Vancouver Canucks top prospects of week 15: Pettersson, Lind, Gaudette

1 of 4

With the NHL All Star Weekend in the rearview mirror, we can check in on our Canucks prospects. Look for injury updates and the best performances on the week.

Brock Boeser had himself a weekend. He excelled in the accuracy shooting, putting Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos to shame. Boeser even broke the NHL’s new light-up targets. Players have learned to think twice when blocking one his shots this season. Although, it’s nice that the rest of the league can see the power of his shot on display.

The Vancouver Canucks rookie put his stamp on the weekend, scoring two goals and an assist en route to a Pacific Division win. Boeser was named MVP, being the first rookie to earn the honour since Mario Lemieux did it in 1985.

To top it all off, Boeser raked in a tonne of cash this weekend. Ryan Biech breaks it down here:

More from The Canuck Way

Congratulations, Brock! His rookie season continues to get better and better and is one of the few bright spots on this roster.

Shifting gears to prospect news, Jonah Gadjovich is back in action after missing time with an undisclosed illness. He played a couple games last week, but did not pick up any points. Brett McKenzie has played with Gadjovich’s linemate, Nick Suzuki in his absence, so it will interesting to see how those two prospects do at the end of the season.

Last, but not least is the AHL All Star game. As mentioned last week, Reid Boucher and Thatcher Demko will represent the Comets. Utica is currently battling for a playoff spot in the North Division and will need all the help they can get. This is why I would advise calling up Demko later in the season because it would hurt their postseason push. Let him play out this season and see if he earns a call up next year when the Canucks’ goaltending bottoms out once again.

No. 3 – C Adam Gaudette (Northeastern Huskies, NCAA)

Adam Gaudette played in a pair of games against Providence this weekend. Even though Northeastern did not win either game, Gaudette had two goals and an assist in the first game. His second goal forced the game to go to overtime. The vision he showed on that first goal was incredible. Smart play to pick the puck off Providence.

WATCH: Gaudette made it a one-goal game with a great individual effort, beating Hawkey five-hole for his 18th of the year.#GoNU pic.twitter.com/qJBxI3qoiD
— Northeastern Men’s Hockey (@GoNUmhockey) January 27, 2018

WATCH: Need your best players to step up in the big games. Sikura. Gaudette. Goal.#GoNU pic.twitter.com/4izreI933D
— Northeastern Men’s Hockey (@GoNUmhockey) January 27, 2018

This brings him up to 39 points, tied for the lead in the NCAA. If Northeastern doesn’t go very deep into the NCAA playoffs, we could see Gaudette in a Canucks jersey by the end of the season. Until then, we can enjoy the show he puts on during the Huskies’ power play.

Don’t forget to vote for Gaudette as a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award. You can vote daily with this link.

No. 2 – RW Kole Lind (Kelowna Rockets, WHL)

Kole Lind had himself a week. He played in three games, scoring four goals and picking up two more apples. Lind is on a point streak and this last week extended it to 18 games. The Kelowna Rockets winger has 26 goals (21st in the WHL) and 68 points (12th) on the season.

Lind was the second star in his first game of the week against Lethbridge. Hard to believe a four point night including the game-winning goal is only the second star, but as we see with John Garrett, home town biases exist. He was also named the third star in a tough loss to the Red Deer Rebels.

This is a point that needs to be hammered in. Kole Lind is a good reason why teams should hang on to their second round picks. If this team will continue to finish in the NHL’s basement, having those high second round picks lets the team’s scouts to get first crack on the talent that fell out of the first round.

No. 1 – C/RW Elias Pettersson (Vaxjo Lakers, SHL)

The crown jewel of the Canucks prospect pool was at it again. In a pair of games last week, Elias Pettersson scored three goals and added an assist. Just look at how he can generate goals with his deceptive shot. This easily could have been his goal.

Pettersson wasn’t done there. He picked up two goals, one of them on the power play in the second game.

The thought of watching Boeser and Pettersson on the Canucks future power play is tantalizing. Pettersson may lack any NHL experience, but his season is nothing short of amazing. He is up to 40 points on the season, cracking the top 10 seasons in SHL history (for players under 20 years old).

He joins Canucks legends Thomas Gradin, Markus Naslund, Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Pettersson would only need eight more points this season to tie Peter Forsberg‘s 1992-93 season. Forsberg has the second best all time U20 season.

Next: Sedins have plenty left in the tank

At the rate Pettersson is going, this could be very possible. If he gets there, pushing for the best season may be in reach. However, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves just yet. Pettersson has the potential to break records this year in Sweden. He has a promising future ahead of him. Now, the Canucks just need to add some defencmen who can take advantage of his skill set.

Home / Prospects