje-sasong/

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Sandro Zangger (F)
From: SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers
To: SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers
Information: Try-out successful - 1 year plus option
Source: https://lakers.ch/page/newsreader/231-steve-moses-verletzt-sandro-zangger-erhalt-vertrag

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Peter Hochkofler (F)
From: EC Salzburg
To: EC Salzburg
Information: 1 year
Source: https://ecrbs.redbulls.com/peter-hochkofler-bleibt-bei-den-red-bulls

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Matthias Terrier (F)
From: Chamonix
To: Chamonix
Information: 1 year
Source: https://www.pionniers-chamonix.com/actualite/loffensive-2021-2022/

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Fabien Kazarine (F)
From: Chamonix
To: Chamonix
Information: 1 year
Source: https://www.pionniers-chamonix.com/actualite/loffensive-2021-2022/

Rss

It’s August, folks, and besides salary arbitration cases, most of the biggest pieces of news are probably either (a) complete or (b) waiting until September.

In the meantime, let’s celebrate the turning over of the calendar with the mailbag!

This is probably the case. If the Flames are going to do anything but – not necessarily Jack Eichel, but something that substantial – they need to know what their cap structure looks like for the next few seasons. And since Johnny Gaudreau is their most foundational piece on the roster right now, his extension is probably the big domino that needs to be dealt with.

All we’re hearing right now is they’re working on it, but you typically get no hints or clues from general manager Brad Treliving until he has something to announce. He’s been asked about it frequently, and he always has the same general answer: they’re working on it.

Probably the reason you’re not seeing Dustin Wolf’s name kicked around in trade rumours is because goalies are voodoo, and the Sabres might prefer a bunch of young skaters rather than a goalie. They’ve also got Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi in their system, so they might not want another goalie right now.

Wolf, a first round pick and Emilio Pettersen likely falls short of the reported “four first round pick equivalents” price we’re hearing for Eichel.

With the price that Buffalo wants, teams have to be sure that he’d be the big difference-maker for them. For the Flames, the big question for me is: are the Flames a Jack Eichel away from winning a Stanley Cup? If Eichel was 100%, definitely healthy, my answer is “maybe.” And it’s a maybe because of the price tag: you’re looking at adding Eichel but possibly/probably losing something along the lines of Sean Monahan, Dillon Dube, a first round pick and one of the top prospects (Zary/Pelletier/Coronato). That’s a big, big hit to your depth both right now and for a couple years.

And then imagine, whoops, Eichel isn’t 100% and might not ever be again. The price tag is scary. The prospect that you could pony up that price and not get the Eichel you think you’re paying for, that’s doubly scary.

But I don’t think the team necessarily needs a full tear-down; they have good enough pieces to stay competitive in the Pacific Division for awhile. But if they want to potentially contenders, and ideally time it for the opening of the new building in 2024, maybe they should do a strategic retreat and move some pieces for futures and bank on their younger pieces flourishing over the next few seasons. That said, the money they’ve put into guys in (or approaching) their 30s like Blake Coleman and Jacob Markstrom says flat-out that a rebuild or retool isn’t in the plans.

Nope, and nope for two reasons. The cap hit wouldn’t work within the team’s cap space right now, so they’d need to jettison something significant to fit that deal in. And giving up four first round picks when the team likely isn’t one piece away from a Stanley Cup and really needs to keep accumulating young prospects who can be somewhat productive during their entry-level years… that’s just too big a price to pay to grab a good player.

Jacob Markstrom was out for a few weeks with his concussion and then took another few weeks to really get his groove back after missing all that time. The Flames missed the playoffs by four points. It’s not at all crazy to say that had Markstrom not suffered a brain injury that cost him time (and probably really messed up his off-ice rhythm, too) that the club would’ve made the playoffs. It’s probably the case.

The FlamesNation mailbag is brought to you by Deuce Vodka!

“In life, there are so many moments to celebrate, I don’t want to waste a great moment on a bad drink. That’s why I choose Deuce Vodka.” – Brett Kissel. Click here to find Deuce Vodka in a store near you.

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Juuso Forsström (F)
From: SaPKo
To: SaPKo
Information: 1 year
Source: http://www.sapko.fi/juuso-forsstrom-jatkosopimukseen/

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When the Canucks were up to make their selection in the sixth round with their 169th overall selection, I was hoping for one of two names.

The first was local Vancouver boy, Trevor Wong, who ended up going undrafted. After Wong, my dream pick for the Canucks was Hugo Gabrielson out of Frölunda’s J20 program.

Gabrielson was another one of those J20 Nationell players who had their season ended early due to COVID-19. He was forced to go play in the HockeyEttan league after being the defence partner of the sixth overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Simon Edvinsson. Both Gabrielson and Edvinsson are solid two-way defencemen and Edvinsson received much more hype due to his 6’5″ frame and the fact that he played well in the Allsvenskan and SHL while Gabrielson went to the HockeyEttan after his league shut down.

Edvinsson and Gabrielson played as one of the top pairings in the J20 Nationell league, it was actually Gabrielson who led the way in scoring on the pairing. I’m not saying that Gabrielson is a better prospect than Edvinsson — it’s far from that as Edvinsson is one of the top defencemen in this year’s draft and will be on a fast-track to the NHL while Gabrielson is a late-round pick that you hope makes it to the NHL one day.

That being said, there’s reason to be high on Gabrielson’s potential. In my recent article about Jonathan Myrenberg, there were noticeable habits in the defensive zone that were worrisome. With Gabrielson, the tape is just so damn good. It’s hard to find consistent habits in both the offensive or defensive zone that worry talent evaluators.

The knock you could have is that he played in a U20 Swedish league and third division HockeyEttan league. Everything that he did in these two leagues was done with pace, precision and almost always was the right decision.

Aside from maybe going for this open-ice hit…

I asked Gabrielson if he remembered this play.

He did.

“Lightweight,” he said while laughing. “In my mind, I was going to destroy him because I thought he didn’t see me but then I was flying.”

Defence

Primarily, Hugo Gabrielson is a defensive defenceman. He’s not the type to overpower you in the corners but he is the type who will use a low centre of gravity to position himself closer to the puck. Additionally, his stick work is at such a high level that it seemed as though he was able to strip the puck away from any competition that he faced this season.

At 6’1″, 176 lbs, he isn’t small but there is a lot of room for him to add muscle to his teenage frame. Once he adds more strength, his defensive habits are going to make him a very strong defender in the SHL by the time he’s 20.

Here’s just a small clip but a good example of Gabrielson working around his own crease.

An unabating manner in his game is how often he is scanning his own zone for threats. His head is on a Goture swivel and he will move around in the defensive zone to best position himself to limit scoring chances. If he continues to develop his defensive game, his smarts at such a young age show potential for him to play in the NHL. We’re a long way from that day but if he keeps this type of commitment to the defensive side of the ice, he will get a ton of minutes in Allsvenskan next season and will find himself playing a ton of minutes in the SHL in 2022-23.

You have to find him here on the right side of the play, behind the net to begin the clip. Watch how well he boxes out the opposing forward as he looks to drive the net and Gabrielson completely boxes him out of the play.

In this next clip, on the penalty kill, Gabrielson makes a clean hip swing as he goes back to be the first man on the puck. The pass skips over his stick but he brings defensive pressure on two opponents, forces a turnover, and clears the puck down the ice.

His fluid skating and flexible hips give him an advantage on racing to loose pucks and being able to get an extra second to make a decision when chasing down dump-ins. Those extra seconds won’t be there at the next level, but he has the building blocks to be able to adapt at the next level and be an impact defenceman.

Breakouts

First off, here’s a 125-foot stretch pass that immediately creates an offensive rush.

Props to the goalie on that little stick point.

The best part of Gabrielson’s game is likely his passing and how he can quickly transition to an attacking rush from his own zone. His passes are hard, accurate and are made with confidence. This is something that you can see on a consistent basis at the J20 level as the league is very much suited for defencemen to spring forwards in the open ice format due to lacklustre defending in the neutral zone.

When breaking out the puck, Gabrielson often realizes when the opposition is changing. He wastes no time as he snaps the puck up to a forward and continues to follow the play for an added offensive option in the offensive zone.

In this clip, Gabrielson makes a nice cut to give himself space. He then takes another important step to set up the breakout and makes the safe pass at the right time to get around the forechecker.

In this play, Gabrielson makes a strong pass to send in his teammate on a break as he finds open space in his own zone, moves past the blue line, and snaps a pass to send his teammate in on the break.

As mentioned earlier, his tape in the J20 and HockeyEttan leagues repeatedly showcases his high hockey sense and the true question will be if he is able to look this good at the next level. Gabrielson will play for Västerviks in the Allsvenskan next season and will be the youngest defenceman on the roster that has one other drafted defenceman in Michael Brodzinski (2013 fifth round of San Jose) on it.

A final part of his breakouts that needs to be mentioned is that for the majority of his season, Gabrielson played his off-side as a left-handed, right-side defenceman. He moved around the ice well and as you can see in the last two clips, he was able to use an inside-step move to create better passing lanes for his breakouts.

“I’ve always played both sides of the ice and I think that’s because there are more left-handed players than right-handed,” said Gabrielson. “I like to play on the right side too and I think I can play both sides of the ice. It’s nice to have the stick on the inside of the ice. You can cut into the middle of the ice and make some plays.”

Shooting and work in the offensive zone

His shot wasn’t something that stuck out but the part that I liked about his shot is how often he can find open ice for good scoring chances. From those scoring chances came some goals and his wrist shot isn’t below average, though his slap shot was almost non-existent last season.

He can shoot through screens and his shot often finds the net. He averaged 3.25 shots per game through his final eight games in the J20 league.

Right now, at face value as a sixth-round pick, there’s not a lot to dislike in his game. He’s got great instincts in both the defensive zone and offensive zone while his intelligent movement during offensive zone cycles to help create offensive chances leaves you wanting to see more.

The big question will be if he can translate those skills at the next level. He’s still pretty far away from the SHL but once he gets there if he shows growth in his all-around game, there’s a good chance we are all wondering when Gabrielson will be coming over to North America.

It’s tough to find NHL players in the sixth round and Gabrielson may not end up being an NHL player when it’s all said and done. For now, the Canucks have an extremely smart defenceman, who dominated the J20 league and is ready to take the jump into Sweden’s second division. The next two years are crucial for Gabrielson as he works his way up to the SHL. We should save our NHL hopes until he makes it to that level. Once he cracks an SHL roster and is competing in one of the best leagues in the world, then the real conversation begins on if Gabrielson has a future in the NHL.

The Canucks went with high upside in their late-round picks. It makes you wonder if some of these talented J20 Swedes snuck through the cracks of a weird draft year. No team in the J20 Nationell was able to get more than 20 games in this season. It’s a league that had so much talent and the Canucks went to that well three times with Jonathan Myrenberg, Lucas Forsell and Hugo Gabrielson. We will now see what each of these three players can do next season as they make the jump into the top two Swedish leagues.

As of today, the only thing holding him back from achieving that goal is the ladder that he needs to climb through the Swedish hockey leagues. The talent and smarts are there for Gabrielson, now it’s about playing to his potential as he moves up in competition.

Västervik is set to open its training camp on Friday, August 6th, and plays its first preseason game on August 20th. We will have instant coverage on everything that Gabrielson is up to as he makes the jump to the Allsvenskan league.

So far, so good.

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Remember when Kevin Lowe and Brian Burke were looking for a place to meet so they could physically punch each other out after months of verbal sparring? That was almost 15 years ago, although in some ways it seems like yesterday when Lowe and Burke, two guys who had been friends, came off the rails.

You might recall Burke, then the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks, got so sour at Lowe, then GM of the Edmonton Oilers, for putting an offer sheet on Dustin Penner, he spent months giving it to Lowe every chance he got. Lowe finally got pissed off enough to challenge Burke to a fight in a radio interview. That prompted Burke to tell Lowe he should meet him in a barn in Maine so they could settle things the old-fashioned way. Sure.

“That really pissed me off, because I knew the player wasn’t worth the money,” Burke recalled on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast. “And I knew I had Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf coming, and now I gotta pay them something north of there. So, I was really sour at him. He didn’t ’t even call me to tell me that he put in an offer sheet, the league called me.

“I called Glen Sather and said, ‘That bastard challenged me to a fight on the radio, I’ve never been challenged to a fight before and not taken the challenge’,” So he’s fighting me, I said ’I’m going to be at the Holiday Inn in Lake Placid on August 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I’ll rent a barn, I’ll kick his ass, I’ll drive him to the hospital and we get this behind us.”

Well, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman got wind of what was going on and told Lowe and Burke there wasn’t going to be a fistfight or there would be trouble – and suspensions. Cooler heads prevailed, which is something when you consider the passionate hair-triggers of Lowe and Burke. It should also be said that Burke’s son Brendan, who died in a car accident in 2010, urged his dad and Lowe to mend fences and played a significant role in putting the feud in the rear-view mirror. Rebuilding the friendship began there.

TOAST OF THE TOWN

Oiler special supplement Kevin Lowe , Doug Weight , Ryan Smyth. Tom Poti, Janne Niinimma Rem Murray , Todd Marchant, Bill Ranford, Ted Green and Craig MacTavish KEVIN LOWE driving the bus with other team players behind him / 990923.SOU EDMONTON OILERS SEP 30, 1999 PAGE I1 CREDIT: GREGORY SOUTHAM

That hatchet long buried, Lowe and Burke will square off again, rightly moderated by Sather, as part of second The Toast of the Town fundraiser Thursday to raise funds for the Cure Cancer Foundation in support of the Cross Cancer Institute. It’ll be held at the DoubleTree Hilton at Mayfield. No barn this time.

In the first event two years ago, former Oilers’ equipment man Barrie Stafford was the honored guest, raising about $100,000 for the CCF. This time, Lowe is the guest of honor. The hope this year, with Thursday’s event sold out of 300 tickets, is fundraising will approach $200,000 toward research and cell therapies for multiple forms of cancer.

You can read where the funds raised at this event, one of several affiliate events for the CCF and the CCI – The World’s Longest Hockey and Baseball games staged by Dr. Brent Saik are two such affiliated fundraisers — will go here.

There’s a heavyweight guest list for this one. Ron MacLean, Burke and Sather are part of the program. There’ll be one hot stove with both sides of the Battle of Alberta represented with Craig Simpson, Paul Coffey and Glenn Anderson getting into it with Tim Hunter of the Calgary Flames. In the second hot stove, Lowe and Burke will have at it with Sather in the middle.

Craig MacTavish will be in the mix and there’ll be a lot of other members of the Edmonton Oilers Alumni there – Coffey, Anderson, Al Hamilton, Ron Low, Mike Krushelnyski and Louie DeBrusk, to name just a few of over 20 attending. There’ll be a VIP reception, a dinner and online and in-person auctions as well, the whole nine yards. While the event is sold out, people who would like to donate to support the research and trials being done can do that here.

THE BOTTOM LINE

I’m guessing it won’t take Burke long to give Lowe the business about how long it took him to get inducted in the HHOF and the barn date that never was is guaranteed to be a hot topic as well. When you’ve got guys like MacTavish, Sather and Low in the mix, the chirps will be epic.

The bottom line, the object of this exercise Thursday, is to keep making strides in the battle against cancer and that takes funds for research and testing. That’s something – no matter who you’d have bet on when all that talk about throwing down in a barn was going on years ago — we can all relate to. Thanks for reading.

Previously by Robin Brownlee

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Kilian Duplan (F)
From: Valais-Chablais Futur U20
To: HCV Martigny
Information: 1 year
Source: https://www.facebook.com/2032155523770011/posts/2994888334163387/?d=n

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Adam Byström Johansson (F)
From: Hudiksvalls HC
To: Hudiksvalls HC
Source: https://www.hockeyettan.se/2021/08/02/pressmeddelande-bystrom-johansson-klar-sin-tredje-sasong/

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Sandro Zangger (F)
From: SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers
To: SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers
Information: Try-out successful - 1 year plus option
Source: https://lakers.ch/page/newsreader/231-steve-moses-verletzt-sandro-zangger-erhalt-vertrag

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Date: 08/02/2021
Player: Peter Hochkofler (F)
From: EC Salzburg
To: EC Salzburg
Information: 1 year
Source: https://ecrbs.redbulls.com/peter-hochkofler-bleibt-bei-den-red-bulls


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