Canucks top prospects of week 18: Gaudette, Palmu, Demko

Quiet times for our prospects. Some are injured, some had the week off and others underwhelmed. However, this week gave me the opportunity to highlight a couple different players this time around.

The Vancouver Canucks are certainly full of surprisings. With the Bruins coming to Rogers Arena during the team’s celebration of Larry Kwong and Chinese New Year, the home team won 6-1. Any game where Brad Marchand gets tossed around is a good one and Team Tank was willing to take the night off for a bit of joy at the Bruins’ expense.

The win made up for a rather bland week that included two consecutive losses to Florida and San Jose. On the prospect front, things were quiet and made writing this more difficult than usual. I had to really dig through the prospect pool to find something to highlight this week.

Of course, there will be a familiar face at the top of the list, but the last two spots were surprisingly difficult to fill. What led to such an unspectacular week? A few things. First, the crown jewel of the Canucks prospect pool did not play a game last week.

Elias Pettersson and the Vaxjo Lakers had some time off. Although, the team made a couple additions to help bolster their squad for the playoffs. Dennis Rasmussen recently terminated his NHL deal with the Anaheim Ducks and signed with his former SHL team in Vaxjo.

The team also traded for Andy Miele, a smaller, veteran forward who was very productive in the AHL for the last two years and was playing in Malmo this season. Pettersson is going to get a lot of support around him, so the next few games could get very interesting.

Injuries, Injuries, Injuries

Jonah Gadjovich did not play any games this week. However, there could be some good news. Greg Cowan of the Owen Sound Sun Times spoke with Attack head coach, Todd Gill. He said Gadjovich may play in Owen Sound’s game today against the Hamilton Bulldogs.

I also saw a curious tweet from Rick Dhaliwal this morning:

It appears the General Manager of the Comets (and AGM of the Canucks) is unaware of Kole Lind‘s recent injury last week. You all saw the hit in the last prospect report. Lind got rocked with a high hit, lay motionless on the ice for a period of time and had to be helped off the ice by his teammates. If not, here it is again:

Warren Henderson of the Kelowna Capital News got a chance to speak with Kelowna Rockets General Manager, Bruce Hamilton. The Rockets are evaluating Lind on “week-to-week basis”. If Lind has a concussion (which is likely, given the nature of the hit), I doubt he will be playing this weekend. But hey, it’s not like knowing which players are injured is in the job description for an Assistant General Manager, right? Here are the top three performances of the week.

No. 3 – G Thatcher Demko (Utica Comets, AHL)

The Comets played in three games last week with Thatcher Demko getting the starts in two of them. He went 1-0-1, making a combined 60 saves on 66 shots. The loss was against the Syracuse Crunch, a division rival. Thanks to Demko, he brought the game to a shootout where the Comets ultimately fell.

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With that loss in the rearview mirror, the Comets won two in a row. Richard Bachman played very well in the middle game of the week and Thatcher Demko was tasked with the toughest matchup yet against the formidable Wilkes/Barre-Scranton Penguins.

It was a slugfest in the goal scoring sense, coming down to a game winning goal from Patrick Wiercioch in overtime. The Comets took the game 5-4, putting an exclamation point on that win. Utica holds the second best points percentage in the North Division, keeping Rochester and Syracuse at bay.

The Comets have played well in the last month, despite being hit with injuries. There are so many new faces here on professional tryouts, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of the new names.

This was the first week the Comets had to play without their top three contributors in Reid Boucher, Nikolay Goldobin and Philip Holm. Those three were all brought to Vancouver after a sudden outbreak of injuries. Darren Archibald‘s new deal with the Canucks means he will not return to Utica this season.

The Comets are being held with duct tape and glue in the form of veteran forwards and players on tryouts, but they are getting the job done. Their goaltending is carrying them and it’s not the most sustainable way to win, but as the team is depleted, there isn’t another way. Fortunately, a reinforcement is on the way.

The return of Reid Boucher will bolster their forces down the stretch. I’m sure the Canucks will remember to paper Nikolay Goldobin at the deadline so he can join the Comets after Vancouver’s injured players return. Hopefully, that is enough to go on a long run in the Calder Cup playoffs.

No. 2 – RW/LW Petrus Palmu (TPS Turku, Liiga)

Wow, it’s been a long time since we talked about Petrus Palmu. November seems so long ago. The Canucks were still convinced they were a playoff team and Palmu was tearing apart the Finnish Liiga at a breakneck pace.

However, as the year progressed, Palmu’s season went in the same direction as the Canucks: Dowd. Sorry, I mean down. Palmu struggled in December and January. He gets several opportunities at even strength and on the power play, but he just couldn’t replicate that earlier production.

In three games this week, Palmu only produced points in one of them. However, he was instrumental in a 4-1 victory, where he picked up a goal and an assist. The diminutive forward must be certainly glad to get that scoring monkey off his back.

Sometimes players can get into their own heads when they are not producing. Look no further than Brendan Gaunce. He went so many games without scoring and then suddenly exploded for those two brief games. We will always have that February game against the Blackhawks.

I have a soft spot for underdogs like Palmu because so many people are ready to write off small hockey players. Despite the Tampa Bay Lightning showing that height is irrelevant if you have exceptional speed and skills. It would be awesome to see Palmu carve out a career like anyone on that current Lightning team. Or perhaps, shatter all expectations and embody one of the greatest small forwards of all time, Martin St. Louis.

Okay, the last part likely won’t happen, but I’m still rooting for Palmu, nonetheless. The good news is that TPS is a very strong team, so he is supported well when he struggles. Furthermore, this also applies to his teammate, Olli Juolevi, who has struggled offensively in 2018 for TPS.

We will have to see how the rest of Palmu’s season goes, but I am very hopeful for what he can accomplish next season, whether that is in Finland or in Utica.