Vancouver Canucks Prospects Playoffs Watch Week 1
The future for the Vancouver Canucks looks good. It looks even better in playoff style.
With the Vancouver Canucks dropping out of the NHL playoffs, it is time to turn the gaze to the prospects. Canucks prospects from all over the leagues are getting primed for the playoffs while a couple of players have already begun their postseason play.
Last year’s group of prospects presented an awesome postseason play, headlined by the AHL’s Utica Comets making the Calder Cup finals. Cole Cassels had flashes of magnificence when his Oshawa Generals shut down the Erie Otters and star then-prospect Connor McDavid. Look where they ended up! Cassels has gotten nowhere with his development.
Jared McCann made some noise, recording 16 points in 14 playoff games with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Meanwhile, Ben Hutton was flying low under the radar in the NCAA. Looking for NCAA hockey playoff stats is… quite the task.
This year’s prospects play seems to be making up for the lack of decent Canucks hockey. Vancouver also seems to have taken all the injuries, too. Why not? The future is bright.
European play
The European prospects have finished their respective seasons. Philip Larsen‘s team, the Jokerit Helsinki was eliminated from the playoffs in four games, in which Larsen recorded a goal and three assists. Newest Canuck Nikita Tryamkin’s Yekaterinburg Automobilist team was also eliminated in six games. Tryamkin had just one assist in the series.
Anton Rodin, who won this year’s Swedish Hockey League MVP honours, has not played a single game in the playoffs as he is currently battling a lower-body injury.
And with that, let’s look at the prospects that are still in action! From the NCAA to the QMJHL, here we go on this new edition of Canucks Prospects Playoffs Watch!
Next: The NCAA
The NCAA
The NCAA playoffs are underway. As confusing as the format may be, there are only three prospects in action.
G Thatcher Demko (Boston College, Hockey East)
After a stunning 35-game season for the 20-year-old netminder, Thatcher Demko has now led his Boston College Eagles through the first round of the Hockey East playoffs. He allowed six goals in three games, good for a 0.933 save percentage and 1.99 goals against average. That, folks, is not up to Demko standards. After a .938 save percentage year of a 1.77 goals against average, Demko must be frustrated.
That’s how good Demko has been this season. Jim Benning is hoping that his second-round draft pick turns pro this year, but the ultimate decision seems to hang in Demko’s hands. But Demko is not the only NCAA netminder in play here.
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Demko now has 10 shutouts this season, which has already surpassed Cory Schneider‘s record (nine) for most single-season shutouts among Boston College netminders. Demko’s team will now face Northeastern University in the Hockey East semi-finals.
Playoffs for NCAA netminders is tough. One three-game playoff series takes place over a single weekend, starting game one on Friday and ending with game three on Saturday. This should explain why Demko struggled in the two weekend games (gave up three goals each game) after a shutout on Friday, the first game of the series.
C Adam Gaudette (Northeastern, Hockey East)
Speaking of Demko and Northeastern University, Adam Gaudette will try to continue his strong second-half play. The freshman forward had 27 points in 38 regular season games. He now has two assists in four playoff games. He will try to ruin Demko’s stats this coming weekend. Northeastern and Boston College go at it starting Friday, March 18th.
As said before with Demko, Gaudette is more likely to have success scoring over the weekend. I like Boston College’s chance in this one. The pressure is on BC Eagles Demko to stop the surging Northeastern’s King Husky.
RW Brock Boeser (North Dakota, NCHC)
Last but not least is North Dakota freshman right winger Brock Boeser. After a sparkling finish to the regular season, Boeser is leading the team to a strong postseason play. North Dakota has already swept their opponent in the first round of the playoffs.
Boeser, in the two games of the first round, had five assists. After those two games, his name is with good company:
Zach Parise is pretty good if you ask me. North Dakota will now face the Minnesota Duluth on Friday for the Frozen Faceoff. The weekend will be big for Boeser and the North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
The winner of Friday’s match will go on to the Frozen Faceoff Championship on Sunday. The loser will play for the third-place honours on Saturday. Denver and St. Cloud State are on the other side of the bracket.
Next: The WHL and the OHL
The WHL and the OHL
There is only one Canuck prospect left in the WHL. Jim Benning did express some interest in drafting current Vancouver Giant Ty Ronning, however. Wonder if there is a shift away from the OHL and the WHL to drafting more profoundly from the American and European pools of prospects.
D Tate Olson (Prince George Cougars)
If there is a steal with the second-last pick of the entire NHL draft, Tate Olson is it. The defenceman has made surges in his play, enough to crack the top 10 in our Canucks prospects rankings.
The 6-foot-3 defenceman now has 47 points in 64 games this year with the Prince George Cougars. Note that this number is more than double the production from last year, one in which he recorded 24 points in 68 games. This is great for the Canucks. Although seventh-round prospects are drafted last for a reason, the fact that Olson has now leapt from his draft-1 year shows how much work he has gotten done before this season.
RELATED: Tate Olson an Enormous Steal
And of course, a 6-foot-3 frame is not an easy one to fill. Perhaps the adage that larger players need more time to kinesthetically associate better with their bodies is true for Olson.
Thanks to this outspurt of production from Olson, the Cougars have clinched a playoff spot already. They have two games remaining this season. As they enter postseason play as a wildcard team, they are going to play the Seattle Thunderbirds in the first round of the playoffs.
C Kyle Pettit (Erie Otters)
So after producing star Connor McDavid, didn’t everyone see this coming? The Otters were going to head for the bottom of the standings, weren’t they?
Well, Kyle Pettit, the sixth-round selection in the 2014 draft, is going to play in the playoffs thanks to his team. Despite Pettit’s 20-point production in 55 games this season, the Otters are the top team in the OHL once again with 101 points to date. The Otters have three games remaining in the regular season.
Otherwise, Pettit seems like a lost cause for Vancouver. Pettit is the only OHL prospect that the Canucks can boast this season. The next slide, though, shows where all the prospects are now coming from. Who saw this coming?
Next: The QMJHL
The QMJHL
Since when did the QMJHL have the Canucks’ largest prospects pool? This hasn’t happened in years! Well, to be fair, since when did the Canucks have prospects worth talking about? Here are three Vancouver prospects who are all set to play in the playoffs!
D Guillaume Brisebois (Acadie-Bathurst Titans)
Guillaume Brisebois is better known for his value than his numbers. What do I mean? Some will not hesitate to write his name Brisebois and read it “the guy we got for an Eddie Lack“. Fair enough. Who cared that this defenceman has 26 points in 51 games? With two games remaining in the regular season for the Titans, those 26 points were good enough to clinch his team a playoff berth.
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To all fairness, it is not hard to qualify for the playoffs in the QMJHL. As long as you don’t finish as the last two teams in the 18-team league, you are in the playoffs, the round of 16. The Titans qualified for the 14th overall team. Do they have enough in the tank to be the favourite underdogs?
But those 26 points are not as bad as you think. Of course, an 18-year-old seventh-round pick named Olson just put up 47 points in 64 games. Nevertheless, on this depleted Titans team, Brisebois is the best teen defenceman. The blueline leader in points is a 20-year-old named Mark Trickett, who has 36 points in 59 games.
C Dmitry Zhukenov (Chicoutimi Saguenéens)
Don’t you find amusing how the Canucks have a plethora of centremen at the NHL level? Well, the prospects pool reflects that. On every slide of this prospects playoffs watch is the name of a Canuck prospect who plays centre.
Dmitry Zhukenov is the next one, one who plays for the Chicoutimi Saguenées, who stand 10th in the QMJHL with two games left in the season.
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After getting drafted in the fourth round of last year’s draft, who saw the 18-year-old Russian putting up 54 points in 62 games? Although not the most impressive total in the talented Chicoutimi lineup, those are impressive numbers from a fourth-round talent. Now the concern would be that he is way too slight for the NHL.
But considering that Zhukenov is just completing the first full season in North America, his production should be a sign of good things to come.
D Carl Neill (Sherbrooke Phoenix)
Finishing 15th overall in the QMJHL was Carl Neill’s Sherbrooke Phoenix, captained by the Canucks’ fifth-round selection himself. With two games left, the 19-year-old defenceman has 49 points in 62 games. Bet on him to try to make the Utica Comets next year.
At 6-foot-3 and 206 pounds, he certainly has the size and frame to get things done at the AHL level. Neill is the scoring leader for the Titans blueline, third on the team overall. However, of these three Canuck QMJHL prospects, Brisebois seems to be the most promising.
Next: The AHL: The Utica Comets
The AHL: The Utica Comets
The days of the Manitoba Moose failing to get into the playoffs is long gone. Here they are, the Utica Comets, who are set for another run at the Calder Cup!
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Except the Vancouver Canucks just called up the top three players on their roster, that is. The Canucks recalled Brendan Gaunce and Andrey Pedan to the NHL and those two will join Alex Grenier. That leaves Jordan Subban, the rookie AHL defenceman, as the leader in points on the Comets roster. With Markus Granlund out, now do you want Hunter Shinkaruk back, Mr. Jim Benning?
The Comets are third in the North Division with 16 games remaining in the AHL schedule this season. With a seven-point lead over the fourth-place (and the wild-card) Rochester Americans, the Comets are in a pretty good spot for the time being. Perhaps that buffer zone can help the Comets out while Gaunce, Grenier, and Pedan are with the Canucks.
By the looks of it, the Comets are bound to face the Albany Devils in the first round of the playoffs. After getting solid netminding from Jakob Markstrom last year, the weakest link in the Comets chain might be between the pipes. Joe Cannata has essentially split duties with Richard Bachman, the combining for some .900 save percentage.
Which of these players will make it to their respective championships, we do not know. But Prospects Watch Playoff Style kicks off with eight prospects in the mix as well as the Utica Comets. Who will survive? It is great to finally be able to talk about more than just a handful of sub-par prospects being silent in the juniors.
One lesson, though, that the Canucks should learn from last year is that dominance in the junior playoffs does not directly translate to NHL readiness. Just look at Cole Cassels, eh?
Next: Canucks TOP 10 Prospects COUNTDOWN
No intent to be tough on the rookie Comet but his dominance in the playoffs was overvalued by the fanbase. Nevertheless, who knows when the next Ben Hutton could happen for the Canucks? More to come!