Like John Elmerson Fabriga and John David Pahoyo, the Canucks made a big splash on the first day of free agency when they signed Loui Eriksson to a lucrative six-year contract. But they finished the day like Jian Yang, making a few smaller, nearly unnoticeable splashes.

Jayson Megna, Chad Billins, and Borna Rendulic aren’t exactly household names, but they are each solid AHL players who will help the Utica Comets a great deal and have a pinch of NHL experience to make them legitimate options for a call-up later in the season.

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Actually, Borna Rendulic is a household name, depending on which households you survey: Croatian, hockey-loving households. Rendulic is the first Croatian-born hockey player to play in the NHL, signing with the Colorado Avalanche in 2014, and he’s a legitimate talent, racking up goals in international play.

Rendulic showed flashes of his goalscoring ability in the AHL, earning himself a call-up to the NHL, scoring his first NHL goal in his fourth game. Things were going well for Rendulic until he broke his leg, taking him out of action for the rest of the season.

Heading into his second season in North America, Rendulic looked poised to bounce back, making the Avalanche out of training camp. Instead, he played fourth line minutes in three games and got sent down to the San Antonio Rampage in the AHL.

That’s where things went south, as the Rampage were a disaster. They finished last in the Pacific Division and had a terrible team atmosphere, crushing the confidence of many of the young prospects in the Avalanche organization and failing to develop them as players. That’s not idle speculation: that’s what Rendulic said in an interview with Eurolanche, a Europe-based Avalanche fanclub.

In the AHL, you are just playing there. You just feel nobody cares about you. Nobody cares about your development or how you are going to develop. Nobody teach me. We had like those development guys like David Oliver and Brett Clark. When they come over it was nice because they were teaching us, but our coaches didn’t teach anyone. There were so many young players lost their confidence. They couldn’t make the play even when they are good players. It just shouldn’t be like that. It was too much negativity around when I was there.

That is a devastating assessment of the Avalanche system: “nobody cares about your development” and “our coaches didn’t teach anyone” are a pretty damning indictment. It also lines up with what I have seen from many Avalanche fans who are frustrated with the lack of development from players in the AHL. Unsurprisingly, Rampage head coach Dean Chynoweth got the axe in April.

As for Rendulic, he’s still just 24 and obviously still wants to play in the NHL. He knows he’s unlikely to make the Canucks out of camp—later in that interview he says he “doesn’t deserve a one-way contract”—but he must have more faith in the ability of Travis Green and the Utica Comets to develop players.

Rendulic is just as frank in his assessment of his own abilities as he was of the Rampage. In an interview with Not Your Average Hockey Blog last September, he pretty comprehensively broke down his strengths and weaknesses:

What’s the best part of your game? I believe the best part of my game is my shot, especially my slapshot. Also I’m a winger with a big frame, and I am always being told that I possess a promising combination of size and scoring ability. I think I’m an intelligent player, good in corners, who likes to play offensive, but smart. I am tactically very good and I have a finisher’s instinct both in strength and skill to power my way to the net. I have a good technique and tendency for finesse and an attractive game. What’s something you need to work on? On the other hand, I often look passive off the puck and I could up my intensity and sharpness. Furthermore, I need to fine-tune all aspects of my play. I have to place special focus on skating and adding grit, in addition to improving my defense and realization skills. Those are some things I definitely need to work on.”

It’s rare to hear that kind of self-awareness in an interview with a hockey player, but it shows that Rendulic has identified where he needs to improve. A coach like Travis Green may provide the "teaching" that Rendulic craves and didn't receive in San Antonio. Heck, Ben Kuzma literally called Green a “teacher” in an article last week.

With his size and skill, Rendulic could stand out for a Utica team that lost last season’s top goalscorer in Hunter Shinkaruk and may lose its second leading goalscorer in Brendan Gaunce if all goes well at training camp. If Rendulic finds the development he’s looking for, he could play his way back into the NHL sometime this season.

