Vancouver Canucks top prospects of week 20: Stukel, Pettersson, Lind
The Canuck Way is ready to bring you up to date with another packed week of prospect news. Here are the top three performances of the week.
The Vancouver Canucks played a couple of exciting games last week. Fans were treated to some high scoring games, led by Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser and Daniel Sedin. Alex Edler cemented in his place as one of the best Canucks defencemen of all time. Brendan Leipsic did not look out of place, which shows you the insane amount of depth on the Golden Knights. And Tyler Motte was well…Tyler Motte.
Over on the farm, things are not so rosy. The Comets are in a six-game losing streak and went from a comfortable playoff position to teetering on the edge. Vancouver’s AHL affiliate threw away a couple easy wins against bad teams during this stretch. They say that you always regret the opportunities you don’t take.
Utica will eventually get out of this slide, but not having Philip Holm or Nikolay Goldobin is hurting them. The Canucks papered Goldobin and Motte, but Utica won’t see them until April. Sven Baertschi‘s season-ending injury will mean another call-up is in order. Their depleted lineup is starting to get healthy, but players on tryouts will have to support them along the way. Unfortunately, With no reinforcements on the way, we hope the Comets can pull out of this tailspin quickly.
In prospect news
Let’s start across the pond. Over in Finland, TPS Turku played in three games last week. During that stretch, Olli Juolevi scored a goal on the power play, his first one since January 23rd. Juolevi has 18 points in 36 games and is second in scoring among Liiga defencemen under the age of 20. Who’s in first? Miro Heiskanen with 22 points in 28 games (he missed some games while at the Olympics). Keep in mind that Heiskanen is a year younger than Juolevi.
More from The Canuck Way
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- What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
- Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
- Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
- 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg
On a more positive note, Petrus Palmu had three points in those three games. There isn’t a lot more that I can say about Palmu that has not already been said. I do like Palmu’s story and root for these smaller guys to make it. He will be an interesting prospect to watch in the future.
As we make our way back to North America, I can give a quick update on Jack Rathbone. The Dexter School standout has 30 points and still leads defencemen in points-per-game in the New Englands Prep School League. It does appear that Dexter School plays fewer games than the other two schools I have access to on the list.
Even though Adam Gaudette did not play any games this week, Northeastern knows their opponent for the Hockey East Quarterfinals. They play Massachusetts in a best of three series that starts on March 9. Northeastern played this school twice this year in a home and home, splitting the series with a 5-0 victory and 3-0 loss.
Last, but not least is Michael DiPietro. He picked up his seventh shutout of the season last week, leading all OHL goaltenders in that category. His .912 save percentage and 2.74 GAA rank are both ranked fourth for OHL goaltenders that have played more than seven games this season.
Let’s move on with the top performances of the week!