It appears the revolving door that was the Vancouver Canucks fourth line last season will return for another campaign.
The changes continue after the Canucks waived Victor Oreskovich and picked up Dale Weise off waivers from the New York Rangers.
It appeared that Oreskovich would grab a spot (along with Maxim Lapierre and Aaron Volpatti) when the Canucks sent down Mark Mancari and Mike Duco. Unfortunately Oreskovich was waived after general manager Mike Gillis found out Weise was available. There are reports surfacing that Gillis tried to trade for Weise last season but was unsuccessful.
Here’s what we know about Weise. He’s young (23 years old), has good size (6’2, 210 lbs), skates well, hits and doesn’t mind throwing down when the time arises. If you trust hockeyfights.com (and your own eyes) Weise has lost more scraps at the NHL level than he has won but there’s no question he’s a gamer.
Weise won this one against Dan Carcillo.
He also lost this fight against Luke Schenn.
Also, if you put stock into what the New York Post’s Larry Brooks has to say, a couple of his tweets back Gillis’ decision to snap him up:
“Very odd that the Rangers could have kept Weise at least for start of season by placing Staal on IR. Don’t get it.”
“Can’t make sense of the Weise move following a very good camp….”
Finally, Weise does have the ability to create some offence. At least at the AHL level. He racked up 18 goals and 20 assists in 47 games last season.
As for Oreskovich, I’m guessing it won’t be the last we see of him. Canucks coach Alain Vigneault trusted him enough to play him five games in the Cup Final, however he never played more than nine minutes in any of those games.
Oreskovich came to camp knowing that the Canucks wanted him to play a more physical role because that’s the message he was given in his exit meetings. Oreskovich said he wanted to stick up for himself and his teammates more and it looked like he was ready to do that in the pre-season.
In the end, the pro scouts for Vancouver felt Weise was an upgrade to Oreskovich. They felt he is a busier and more physical player.
But considering the way the fourth line has been forever changing in recent times, will anyone be surprised to see Duco in a bit…or Mancari…or Pinizzotto…or Bitz…or Oreskovich for that matter.
