When it comes to the Canucks, Kellan Lain has two things going for him.
He has size. He’s a centre. And the Canucks need both.
It helps explain why the Canucks have been coveting Lain, 23, for two seasons, even though he scored just 21 goals in the 108 games he played for Lake Superior State.
But the Canucks aren’t selling Lain as the next Joe Nieuwendyk.
“We see him as a bottom end centre, more like Paul Gaustad or maybe a David Steckel type player. That kind of guy,” Vancouver assistant GM Laurence Gilman said. “He can be a shutdown centre.
“He’s a 6-foot-6, 220-pound centre with decent puck skills who plays with edge and is a very good skater. Those type of players don’t just grow on trees. We were very fortunate to get him, he was highly sought after.”
There were four teams in on Lain before he made the decision to sign with the Canucks as a college free agent. You can be sure the Canucks current lack of depth at centre, and the fact they have no one like him in the organization were the main reasons he chose the Canucks.
Lain will first come to Vancouver and get his tour of Rogers Arena. Maybe take a spell in the mind room, too. He’ll be with the Canucks early in the week for his indoctrination and then report to Chicago after the Canucks-Blues game on Tuesday.
It’s expected he’ll be in the Wolves lineup quickly.
Lain isn’t the only college free agent the Canucks are chasing. They are in on Western Michigan defenceman Dan DeKeyser, who most think is going to either Tampa or Detroit.
They’re interested in Andrej Sustr, the Zdeno Chara-sized blueliner from Nebraska-Omaha.
And there’s Antoine Laganiere who goes to Yale. That school alone is enough right there to make the Canucks swoon. But at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, he already looks like a pro.
This is why both GM Mike Gillis and Gilman flew east earlier this year to see him. You remember, the same trip many had assumed was about Roberto Luongo when Gillis and Gilman showed up at a Washington Capitals games.
Laganiere took part in the Canucks prospects camp in 2011, and last year participated in development camps with Pittsburgh and Edmonton.
