This Has MASSIVE Implications for the Canucks' Future...

This has massive implications for the Canucks future as a huge insider report indicates behind the scenes drama within the ownership of this organization, but first a forgotten prospect is preparing for a return to the NHL. We are going to break down all that in this episode of Canucks Digest, but first make sure to hit that subscribe button and the bell icon so you don't miss any and all Canucks updates as we get closer and closer to free agency and the NHL draft. And with that let's hop into the first topic of the day, which is forgotten player returning? So if you saw the news on Twitter that Hockey News Hub tweeted out saying he said watch for Vitaly Kravtsov to possibly make an NHL return next season with Rick Dollywald responding to this and quote tweeting saying that the Canucks still own his rights and for those asking not hearing any talks taking place between the Canucks and his agent up until now. And this is a player that a lot of fans kind of had forgotten about, but there is a little bit of news here and there about him, but not too much. An initially drafted 9th overall by the New York Rangers, Kravtsov bounced between the NHL, AHL, and KHL for a couple of years before eventually being flipped to the Vancouver Canucks for William Lockwood and a 7th round pick. Kravtsov played just 16 games with the Canucks scoring a goal and an assist before returning to the KHL. This season he finished 2nd in team scoring with 58 points in 66 games and may be ready to make his way back to North America and he was setting records over there in Russia as well, setting the franchise record for the most goals in a single season. This was posted back in March. So he did break this record a while ago and he continued to improve upon it and it was also his 99th career goal at the time to become the franchise's all time leading scorer. So this is a guy that when you look at his NHL and AHL stats, nothing crazy flashy, but when he's been performing in his motherland, he has been playing very well and looks like he's ready to make that jump back over to North America after having a sensational season over there with the KHL affiliate. And then when you look at that as well, again you see the 58 points, 27 goals, and 31 assists in 66 games, he was nearly a point per game player and that goes to show a lot. In the playoffs he didn't do as much, but still was a contributor scoring 6 goals in 19 games. So he does have something to show for his game. Now it's just a matter of bringing it back over to North America and seeing if he can have a second chance or a third chance as you will within the NHL and a second chance with this Canucks organization and they still do have the rights. So they hold all the power in this, but now it's a matter of talking with his agent and talking with him and seeing if they can get a deal worked out if he's planning to return to the NHL next season. But what are your guys' thoughts on this? Is this a player that you're wanting to make the jump back over to Vancouver or Abbotsford and working his way up to the big club? Or is this a guy that you would like to see the Canucks move on from and just cut their losses and just move on to the future with a different player? Let us know what you guys have to say about it down in the comments below, but that's going to take us into our second topic of the day, which is the main topic and that is family troubles. So Frank Cervelli was on Daily Faceoff's Rundown podcast talking about the Vancouver Canucks and their ongoing drama and if the drama is over and he says that there's an ongoing battle behind the scenes right now between the Aquilines and it's not over control of the team because we know that Francesco is going to maintain that, but his brother Paolo is leaving the family business and they have to buy him out. Now this is also coming off of the heels of something that we covered not too long ago where Paolo Aquilini was going to be stepping back. He was already stepping back from his community role within the team as that was his major form of concentration and now stepping back from the ownership team entirely and now needing to be bought out. At the time when we dropped that video on it, there was no confirmation on if a buyout was happening, only theorizing, but we all saw it coming with the writing on the wall and now it's a matter of if they are going to sell his stake to somebody else. So it has been ongoing. It probably won't get settled until I think they're hoping the start of the season. That would make it as drama free as possible. Now if they are planning a buyout, that would have to mean maybe bringing on another minority stake owner or maybe the Aquilini's are preparing to sell the team, even though that Francesco has said that yes, the team is not for sale. They are committed to keeping the team in Vancouver. But with some reports that have been coming out, whether from Nick Kiprios, whether Darren Dreger or from Frank Cervelli in this case, there has been an ongoing drama within the family and there's a lot of pissed off fans as well who are wanting for the Aquilini's to sell their stake so that somebody else can take over and that this team can now finally prosper instead of being owned by cheap owners. And this is also coming off of the heels of the Canucks Brass checking out Rosemary Brown Rec Center in Burnaby, BC as a potential practice facility. Now yes, the Canucks Brass was in Burnaby visiting Rosemary Brown Rec Center as a potential practice facility location as tweeted by Irfan Ghaffar and South Burnaby is a little far. They were also at Britannia before that. No picks were taken there though. It's in an area they would love to revitalize. The news that matters most here is that they're actively looking, going and seeing different venues all over. It's a step in the right direction. Now if those two places are the ones for a practice venue, yes, Britannia I think would be the better choice because they can revitalize it and turn it into their own. But looking at a rec center in this case, what are the Canucks going to be practicing while someone's having a birthday party in the gymnasium? What is going on here? It seems like the Aquilini's are trying to do whatever they can to save a few pennies, pinch as many dollars as they can so they don't have to spend top dollar for a training facility which is what you guys need. You literally just lost a coach because, not mainly, but because of the reason that you guys don't have a practice facility. He was calling for it last year, he was calling for it this year and you guys didn't do anything. Even Jim Rutherford in his year-end address was addressing that and you see there in that photo that yes, Jim Rutherford was there, so was Patrick Alvine, none of the big Aquilini's were there. However, it still goes to show that they are trying to find a practice facility. Yeah, that's all good and dandy, but why don't you find a practice facility that isn't going to be in a rec center where they're going to have to share it with other people. It was already bad enough that they had to share it with UBC, which is a great facility. It's just a matter of the fact that the Canucks, it wasn't their space. That is the main thing of all this. Unless they're trying to just push that out and that becoming the main site of just the Canucks and just revitalize it into a new entirely remodeled arena or rec center in the form of a training facility where the Canucks can just renovate it into just being theirs. Not anybody else is not having to share it with a university team or just the general public trying to have a birthday party or free skate or a free shoot around. That is a big thing for the Canucks and when I initially saw this, I had to have a chuckle when I saw it a few weeks ago because I was thinking, really, that's what we're looking at here? We're not just looking at new ground to break. We're just looking at places to rent out. Absolutely not, but then after thinking about it, maybe within this rec center one in specific, maybe that's a case where if they're looking at Burnaby, they're just trying to renovate this place and turn it into their own, but if that's not the case, what the hell are we thinking here at this ownership group as far as trying to just pinch pennies and find the cheapest possible solution? I know they tried renovating some seats in Rogers Arena. That's great, but the arena itself definitely needs some renovations from what I've been reading on social media. It's been a few years since I've been in that arena, so I can't necessarily say that. I think it was about 2018 when I was last there, so it's been some time for me, but even then when I was there, there was still some noticeable things that the arena probably needed for improvement. I don't know if they made those improvements in the years that I've been there. It's been quite some time. However, with what I've seen on social media, there's a lot of things that fans are saying that either need to be changed within the arena, whether it's other facilities or needing facilities or things like that, it seems like this ownership group hasn't really made the commitment that they've been needing to make that other NHL owners have made in trying to make sure that this team can look and feel as great as possible, whether it's a training facility, whether it's an arena looking astonishing. There's certain things here where if you're playing in a dump, you're not going to want to play like you're a great team. You're going to be looking like the Bad News Bears on ice out there if you're playing in an absolute dumpster fire. Am I calling Rogers Arena a dumpster fire? No. But if the Aquilines don't do enough things or they are training in a rec center, that goes to show little things where that's almost right out of a Lifetime movie where you almost see that the new coach, like in the Mighty Ducks, like Gordon Bombay, showing up there and the team is practicing on a pond, not even in an arena. That's what we're looking at almost for the Canucks if they go this route, unless they renovate it into making it their own. But otherwise, I don't see how the Canucks are going forward with this as far as the Aquilines are concerned at the head of the table. If things like this are going to happen, if this is going to be the thing for the next few years, consider Quinn Hughes already gone and some of the other aspirations that this team has, has gone and probably some of the management and some other things. However, the only way to stop this, I feel like, is for the Aquilines to bring in another minority stake owner with the selling or the buying out of Paolo and then eventually bring in a majority stake owner or that minority guy that you bring in, have him take over. But clearly, the Aquilines are not in the best interest. It's not in the best interest of the Aquilines to make this team the best that it can be with the finances, with the facilities, with certain equipment, with arena renovations and things like that. It's going to go, it's going to take more than one renovated section in the 100 section to make up for this. And this is not the way you go about it. But what do you guys think about all of this? Do you guys think the Aquilines are cheaping out and that they got to sell their stake? Do you think that this team would benefit if someone else took over as the owner but kept the team in Vancouver? I think that's the biggest thing a lot of people want to jump to is that the Aquilines, they want to keep the team in Vancouver, obviously, because they're BC based, everything to do with that. But if you do bring in a minority stake owner or a new majority stake owner, where they are committed to keeping the team in Vancouver, and they're willing to just fit the bill and pay every penny that they can to make sure this team has the best of the best, whether it's training facility, arena, or things like that, go out and do that. I know it might be a hard decision, it's a hard thing for Canucks fans to want to even consider. It was a thing that I even struggled with over the past season. But seeing some of the things that have been in decline with the Aquilines over the past couple of seasons, it's hard to deny that this team would probably benefit under new owners or at least new minority stake owners at the very least and letting the Aquilines kind of take a bit of a backseat. Let us know what you guys think about all of this down below. What do you guys think about Sarah Vallee's comments? Do you think there's a massive feud going on between the brothers right now or do you think it's all smoke and mirrors because it's Frank Sarah Vallee? Let us know what you guys have to say about it down in the comments below. But that's going to do it for this episode of Canucks Digest. I've been your host Griffin, take care.