Vancouver Canucks Prospect Kellan Tochkin Not At Training Camp
By Allen Tung
Stephen Dyrgas/Flickr
Vancouver Canucks prospect Kellan Tochkin is not at training camp.
The 22 year old right winger did not attend the prospects development camp in July or the prospects camp and the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, B.C. either.
Tochkin, however, remains under contract with the Canucks for the 2013-14 season.
He is currently practicing with the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League in preparation for training camp with the Utica Comets, which opens on September 23.
"Former Silvertips playmaker Kellan Tochkin spent the week practicing with the team. Tochkin, who scored 178 points in 185 games with Everett from 2007-11, was getting some work in before reporting to the Utica Comets, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks."
It appears the Canucks have soured on Tochkin as he is the only Canucks and Comets contracted player not at camp.
Mathieu Corbeil, David Pacan, John Negrin, and Sacha Guimond all signed American Hockey League contracts with the Comets this past summer, but are all attending Canucks camp on professional tryouts.
Interestingly. Tochkin played with the Missouri Mavericks of the Central Hockey League last season instead of the team’s affiliates in the AHL and ECHL.
The Canucks signed Tochkin in 2009 amidst fanfare.
In his rookie season with the Silvertips in 2008-09, Tochkin led all WHL rookies in scoring with 74 points in 72 games. He went undrafted in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, but it was enough to catch the Canucks attention. They offered him an amateur tryout on draft day to retain exclusive negotiating rights before signing him to an entry-level contract the same summer.
"So much so that the Canucks secured exclusive summer negotiating rights to Tochkin by offering him on draft day — or undrafted day — an amateur tryout. When the poised playmaker excelled at the Canucks’ development camp in July, Vancouver signed him to a contract.“They had my rights until Oct. 21, so I was taken by surprise that they wanted to sign me right after the camp,” Tochkin said. “But I’m a B.C. boy with a contract for the Canucks, so I’m more than thrilled.“I didn’t talk to one team before the draft so I kind of figured I wouldn’t be drafted. It didn’t really bother me that much. Plus I knew not being drafted didn’t mean I wouldn’t get a NHL invite.“Mike Gillis called me about five minutes [after the draft].”"