Vancouver Canucks top prospects of week 8: Tryamkin, Gadjovich, DiPietro
By David Joun
The Vancouver Canucks have turned things around lately with wins against Nashville and Toronto, and a few of their prospects have also turned things around for the better.
The news that the Vancouver Canucks have lost forward Derek Dorsett forever struck me hard. It sucks. He battled so hard to get back on the ice and compete the way he has for hundreds of games. He was playing arguably the best hockey of his career, carrying the Canucks’ middle-six defensive load.
The game that he and Sutter shut down Connor McDavid and the young Edmonton Oilers? That’s going down as one of the best nights in Canucks hockey this season, no doubt. As a guy who always had room for a couple of “grit guys” in the lineup regardless of endless criticism of Erik Gudbranson and Dorsett in Van City, I am really going to miss Twigy going forward.
That being said, it did take Dorsett’s absence to get Nikolay Goldobin into the Canucks’ lineup. Goldobin has looked decent in his couple NHL games this season, okay defensively and good offensively.
In Goldobin’s absence, the Utica Comets have yet to lose a game in regulation. They are not having trouble scoring either, as they scored nine goals going 2-0-1 in those three games without Goldobin.
Thatcher Demko was great on two of the three games, holding the opponent to a single goal twice. Despite letting in seven goals at home against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, he ends the week having saved 94 of 103 shots, good for a .913 save percentage. In 15 games this season, Demko has a 2.50GAA and a .920 Sv%.
On the offense, Reid Boucher was on fire this week with three goals and two assists. He now has 22 points in 19 games. He is most likely the next on the call-up list should another Canuck forward go down.
Let’s take a look at this week’s top prospect performers. I think you will be surprised. For the first time in a while, we don’t have an Elias Pettersson or a Jonathan Dahlen on our list.