The chain of events began rather ominously.
Prior to Friday's NHL transaction announcements, a Twitter user asked The Province's Jason Botchford the following:
@botchford why is Goldie on my flight to Chicago?????
— Jeremy Ennis (@hockeyfanvan) September 29, 2017
“Goldie,” of course, is Canucks right winger Nikolay Goldobin, the soon-to-be-22-year-old acquired in last season's Jannik Hansen-to-San Jose trade. Given the Canucks practiced Friday and Goldobin was flying East, many jumped to the same assumption — he had been cut, and was on his way to the club's AHL affiliate in Utica.
Shortly thereafter, those assumptions proved accurate.