Flames acquire local winger Hunter Shinkaruk in trade with Canucks

It’s a bit of an unusual deal, in that the Granlund has had more opportunity to show what he can do at the National Hockey League level, with mixed results, while Shinkaruk hasn’t yet had a significant opportunity to show whether or not he can score in the National Hockey League. He was having a breakout year in the AHL with 21-goals in 45-games for the Utica Comets.

The Vancouver Canucks traded Hunter Shinkaruk to the Calgary Flames for Markus Granlund today, confirmed the Canucks’ team site. Granlund also spent time with the AHL Stockton Heat, recording 9 points in 12 games this season.

This is where we cut to the entire Vancouver fan base going “WTF, Jim Benning?” The Calgary native leads Utica of the AHL with 39 points in 45 games and is seventh in the AHL with 21 goals. That’s a big improvement from last season’s solid campaign that saw him net 16 goals and 31 points in 74 games.

“I can honestly say I really tried to never think about [Vancouver’s future plans]”, Shinkaruk, who was one of Vancouver’s two first-round picks in 2014, told TSN 1040 shortly after the trade was announced. “He can play LW, he can play center”, said Benning of Granlund.

Granlund is 22-year old and has played in 86-games over three seasons. After trading Shinkaruk, Benning refused to admit if the Canucks will be buyers or sellers before next week’s trade deadline, according to Drance.