SAUVE OFFICIALLY SIGNED BY CANUCKS

As Station Nation reported last week, Yann Sauve has signed what is believed to be a three year entry level contract with the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks. The rumored deal was officially announced this afternoon by the hockey club.

According to CapGeek.com, the deal is reportedly worth just above $2 million over the three year span.

Sauve was selected by Vancouver in the second round - 41st overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. The signing announcement comes a day prior to the league’s June 1 deadline for signing ’08 drafted players.

The 20-year old defenseman has attended Vancouver training camp for the last two seasons but still appears to be a bit of a mystery to Canucks fans and media.

“But how good a Canuck prospect is he really?” asks the Vancouver Sun. “We'll begin to find out in the fall. All we know is that the Team Canada world junior team didn't invite Sauve to their final evaluation camps in either 2008 or 2009.”

The Rigaud, Quebec native put together his best season in his four-year QMJHL career this past year, helping Saint John reach the league final. Sauve recorded seven goals and 29 assists for 36 points.

During the 2009-10 campaign, he was named the QMJHL Scholastic Player of the Month in November 2009, the defensive player of the week (Oct. 19-25) and was a member of the QMJHL Team in the 2009 Subway Super Series between Canada and Russia.

In the playoffs, Sauve had five goals and 10 assists in 21 games.

Sauve was drafted by Saint John with the first overall pick in the 2006 QMJHL Entry draft.

In 251 regular season games, Sauve has 20 goals and 82 assists for 102 points. In the playoffs, the 6’3” defenseman has six goals and 14 assists in 39 games. His game total leads all Saint John players in their five-year franchise history.

If the 2008 Top Prospects Game participant doesn’t make the Canucks roster or one of their minor league affiliates, he could return to Saint John for an over-age campaign.

Also signed today by the Canucks today were free agents defenseman Lee Sweatt and Chris Tanev.

Sweatt, 24, split the 2009-10 season between Riga Dynamo (KHL) and TPS Turku (FNL). With the Dynamo, the Elburn, Illinois native recorded seven points (2-5-7) and 18 penalty minutes in 37 games. He also collected 16 points (9-7-16) and eight penalty minutes in 21 games with TPS Turku.

Tanev, 20, spent the 2009-10 season with the Rochester Institute of Technology, notching 28 points (10-18-28) and four penalty minutes in 41 games. He also led his team in plus/minus (+34).

“Canucks were looking to add organizational depth on the blue-line and it would appear all three additions would spend time with Moose,” reports the Winnipeg Sun on Twitter.

Sauve joins Nicholas Petersen as Sea Dog players who have been signed by their respective NHL team's in the past week.

- with files from SaintJohnSeaDogs.com and TSN.ca.