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Ilya Mikheyev’s time as a Vancouver Canuck may be nearing an end.
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His agent, Dan Milstein, confirmed to Postmedia on Thursday that he’s been given permission by the Canucks to speak with other NHL clubs about a possible trade. CHEK-TV’s Rick Dhaliwal was first with the news. Milstein declined further comment.
It’s not a guarantee that anything will happen, of course, but it’s a clear statement from Vancouver management about the direction they’d like to take their roster over the next month: Find a different way to use the $4.75 million in cap space that is currently taken up by Mikheyev’s contract.
Mikheyev, who has two years left on his contract, scored only one goal over his last 61 regular season and playoff games. He finished with 11 goals in total last season.
He’s still a dependable defensive player, but the decline in his scoring touch was problematic: He was asked to play like a top-line player but he didn’t produce like one.
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Mikheyev suffered a knee injury late in his first training camp in Vancouver and eventually needed surgery to repair a torn ACL. That hampered his skating ability, though much of his quickness had returned by the end of the season. But not his scoring touch.
During the 48 games he played in 2022-23, which was his first season in Vancouver and with his damaged ACL, Mikheyev was pretty productive even if he wasn’t the explosive skater the Canucks had hoped he’d be. He scored 13 goals in his first season and was on a 20-goal pace when he was shut down in late January to have surgery.
It was a promising start for him after suffering a pair of serious wrist injuries over the previous two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Even with those injuries, he managed to 21 goals in 53 games in his final season with the Maple Leafs.
More to come …
pjohnston@postmedia.com
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Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/ilya-mikheyev-agent-trade