Donnie & Dhali: Don Taylor and Rick Dhaliwal on Vancouver Canucks forward Ilya Mikheyev who is still recovering from knee surgery.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Taylor: “Okay, Ilya Mikheyev. You’ve got breaking news.”
Dhaliwal: “It’s not breaking. I’m just telling you he’s in Vancouver. He’s skating. He’s not at the skate, where are they ?”
Taylor: “UBC”
Dhaliwal: “UBC. So he’s in Vancouver skating. He’s gonna take part in training camp. Not sure right now if preseason games are on the menu for Ilya Mikheyev.
His agent Dan Milstein told me morning, Mikheyev’s close Donnie but still three-four weeks”
Taylor: “That’s a long-time.
Dhaliwal: “But Don, if someone reconstructed your knees, you’d be out for a long time too.
Taylor: “I need that actually.”
Dhaliwal: “January 4th or 5th he had the surgery.
Anyways, three-four weeks from being 100 percent but Milstein’s preaching patience with Mikheyev. He’ll be at camp. I don’t know if preseason docket for him but should be there for the regular season opener.”
Taylor: “So at camp, opens September 21st in Victoria but do we say preseason games doubtful for Ilya Mikheyev?
Dhaliwal: “Yeah I could say that.”
Sekeres and Price: Patrick Johnston on the Sekeres and Price show talking about Tanner Pearson and
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“I fully expect that he will be there at training camp. Now we’ve seen it, obviously, there were the rumblings for weeks on end but now we’ve seen him skate. Obviously, he still has to show that the strength is there and he has to be able to play in some games. Be a factor.
I do think the sort of budgeting question that there is essentially a $1 million gap in how you build the roster and what they need to save and the amount of money they would save off his cap hit by putting him in the AHL. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was an option to see here certainly to start.
You pencil in the lineup. Obviously, there are, he’s not way down the depth chart. Nils Hoglander, the likes of Nils Hoglander has to show, Vasily Podkolzin, have to show that they are more ready to go than he is. And that the team feels they are better options than he is.
But certainly, he’ll be in the mix and I’m sure he will play NHL games for this team this year. I mean he is an NHL forward. He may not be, he was never the fleetest of foot but he’s a smart player. He just knows the game and he knows what he’s doing. He’s figured out a way as the years have evolved to remain a very useful player.
And obviously, the role he’s going to fill may not match his salary but he won’t be the first player in that type of situation. We just mentioned Tyler Myers. As it stands I think it’s every reason to think he’s gonna be in the mix. Whether he’s on the opening night roster I think is a different question but certainly he’ll be in the mix come training camp.