Vancouver Canucks sign Adam Gaudette, what it means

On Monday, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they’ve signed prospect Adam Gaudette to a three-year deal. Here is how it impacts the team over their final two weeks of the season.

The Vancouver Canucks will finally bring one of their top prospects on board, as the team announced its signing of Northeastern University Huskies star and 2015 fifth round pick, Adam Gaudette.

The Huskies were eliminated by Michigan on Saturday, ending Gaudette’s remarkable 2017-18 campaign. He tallied 30 goals and 60 points in just 38 games, leaving the NCAA on a high note. Gaudette spent three years at Northeastern, having previously played in the USHL.

Nominated for the Hobey Baker Award, Gaudette should make is NHL debut soon, with Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130 reporting that he could play on Thursday.

Gaudette was ranked by The Hockey News as the 77th-best prospect in hockey in their latest magazine edition of “Future Watch.” With just six games left on the schedule (he’s not going to play Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks), fans will hopefully get a short sample size of what Gaudette can bring.

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The 6-foot-1, 183-pound centre could bring a late scoring spark a Vancouver team that hasn’t been able to score much without rookie star, Brock Boeser. Gaudette brings good size and play-making abilities, though it’s anybody’s guess how much head coach Travis Green will use him.

With Bo Horvat and Henrik Sedin occupying the top two centre roles, it’s possible Gaudette could be inserted as the third-liner over Brandon Sutter.

Seeing how much Green values his veterans, we can probably expect Gaudette to be slotted in as the fourth-line centre, though.

We obviously won’t be able to tell yet if Gaudette is ready for the pros. Boeser scored four goals in eight games after joining the team late last season, which was an indicator that he was more than ready.

For Gaudette, he at least deserves a chance — with the team way out of the playoff race whilst dealing with so many injuries to key players.

With Henrik and Daniel Sedin possibly retiring at the end of the season, Gaudette gets his chance to prove he’s a suitable top-three centre going forward. Elias Pettersson is no guarantee to make the team in 2018-19 (he must add more muscle), so the opportunities are here for Gaudette to impress and make the roster next season.

It’s an exciting time for the Canucks fans, who’ve endured another rough year of “rebuilding,” that will lead to yet another (probable), bottom-three finish in the standings. But Gaudette is one of their top heralded prospects, and he could provide some flashy stuff this late in the season.

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Given the kid’s speed and all-around skill, we can expect Gaudette to jump the offence up a little bit more. The sample size may be short, but the Canucks have nothing to lose in playing Gaudette as they finish up another frustrating season.