At long last, the Vancouver Canucks are bearing the first fruits of the rebuild.
On Thursday, the Vancouver Canucks held their first-ever Canucks Summer Prospects Showdown. Top prospects Elias Pettersson and Jonathan Dahlen were put in the spotlight to showcase their chemistry.
The duo didn’t dominate the game, however. That was because opposing centre Adam Gaudette had something else in mind.
Gaudette on Pettersson: "We’re battling for the same spot and I wanted to show that I can play at the same pace that he can.” #Canucks
— Ben Kuzma 🇺🇦 (@benkuzma) July 7, 2017
Here is a look at what went down at the Canucks Summer Prospects Showdown game.
Team Blue vs. Team White
https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/883074738850979840
At first look, Team White seemed to have all the advantage. They boasted four former first-round picks including Brock Boeser and his nine-game NHL experience. In 5-on-5 play, Boeser played “the third Swede” with Pettersson and Dahein. On the blueline, Memorial Cup winner Jalen Chatfield of the Windsor Spitfires paired up with Vancouver’s top defence prospect Olli Juolevi.
On the other hand, Team Blue consisted of players picked in the later rounds of the draft. They had Memorial Cup winner Michael DiPietro between the pipes, who was the only drafted netminder available on Thursday.
Team Blue was not to be underrated, though. They had Griffen Molino and his five-game NHL experience as well as one of NCAA’s top players last year, centre Adam Gaudette. Also on offence, the dynamic Owen Sound Attack duo of Petrus Palmu and Jonah Gadjovich hoped to answer the Pettersson-Dahlen duo.