Vancouver Canucks top prospects of week 26: Demko, Dahlen, Gadjovich

This week will be a little more focused on the Utica Comets. Most Canucks prospects have made their way over or concluded their respective seasons. Here are your top three performances of the week.

Vancouver Canucks fans are in an interesting place right now. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway and for me it is refreshing to watch competitive teams over the slog that was their season.

For those who hate the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s fascinating to see who fans would like to see suffer more. That may make us sound spiteful, but when our team is this bad for this long, it’s all we have. Unfortunately, an early Leafs exit may impact the Utica Comets in a bad way. But you will have to find out about that below.

Before talking about the Comets, there is a little housekeeping with some of our prospects. Elias Pettersson and the Växjö Lakers will face off against Skellefteå AIK in the SHL Finals. Their first game is this Tuesday.

Olli Juolevi, Petrus Palmu and TPS Turku will take on Miro Heiskanen and IFK Helsinki in the Liiga Bronze Medal Game. Funny how it works out like that. This year has been a side-by-side comparison between Juolevi and Heiskanen and the duo get to face off one last time this season. That game takes place on April 20th.

Credit where credit is due

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Depth is something that perplexes the Canucks at the NHL level and the issues trickle down to the AHL. If you think the injuries for the Canucks were bad, you should see the long list of players that missed time this year for the Comets.

It didn’t help the Comets that Vancouver was calling up players left and right to plug the holes on their sinking ship. Despite this, the Comets worked tirelessly to bring in suitable players to fill in the gaps in the lineup.

The team didn’t just keep their head above water, they made the playoffs. I know many fans want to attribute this success to Ryan Johnson, but that is incorrect and frankly, lazy. Johnson may be the “GM” of the Comets, but his job is to focus on prospects and report to Vancouver.

Credit rightly goes to Pat Conacher (Director of Utica Hockey Operations), head coach Trent Cull and the rest of the Comets coaching staff for finding the necessary players to help the Comets. Utica brought in 55 players on a professional tryout (PTO) this year!

What they did was nothing short of amazing. The farm has been long neglected by its parent club, but they are in good hands with their current coaching staff and executive team (except for Johnson of course).

Utica Comets playoff preview

Utica finished their season yesterday, taking the fourth seed in the North Division. This pits them against the Toronto Marlies in the first round of the AHL playoffs. I guess being part of the Canucks organization gives you the worst luck.

The Marlies are the best team in the AHL. They rank first in points, third in goals scored and have given up the fewest goals in the leauge. Toronto also has the league’s best penalty kill, but Utica is right behind at second best. Both have the same success rate on the power play at 18%.

Remember how I talked about depth? Toronto has lots of it. Even with Andreas Johnsson, Kasperi Kapanen and Travis Dermott, the Marlies still have a scary group at every position. Keep in mind, Reid Boucher, who leads the Comets in points this year will not be available for the playoffs. He broke his hand at the end of the season with the Canucks.

Utica did receive some help in Nikolay Goldobin, Ashton Sautner and Tyler Motte. Kole Lind and Lukas Jasek are also with the team. Jonathan Dahlén made his debut as you can see from the top three this week.

However, it likely won’t be enough. That possible Leafs exit I alluded to earlier will just strengthen the Marlies. Utica is already in tough for this series and it could get worse quickly. Remember, Adam Gaudette can’t join the Comets because he burned the first year of his contract with the Canucks.

We wish the Comets good luck in the playoffs. They are going to need it. On to the top prospect performances of the week.

No. 2 – LW Jonathan Dahlén (Utica Comets, AHL)

Of the many debuts on the Utica Comets this season, Jonathan Dahlén is the most intriguing. For those who have not had the chance to watch him in person, he plays a North-South game and is not afraid to play through the middle of the ice.

Most people fear for the transition between Europe and North America because the ice surface is smaller. There is less room on the ice and the speed difference between the AHL and the Allsvenskan is huge.

However, with his style of play, it does not surprise me that Dahlén is making the adjustment quite quickly. In two games this week, Dahlén scored a goal. He could have easily had a second one, but it turned into an assist. Dahlén was the first star of the night. Even though he was pointless in his first game, he was very dangerous in limited shifts.

It is worth noting that the Comets were playing the lowly Binghamton Devils, but the work he is doing out there is still impressive. Dahlén has incredible instincts around the net. What I like about the AHL is that the size disparity is not as severe as the NHL. He will have to continue to get stronger, but early returns are good for the young winger.

I like how much smoother his skating his. Dahlén used to have this bizarre and choppy stride that looked awkward, but allowed him to move quickly. He is going to be a fun player to watch.

No. 1 – G Thatcher Demko (Utica Comets, AHL)

It’s odd how I don’t get too many chances to feature Thatcher Demko on this list. His season has been nothing short of remarkable, but when you have players like Gaudette, Pettersson and Lind lighting up the scoresheet, it’s hard to ignore.

Nonetheless, Demko had a nice week. He got the start in two of three games this week, and went to extra time in both. Utica lost the first game to Syracuse and Demko made 20 saves on 22 shots. He was named the third star of the game for his efforts.

Demko got the call for the team’s final game of the regular season against Binghamton. The Comets won the wild game 4-3 and Demko stopped 30 of 33 shots. At the end of the regular season, he finished with a .923 save percentage and 2.43 GAA. Demko also set a Utica record.

Unfortunately, I can’t find better stats for AHL goalies, such as goals saved above average. This is all I got. Demko will be competing against Marlies goaltender Garret Sparks. His competition has a .936 save percentage and GAA of 1.79 (with two fewer games played).

Goaltending will be vital during this first round of the Calder Cup playoffs. It’s not fair to rest most of your hopes on your goalie, but that’s where the Comets are. They are outmanned and outgunned and will not win playing a loose game.

Next: Chris Tanev's trade value is rising

Defence is key for this series. Trent Cull will have to do his best to squeeze the most out of his lineup. He’s been doing it all season, so sometimes, you just need a little faith. Game one between the Comets and Marlies starts Saturday, April 21st.