The Vancouver Canucks claimed goaltender Dany Sabourin off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, a move that may mean another trip to the AHL for veteran backup Wade Flaherty.
The Penguins tried to sneak the 26-year-old Sabourin back to the AHL but weren't successful after the Canucks plucked him.
``We've put a lot of faith in our goaltending coach (Ian Clark) who's got a good feel for him,'' Canucks GM Dave Nonis told The Canadian Press. ``We did play against him last year with (AHL) Manitoba and he played very well against us. Clarkie feels he's a guy who's gotten better every year. He was one of the top goalies in the American League last year and we feel he's ready to make the next step to the NHL.''
Sabourin, Calgary's fifth choice, 108th overall in the 1998 NHL entry draft, went 30-14-4 with a 2.26 GAA and .922 save percentage in 49 games with the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last season. He was named to the AHL's first all-star team and won the Aldege Bastien Award as the league's outstanding goaltender. Sabourin also collected the Harry Holmes Award for posting the lowest team GAA.
``The other reason for this move is that as you've seen over the last couple of years, it's tough to get through a season with two NHL-calibre goaltenders, you need at least three and sometimes more,'' said Nonis. ``We have two very good prospects in Manitoba who aren't ready for the NHL yet so we wanted to add to our depth in that area.''
The 38-year-old Flaherty is likely the odd man out at this point.
``Ultimately we'll send someone down to Manitoba and we'll go from there,'' said Nonis. ``I would expect Wade would go down there for now.''
