Vancouver Canucks sign Dustin Jeffrey

The Vancouver Canucks announced the signing of center Dustin Jeffrey on Wednesday. The move reunites Jeffrey to Canucks coach Willie Desjardins upon his first ever NHL coaching position.

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Puck Prose

Jeffrey was coached by Desjardins previously in AHL Texas. He split his time during the 2013-14 campaign between the AHL and NHL and played a key role in helping Texas win the Calder Cup where he had 7 goals and 12 points throughout 19 playoff games.

Acquiring another player with Desjardins ties follows similar moves by the new general manager Jim Benning. Derek Dorsett was acquired from the New York Rangers; Desjardins coached Dorsett for three years while playing with the WHL Medicine Hat.

Linden Vey was also previously acquired during the NHL draft. Vey also has history with Desjardins while playing with Medicine Hat. During the 2010-11 season, Vey had an incredible 116 points while being coached by Desjardins; the most points scored by a Tiger in over 15 years. Vey finished as the Western league’s top scorer and was named a first team all-star.

Unlikely a coincidence, Desjardins is padding the roster with players he is familiar with. Perhaps this is due to being his first year in the NHL, but either way the trend is likely to continue.

In addition to Jeffrey, the Canucks also signed Cal O’Reilly and Bobby Sanguinetti on Wednesday. The two are former OHL standouts. O’Reilly played with Vancouver’s AHL affiliate last season where he scored 45 points throughout 52 games. Sanguinetti played most recently with the KHL Moscow Oblast Atlant. There he scored seven points throughout 15 games.