Canucks sign trio of d-men

[puckhead]

Canucks ink defencemen Sauve, Sweatt and Tanev

Yann Sauve, 20, appeared in 61 games with the Saint John Sea Dogs in 2009-10, recording 36 points (7-29-36), +42 and 65 penalty minutes. He also appeared in 21 playoff games in 2010, collecting 15 points (5-10-15) and 36 penalty minutes

Lee Sweatt, 24, split the 2009-10 season between Riga Dynamo (KHL) and TPS Turku (FNL). With the Dynamo, the Elburn, Illinois native recorded seven points (2-5-7) and 18 penalty minutes in 37 games. He also collected 16 points (9-7-16) and eight penalty minutes in 21 games with TPS Turku.

Chris Tanev, 20, spent the 2009-10 season with the Rochester Institute of Technology, notching 28 points (10-18-28) and four penalty minutes in 41 games. He also led his team in plus/minus (+34).

I like what I have seen out of Sauve so far, maybe JulianSteed has a more up-close report? nice freakin' +/- stat though.

Never heard of the Sweatty Yank that had been playing in Russia. MM213 - any help?

Another nice +/- from Tanev. I assume R.I.T is a NCAA team? any of you Northern New Yorkers know anything about him, (or RIT, for that matter)

 

[juliansteed]

Sauve has all the tools but his head wasn't always in the game. At least not while he was down in junior. He really picked up his game for the playoffs though. He has a great shot. He didn't seem to use it as much as he should have until late in the year. The team had a skills competition late in the year and he won hardest shot and ever since then he seemed to have more confidence in his shot and would shoot a lot more. Hence the reason he scored almost as many goals in the playoffs as he did in the regular season. He had a great +/-. Some say that was a result of playing on the league's highest scoring team which also had the league's best record. There might be some truth to that but he was 3rd on that team and managed to accomplish that playing mostly against the other teams top line and with 17 year old defence partner. One of the other knocks on Sauve is that he didn't use the body enough. But I blame the Q refs for that more than him. It seems the Q doesn't like it when their bigger players lay guys out with clean hard hits. So I suspect this won't be an issue at a higher level.

He was both a fan favourite and a punching bag here in Saint John. It seemed all Sea Dogs fans either loved him or hated him. A lot had him pegged as an underacheiver who didn't play to his potential. I personally liked him but could see where they were coming from, although I think expectations were a bit too high due to him being the Q's #1 overall pick in 2006. Depsite his impressive +/- numbers, he didn't seem all that interested sometime and would make some boneheaded turnovers in his own zone. But he seemed to win the respect of even his biggest critics with his play in the playoffs this year.

I've met him a few times. He's a very nice, friendly kid. He's always smiling and joking around. He actually very funny.

I'd say he's probably a couple years away from suiting up for the Canucks, at least on a full-time basis but I think moving onto Manitoba next year will be great for his development.

 

[puckhead]

thanks for being so in-depth.
that's a + rep

 

[juliansteed]

Ha! No problem. I've watched him for the past 4 years so year I know a few things about him. I'll miss him. He's been fun and at times frustrating to watch but look forward to hopefully seeing him with the Canucks soon.