{"id":103928,"date":"2021-07-28T11:23:36","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T15:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=103928"},"modified":"2021-07-28T11:23:36","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T15:23:36","slug":"brandon-sutter-returns-to-vancouver-canucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2021\/07\/28\/brandon-sutter-returns-to-vancouver-canucks\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Sutter Returns to Vancouver Canucks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/suttebr03.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Sutter<\/a><\/strong> was re-signed by the Vancouver Canucks at the start of the free agent period. TSN&#8217;s Bob McKenzie reports it&#8217;s a one-year deal, but terms are not disclosed at this time.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Not finalized just yet but Brandon Sutter appears likely to be heading back to VAN on a one-year deal. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TSNBobMcKenzie\/status\/1420401166786220032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 28, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Brandon Sutter Moved<\/h2>\n<p>In Brandon Sutter, the Canucks keep around a veteran centre who can also spend time on the wing. His speed and shot have diminished over time, but he can still surprise defenders while short-handed. The 6&#8217;3&#8243; Sutter is primarily a defensive forward, averaging over 2:30 shorthanded per game this season. He&#8217;s also been dominant in the circle, winning around 55% of his draws.<\/p>\n<p>He got nine goals and three assists in 43 games this season with the team. The Carolina Hurricanes originally took him 11th overall in the 2007 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n<h3>A Rocky Start<\/h3>\n<p>Sutter originally came to Vancouver in 2015 with a third-round pick for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/boninni01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Bonino<\/a><\/strong>, Adam Clendenning, and a second-rounder. Shortly after, he signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/canucks\/news\/canucks-sign-sutter-to-five-year-extension\/c-776307\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a five-year extension<\/a>, with Canucks GM <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/benniji01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jim Benning<\/a><\/strong> calling him a &#8220;foundation piece&#8221; for them. Unfortunately, injuries limited him to just 20 games in his first year. Injuries have <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/03\/05\/brandon-sutter-to-miss-the-rest-of-the-season-for-the-vancouver-canucks\/\" target=\"_self\">continued to hamper<\/a> Sutter&#8217;s ice time, playing 61, 26, and 44 games over the last three seasons. Combined with his $4.375 million per year deal he has been a lightning rod for fan criticism, both of him and of Benning.<\/p>\n<p>Sutter did score his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/sports\/hockey\/nhl\/vancouver-canucks-ottawa-senators-nhl-recap-jan-25-1.5887271\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first career hat trick<\/a> on January 25th this year against the Ottawa Senators. But scoring is not what he&#8217;s being acquired for. The 13-year veteran has been to the Stanley Cup Playoffs four times, playing 50 total games. He scored one goal and six points in 17 games for Vancouver in the Edmonton &#8220;playoff bubble&#8221; including the qualifying round.<\/p>\n<h3>What This Means For The Future<\/h3>\n<p>Sutter was rumoured to be moved at the deadline, but that didn&#8217;t happen. The odds of him being re-signed by the Canucks were minimal in any case, but he&#8217;s coming back on a short-term deal. He is hoping to rebound after some shaky seasons in the Pacific Northwest.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Sa5gu9kNQDV-UQ_nFTn_pA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1232686912\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Sa5gu9kNQDV-UQ_nFTn_pA',sig:'txNr5-GtkS5eBq5tEv2r48WyfdITeyNh20jTTS8MJUM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1232686912',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brandon Sutter was re-signed by the Vancouver Canucks at the start of the free agent period. TSN&#8217;s Bob McKenzie reports it&#8217;s a one-year deal, but terms are not disclosed at this time. Not finalized just yet but Brandon Sutter appears likely to be heading back to VAN on a one-year deal. Stay tuned. &mdash; Bob [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3171,"featured_media":115815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4548,4547,34,26],"tags":[1486,662,955],"class_list":["post-103928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl","category-hockey","category-news","category-canucks","tag-brandon-sutter","tag-nhl-free-agency","tag-nhl-news"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}