This was always a possibility.
When the Vancouver Canucks loaned Sam Gagner to the Toronto Marlies following a less-than-stellar training camp in September, they were essentially doing him a favour. Not only does the veteran centre hail from London, Ontario – merely a 2-hour drive from downtown Toronto – he’d only just laid down roots in the area with his young family.
Rather than sentencing him to long bus rides through Utica, New York, Canucks management sent him home.
From the moment Gagner stepped on the ice as a Marlie, it became markedly obvious that he was an NHLer.