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For two of the Vancouver Canucks better defensive prospects, this hasn’t been a great offseason.

After Vancouver acquired a trio of new defenders, Michael Del Zotto, Patrick Wiercioch and Philip Holm, it left the Canucks with nine defencemen who they believe can play in the NHL. That’s a big crowd if you’re Jordan Subban and Andrey Pedan on the outside looking in.

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But all is not lost for the young Utica pair. The Canucks also hired Trent Cull to take over the Comets and essentially their development program. And grooming defencemen just happens to be his thing.

Cull rejoined the Syracuse Crunch in 2013-14 as an assistant coach overseeing the Tampa Bay Lightning’s gang of young up-and-coming defencemen.

This past season may have been his most successful.

At the draft, Steve Yzerman specifically mentioned how thrilled he was with the growth of Dominik Masin and Ben Thomas, a pair of AHL rookies who excelled. By the playoffs, Thomas was actually a go-to blueliner, and will have opportunities this season to play in the NHL.