Frank Corrado is going home. The Maple Leafs claimed the Toronto native off waivers from the Canucks this morning.
Corrado was placed on waivers yesterday after he failed to make the Canucks’ opening night roster. He was passed on the depth by rookie Ben Hutton, who was outstanding in preseason.
Linden Vey and Alex Biega, who were also placed on waivers, went unclaimed. Vey and Biega will start the season with the Utica Comets of the AHL.
It was a puzzling move for the Canucks to risk losing Corrado for nothing. This is an organization with limited prospect depth on defence, who just lost Adam Clendening/Gustav Forsling in the last ten months. Couple this with the fact that the Canucks could have kept Corrado had they placed the injured Chris Higgins on long-term injury reserve, and this appears to be a terrible job of asset management by GM Jim Benning.
It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the Canucks’ 5th round pick in 2011. He became captain the Sudbury Wolves and was a surprising late cut for Canada’s World Junior team in 2012. By the end of the 2012-13 season, he was playing in the NHL playoffs with the Canucks as a 20-year-old. But since then, things have stagnated. He has been on the cusp of the NHL ever since, but has only appeared in 25 games during the last two seasons.
Still just 22-years-old, Corrado is not destined to be an all-star defenceman, but he is likely to become an everyday NHL player. A smooth skating, puck-moving blueliner, he’ll finally get a chance at an extended look in the NHL with the Leafs this year.
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