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Hunter Shinkaruk | C/W


-Vintage Canuck-

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I said a player should dominate in the AHL, if he is going to be a elite star in the NHL.

I agree with what you are saying here, but there are always exceptions of course.

Regarding Shinkaruk, I think he is just starting to transition his game to the pro level.. Just over a year ago he had surgery on his hip and I think he is finally fully recovered. Next year will be a better indicator of his abilities and they will stack up against adult players.

Shinks' determination is relentless; he will never give up and will do what he has to do to get where he wants. In Utica he's been forced to learn the defensive game, which he did and now has a chance to have more offensive players for linemates. His passion for the game makes him a good learner and a very hard worker. He will not be put off.

Imo, Shinks will have a dominating season next year and will be defensively responsible while putting up the numbers. I fully expect him to make the jump to the parent team the following year.

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I agree with what you are saying here, but there are always exceptions of course.

Regarding Shinkaruk, I think he is just starting to transition his game to the pro level.. Just over a year ago he had surgery on his hip and I think he is finally fully recovered. Next year will be a better indicator of his abilities and they will stack up against adult players.

Shinks' determination is relentless; he will never give up and will do what he has to do to get where he wants. In Utica he's been forced to learn the defensive game, which he did and now has a chance to have more offensive players for linemates. His passion for the game makes him a good learner and a very hard worker. He will not be put off.

Imo, Shinks will have a dominating season next year and will be defensively responsible while putting up the numbers. I fully expect him to make the jump to the parent team the following year.

Just ignore him. He was born with his mouth in his ass instead of on his head......

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You guys are just twisting my words. All I'm saying is if a player is going to be a stud than he should definitely dominate in the AHL. I don't care when Shinkurak makes the jump, but if he is going to be a 1st line guy, he will need to dominate the AHL. Otherwise, he is a career 2nd or 3rd liner and that's the same thing I said about Sven, but many of you twisted my words.

You like studs a lot don't you.

I'm not judging... :blink:

Anyways, solid progression from Shinkaruk this season. Green has helped build a foundation for his pro career.

I hope we get him some games next year just so he can rub elbows with the Sedins.

He'll learn what it takes to become elite by hanging out with 2 elite players everyday.

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The kid just turned 20 for God sakes and is in his first pro season after a major surgery. So just chill and let him develop.

Let me ask you Desi, but do you consider Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco and Gustav Nyquist really good players. I do, and none dominated the AHL.

Tatar play most of 4 seasons in the AHL, hitting a high of .80 PPG.

Tomas Jurco, in his first AHL season at the age of 21 scored at a .38 PPG clip.

Gustav Nyquist scored a a 1.0 PPG pace in his first full season in the AHL, but was already 22.

I guess my point is that Shink at the age of 20 in his first AHL season and with a .42 PPG average isn't that far off. He's learning to be an all round pro under Green, and when he hopefully makes the jump within a couple of years, we'll have a real good player. We just need to see steady improvement in the meantime.

Dominating the AHL is not a requirement to becoming a real good NHL'er.

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The kid just turned 20 for God sakes and is in his first pro season after a major surgery. So just chill and let him develop.

Let me ask you Desi, but do you consider Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco and Gustav Nyquist really good players. I do, and none dominated the AHL.

Tatar play most of 4 seasons in the AHL, hitting a high of .80 PPG.

Tomas Jurco, in his first AHL season at the age of 21 scored at a .38 PPG clip.

Gustav Nyquist scored a a 1.0 PPG pace in his first full season in the AHL, but was already 22.

I guess my point is that Shink at the age of 20 in his first AHL season and with a .42 PPG average isn't that far off. He's learning to be an all round pro under Green, and when he hopefully makes the jump within a couple of years, we'll have a real good player. We just need to see steady improvement in the meantime.

Dominating the AHL is not a requirement to becoming a real good NHL'er.

Plus 1 for real good use of "real good".

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I think Green says it best in the following:

Comets coach Green isn’t measuring Shinkaruk’s progress on the stat sheet

It would be easy to question Hunter Shinakaruk’s first half-season of pro hockey by pointing to his six goals in 38 games and wondering what happened to the sniper who scored 86 in two WHL seasons before the Canucks made him a first-round pick.

Easy, and also very unfair.

Shinkaruk, who turned 20 in October, missed most of last season with hip labrum surgery, but, more significantly, he’s faced with the large task of making the transition from junior hockey to a very different AHL game against bigger, stronger and more mature players.

Much like another Canucks first-rounder, Nicklas Jensen, did last season, Shinkaruk is working his way through it with the Utica Comets. The surgically repaired hip feels great but the scoresheet isn’t always flattering.

“My stats are not where I’d like them to be but I really didn’t play last year,” said Shinkaruk, a fleet winger who was drafted 24th overall by the Canucks in 2013. “It’s been an adjustment. When you are 18 or 19 and the captain of your junior team, you play big minutes. It’s not like that here. It’s a different game. It’s more closed down and there’s not as much room out there. I came from junior, where there’s an odd-man rush every second shift.”

Comets head coach Travis Green likes what he’s seen from Shinkaruk, though the steps forward have been incremental.

“I really like the way he’s playing, he’s progressing,” said Green. “A lot of young guys, they try to base how they’re playing on goals and assists. But I think Hunter has done a good job in not getting caught up in that. It is hard for a guy who’s been a natural scorer and has scored goals all his life. Even in the last five or 10 games, he’s taken a step. I’m hoping it’ll translate into some more points, just for him personally so he gets rewarded. I have noticed I’m playing him more, and that’s just him getting used to the league.”

Green said one of the common challenges of adjusting to the AHL from junior — and one that isn’t lost on Shinkaruk — is dealing with the physical one-on-one play. Though Shinkaruk put on some upper body muscle in the gym while recuperating from hip surgery last year, he still needs to get stronger.

“The AHL level has a lot more one-on-one puck battles in all areas of the rink,” said Green. “It’s not as clean a game (as the NHL). For a young guy that can be harder. He’s learning now, where he’s coming out of those battles with the puck.

“I’m not as worried about playing him in a one-goal lead late in the game as I was 15 to 20 games ago. I wasn’t sure if he could win a puck battle and get the puck out of our zone. That’s a huge transition.

“I went through that with (Nicklas) Jensen last year, where he wasn’t used to not being on the ice late in the game. That’s just part of learning. I’ve seen Jensen’s game improve this year to where he kills penalties now, so his minutes have gone up.”

Canucks general manager Jim Benning saw Shinkaruk play about three weeks ago. He liked what he saw, but knows Shinkaruk’s development is behind Jensen, 21, who was drafted two years before him (29th overall in 2011).

“Hunter is adjusting to playing against men this year,” said Benning. “He’s finding his way and he’s working on his game off the ice, to get stronger.”

Benning acknowledged that the comparison with Jensen, in terms of learning the pro game, is an apt one.

“Last year, Nick went up to Christmas without scoring many goals,” said Benning. “Then the light went on and it was all about working hard and competing. This year, Nick has been good. He’s engaged and he’s trying to a be guy who makes a difference.”

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I said a player should dominate in the AHL, if he is going to be a elite star in the NHL.

Green doesn't seem to agree with you for offensive players because he doesn't think that the AHL setting allows them to make the same plays that they would be able to make in the NHL with better linemates and cleaner passes. Others have said it also.

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http://kylethereporter.com/2015/04/13/kyle-dubas-maple-leafs-implementing-a-new-vision-for-player-development/

Who knew that if you gave skilled guys like shink more ice time over dustin jeffreys of the world they'd start actually scoring?? *sarcasm. Winning culture is overated with all these career ahlers

Good link.

“I think a player’s play and make up determines his role and we simply help him develop it and understand it,” Poulin said in 2013. “Certain skill sets define a role.”

“I think to pigeonhole a player with the Marlies as a bottom-six forward or bottom-pair defenseman, my personal opinion is that that would only serve to limit their development,” said Dubas. “We may be blocking out a player who has a lot of promise.

“The winning is great but when I say success with the Marlies, it’s players maximizing their development,” said Dubas. “If we’re drafting good players and they’re maximizing their development then we’re going to have success in the (AHL) standings. Those guys who have success there will make it easier to move on to the Leafs, they’ll come up more confident and hopefully that will keep rolling on.”

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http://kylethereporter.com/2015/04/13/kyle-dubas-maple-leafs-implementing-a-new-vision-for-player-development/

Who knew that if you gave skilled guys like shink more ice time over dustin jeffreys of the world they'd start actually scoring?? *sarcasm. Winning culture is overated with all these career ahlers

I have trouble seeing that article as saying anything more than an awful franchise has decided to emphasize the prospects playing in the AHL over having a winning environment there. The Leafs haven't shown it works. It's just a statement of a different emphasis by a desperate franchise.

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I have trouble seeing that article as saying anything more than an awful franchise has decided to emphasize the prospects playing in the AHL over having a winning environment there. The Leafs haven't shown it works. It's just a statement of a different emphasis by a desperate franchise.

I agree that it's not a perfect strategy. But if you draft a kid as skilled as hunter shinkaruk and can't/won't even play him on the 1/2 line of your AHL franchise then... I don't know... then you're really just wasting a year of his development IMO

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