Vancouver Canucks 2017-18 prospects watch Week 1: A Dominant Start
By David Joun
American Hockey League (Defencemen)
On the blueline, the Comets have not been able to produce much, contributing just one point in those two games. Like Rodin, Patrick Wiercioch has not been able to play due to the AHL-NHL veteran rules.
More from The Canuck Way
- Which team won the Bo Horvat trade?
- What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
- Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
- Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
- 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg
It seems that the trend Vancouver saw in preseason with these blueliners is continuing in the AHL. Jalen Chatfield, Philip Holm and Jordan Subban are leading the blueline.
Chatfield, who impressed the Canucks greatly in camp after being signed out of the OHL, is the only player to have a positive plus-minus rating.
Considering that the Comets lost both games and allowed seven goals against in those two games, that’s a big positive for the rookie defenceman.
Though Holm stands at the other end of the plus-minus spectrum, he is leading the blueline with five shots which is just as many as forward Reid Boucher has. The Philip Holm that we saw in Vancouver played high-risk, high-reward hockey and that seems to be the case in the AHL as well.
And as usual, Jordan Subban leads all defencemen with an assist. He does lead also in PIMs.
The Netminders
Thatcher Demko and Richard Bachman split duties, each playing the Marlies once. Though both lost, Demko’s stats are far superior. He made 24 saves on 26 shots, good enough for a respectable statline as can be seen below.
| Player | GP | Goals | Assists | Points | ± | PIM | Shots | Hits | FO% |
| G. Brisebois | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | – | – |
| Jalen Chatfield | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 2 | – | – |
| Philip Holm | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 5 | – | – |
| Evan McEneny | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 2 | – | – |
| Ashton Sautner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 2 | – | – |
| Jordan Subban | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -1 | 6 | 4 | – | – |
| G Thatcher Demko | 1 | 0-1-0 | 2.05GAA | .923Sv% | – | – | |||
| G Richard Bachman | 1 | 0-1-0 | 4.04GAA | .882Sv% | – | – | |||
| Anton Cederholm | – | ECHL | |||||||
| MacKenze Stewart | – | ECHL |
In the ECHL…
The Canucks have two defencemen in the ECHL, with the Kalamazoo Wings. The ECHL season begins Friday and no games have been played yet. As the season progresses, do not be surprised if other Utica Comets players are added to the ECHL.