Vancouver Canucks top prospects of week 8: Tryamkin, Gadjovich, DiPietro
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.
No. 3: D Nikita Tryamkin (Avtomobilist, KHL)
For the second time in as many months, Nikita Tryamkin has been awarded the KHL’s top blueliner of the month.
In November @tryamkin94 led the KHL defensemen's list with 42 shots, 28 hits, 15 blocked shots, and for 2nd straight time was named the D-man of the month! pic.twitter.com/eJ8Lpp7VCc
— KHL (@khl_eng) December 2, 2017
Although we in Vancouver like to forget that Tryamkin is still playing hockey somewhere in this world, he has been one of the top defencemen in the KHL this year. He has 21 points in 36 games, seven of those points being goals. For those who care about plus/minus stats, he is second in the league at a +18.
Only five defensemen have more points than Tryamkin (Philip Larsen and Marc-Andre Gragnani being two of them). He is second in the league in hits (83) while averaging just under 21 minutes a game.
In the context of his team, the Yekaterinburg Avtomobilist, Tryamkin leads the blueline in almost all categories (goals, assists, points, plus/minus, PIM, 5v5 goal, SOG, shifts/game, hits, and blocks).
The 23-year-old BFG
Considering that he is still just 23 years old (who knows, he could still be growing?), I believe that the Canucks should not give up on hoping Tryamkin comes back. If and when he does, the Canucks blueline looks so much better with him, Olli Juolevi, Troy Stecher
and Rasmus Dahlin
.
At this moment, Tryamkin is the KHL’s undisputed top U24 defender. Would it be too big of a stretch to think that Tryamkin could be a top-six defenseman for Team Russia in PyeongChang? I do not think so unless the KHL stops its players from participating.
Last but not least…
Matthews: "They have some pretty big D that can block shots so we just have to be better. Get to the net a little bit better and create more havoc. Don’t let him see the puck as well as he did tonight because he’s a big goalie and can make those big saves."
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 3, 2017
…Good thing that Gudbranson and Tryamkin didn’t play against the Maple Leafs because Matthews would have lost his mind out of frustration had the two played.
No. 2 – G Michael DiPietro (Windsor, OHL)
It is going to be awfully difficult for the Windsor Spitfires to win another Memorial Cup. The only reason they are seventh overall in the 20-team OHL is their defense that starts and ends with Michael DiPietro now that Mikhail Sergachev, Jalen Chatfield and Logan Stanley are gone and four rookie blueliners are playing.
Surprisingly, the Spitfires boast the third-best defense in the OHL. The Spitfires have relied on DiPietro heavily. He has played 1408 minutes to date while his two backups have played a combined 157 minutes.
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Among netminders with 1000+ minutes, DiPietro ranks second in Sv% (.919), third in goals-against average (2.56) and third in wins (15).
After a shaky stretch after the Canada-Russia games, DiPietro rebounded nicely. He has won three straight now, the last win a marvelous 38-save shutout against the Oshawa Generals.
In his last two games, he has saved 69 of 71 shots, good for a .972 save percentage this past week. Considering he had given up three or more goals in six straight games leading up to this week, it is good to see DiPietro back in elite form.
His shutout was the second of the season and the tenth of his OHL career, which is a new franchise record for the Spitfires.
And of course, we should not forget that DiPietro is getting a look for the Olympics and is almost a lock for the World Juniors.