Vancouver Canucks Top 25 Under 25: #6 Emerson Etem
The Vancouver Canucks are in the midst of a youth movement. So, let’s take a look at the club’s top youngsters!
If the Vancouver Canucks want to make their ‘rebuild on the fly’ work, they need a strong foundation of young roster players. We all know the Bo Horvats and Ben Huttons of the team, but what’s after that? How are things for the AHL Utica Comets and what can we expect from the Canucks’ next crop of youngsters?
To answer those questions, our staff ranked all signed Vancouver Canucks players under the age of 25. After compiling a list of the top 10 Canucks prospects recently, this is all about who can help today. And guess what, the Canucks only have a total of 26 players under 25 signed and playing in North America right now.
No. 6 on our list is the young journeyman Emerson Etem.
#6 – Emerson Etem
Age: 24
Position: Left Wing, Right Wing
Team: Vancouver Canucks (NHL)
NHL Experience: 170 Games
How He Got Here
Given that the Long Beach, California native has played for three NHL teams in his brief career, Emerson Etem has been around. Etem started out with Shattuck St. Mary’s Midget Prep in 2007-08 before playing for the U.S. National U17 squad once and the U18 squad twice the following year. He was drafted by the Medicine Hat Tigers in the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft and went on to score 65 points (37 goals, 28 assists) for them during his first season. Those 37 goals led all WHL rookies, by the way.
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In 2010, Etem was drafted in the first round, 29th-overall, by the Anaheim Ducks. Etem played two more seasons in the WHL with the Tigers, compiling 187 points in 130 games — most notably, a 107-point season in 2011-12, for which he was named to the WHL (East) First All-Star Team and led all rookies in goals again with 61. During his final years in Medicine Hat, Etem joined the U.S. U20 squad twice, wearing the “A” once, and winning the bronze medal at the World Juniors. He briefly played for the Syracuse Crunch, but only for two games.
Etem cracked the Ducks roster in 2012-13, playing 38 games and contributing 10 points. He spent parts of the next two seasons with the Ducks but never took off as he was expected to. Despite that, whenever Etem was sent down to the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, he continued to produce at similar levels to his WHL stint. Etem was traded to the New York Rangers in 2015 and didn’t do much there either. Soon enough, he found himself on the Vancouver Canucks.
Where He Is Today
After chipping in 12 points in 39 games for the Canucks last season, Etem finds himself preparing for his first full season with Vancouver, looking to stick around and find his niche on the roster. After some deliberation, GM Jim Benning signed Etem to a one year, one-way contract extension this offseason.
With his brand new “show me” contract, the pressure is on for the young journeyman to finally find a home in the NHL. Only 24 years old, Etem has already bounced around between three different NHL clubs. To say he’s running out of time to show what he can do and finally flourish in the big leagues is an understatement. Etem won’t necessarily be given up on league-wide if he fails to show some developmental strides this season but the gleam of his once-promising talent is fading quickly.
Expect Etem to be extra-motivated this season. Hopefully he worked harder than ever before over the summer and is raring to go. Time to find out if the Canucks have another successful reclamation project on their hands.
Where He’s Headed
Tough to say. Etem has game-changing speed and some pretty decent hands to go along with a solid work ethic. Whether or not he can reclaim some of his former goal-scoring glory remains to be seen but even if he doesn’t Etem is already,and will continue to be, a responsible, two-way forward who chips in offensively from time to time. He might be destined for third or fourth-line roles from now on, though.
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What will be considered a success for Etem this season? Any improvement on his career 0.27 points per game total, probably. Something like 12 to 15 goals? Certainly. Around 35 to 40 points? Most definitely. The bottom line is that Etem needs to make a home for himself so he can stop changing teams every year, stick with one system and ultimately find some success.
If, at the end of 2016-17, Etem has proven yet again that he can’t elevate his game to the next level, then his journeyman ways will unfortunately continue.