Vancouver Canucks top prospects of week: Pettersson, Lind and Dahlen
These Vancouver Canucks prospects proved this week that they are among the most elite NHL prospects.
I don’t recall the last time it was this good being a Vancouver Canucks fan. Within a week, the club went from getting reminded of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals to winning four games in a row, outscoring their opponents 15-5 in that span.
That is not all, however. Outside the NHL, it was a great week all around for the Canucks organization and their prospects. The Utica Comets had a convincing 5-1 win that saw their power play go 4-for-8 against the Rochester Americans and a pretty good netminder in Linus Ullmark.
Netminder Thatcher Demko was named the first star of the game after making 40 saves on 41 shots against. He now boasts an impressive .960 save percentage as well as a 1.26 goals-against average.
Those numbers establish him as the AHL’s second-best netminder, at least by the numbers, only behind Casey DeSmith, the Pittsburgh Penguins prospect.
Up front, forwards Nikolay Goldobin and Reid Boucher continued their hot start to the season that is starting to resemble their junior when the duo absolutely dominated the CHL with the Sarnia Sting five years ago. Goldobin had two assists and Boucher had two goals.
Defenceman Guillaume Brisebois had his first pro goal while Philip Holm recorded two assists, totalling five points in as many games.
These performances are certainly promising but quite frankly, they pale compared to the week that some of the other prospects had. Here are your top prospects for the third week of the 2017-18 season.
No. 4 – D Olli Juolevi (TPS, Liiga)
After a slow start to his Liiga season with TPS, Olli Juolevi was looking like he was going to have another downhill year. He was pointless in his first four games and was on the ice for an even-strength goal against each game.
Juolevi quickly turned that around this week, scoring two goals and recording four points in two games. He started getting special team ice time as well, both on the man advantage and the penalty kill.
Fellow Canucks prospect Petrus Palmu had the second assist on Juolevi’s first Liiga goal. Juolevi had assisted on Palmu’s goal earlier in the period for his first point of the season. Juolevi was named the game’s second start for TPS.
Juolevi’s second goal came in spectacular fashion. Two and a half minutes into overtime in a two-all tie, he snapped home the game winner.
More thoughts on Juolevi
Earlier today, Juolevi had a chat with News1130’s Rick Dhaliwal. According to the Finnish prospect, he feels that the pro game isn’t much faster than the junior game, though the big difference is in how smart and experienced the veteran players are.
I can see that comment being both good and bad at the same time. It is good that Juolevi does not feel overwhelmed by the pro game’s speed and feels that the pace is manageable. But given that this is the Finnish Liiga and not the AHL where the North American game brings a faster-skating game in a smaller rink, I have a feeling that this lack of “NHL-like North American pace” might lead Juolevi to develop a slow game.
I have always felt that Juolevi lacked urgency when the puck is on his stick, very unlike Jalen Chatfield who paired with him at the Young Stars tournament and made Juolevi look better.
Juolevi’s Coach weighs in
Juolevi’s coach also shared his thoughts about the Canucks prospect the other day. In his interview with Rick Dhaliwal, TPS coach Niittymaki says that Juolevi has been getting better each game.
Niittymaki highlights Juolevi’s hockey sense and puck-moving abilities under pressure as his biggest strengths and mentions that Juolevi needs to add strength and improve physically overall. He believes that Juolevi will play in the NHL.
If Juolevi keeps on getting better like this, he sure will be ready for the NHL in short order.
No. 3: LW Jonathan Dahlen (Timra, Allsven.)
Jonathan Dahlen continued his hot start to his 2017-18 season, scoring once (on a penalty shot) and adding two assists in the single game he played this past week. Three points meant that he contributed to all three goals that his team scored.
It also meant that Dahlen was up to seven points in five games, now just two points off the team lead despite playing only five of twelve games. In fact, Dahlen now leads the entire Allsvenskan, the second-best league in Sweden, in points per game (1.40).
To put that into perspective, in the 35 seasons of Allsvenskan hockey, only six players under 24 have been able to score at better than 1.40 points-per-game in a single season. It has not happened since 2009.
The league-leading Timra IK play against Troja/Ljungby today, the worst team in the league. Expect Dahlen to have himself another stellar performance
Dahlen leaving Timra? Rumours
In the Canucks Twittersphere, there were rumours that Dahlen could be leaving the Allsvenskan to play in the Swiss National League. That is not true, according to this report. Instead, Dahlen is most likely to sign with the SHL’s Brynas IF.