Canucks Army Top 20 Canucks Prospects (2014 edition)

[elvis15]

I did this last year as they came out with articles on the top 20 prospects over the summer, and I'm going to keep this simple with an updated list and links to the articles rather than the full articles. I can post excerpts from the articles in the replies as we go along to keep bumping it.

1. Bo Horvat (CDC: Horvat)
2. Hunter Shinkaruk (CDC: Virtanen)
3. Jake Virtanen (CDC: Jensen)
4. Frank Corrado (CDC: Shinkaruk)
5. Nicklas Jensen (CDC: Vey)
6. Jared McCann (CDC: McCann)
7. Brendan Gaunce (CDC: Gaunce)
8. Ben Hutton (CDC: Corrado)
9. Cole Cassels (CDC: Demko)
10. Jordan Subban (CDC: Hutton)
11. Alexandre Grenier (CDC: Cassels)
12. Dane Fox (CDC: Fox)
13. Thatcher Demko (CDC: Tryamkin)
14. Joseph LaBate (CDC: Eriksson)
15. Henrik Tommernes (CDC: Subban)
16. Gustav Forsling (CDC: Cederholm)
17. Nikita Tryamkin (CDC: Grenier)
18. Evan McEneny (CDC: Kenins)
19. Mike Zalewski (CDC: Zalewski)
20. Anton Cederholm (CDC: McEneny)

CDC picks taken from the poll thread: http://forum.canucks.com/topic/363029-top-30-canucks-prospects-28/

Canucks Army's methodology for choosing 'prospects':

One final note on the methodology for this series: our 5 writers - none of whom are in Brendan Gaunce's family tree - were polled for their respective top 20, resulting in an aggregate score. Once every profile has been published, we'll release each of the 5 individual lists for the purposes of public shaming (though as you'll see, there wasn't exactly all that much variance except for a few occasions).

We tinkered with the definition of a "prospect" for the purposes of entertainment this year, shifting our initial definition of 22 years or younger by the start of this coming season up to 24 so as to include a richer pool of talent. With all apologies to Jeremie Blain and his family, we figured this sort of editorial discretion was best for all. Now that that's out of the way, look for the next profile on the docket to run daily from Monday-Friday until we hit what we (unanimously) believe to be the top prospect in the Canucks system.

[elvis15]

PROSPECT PROFILE: #20 ANTON CEDERHOLM

In putting together this profile and attempting to get a better understanding of the season he had, I reached out to a keen Portland Winterhawks observer who was kind enough to share some of what she'd not only seen, but tracked, throughout the year. She sent over a rather disturbing piece of information from the WHL final itself:

While struggling against a formidable opponent like the Oil Kings over the course of a 7-game sample is hardly something to get overly worked up about, the fact that they were so effortlessly gaining the offensive zone against Cederholm was a reason for pause. Especially since it certainly matched up with what I'd seen from him on the odd occasion I got to watch a Winterhawks game last season, in which opponents were targeting what appeared to be a noticeable lack of mobility and foot speed.

Was this actually a prevailing theme throughout the entire year, or just an unfortunate case of catching someone on the wrong nights?

Megan brought up an interesting point there which I do think bears taking into account when evaluating his play last season: this was Cederholm's first year in North America, and considering he turned 19 years old midway through the campaign giving him an added amount of slack seems wise.

It'll be interesting to see how he looks next season, now that he's got his feet wet at this level. The Canucks seem to banking on a marked improvement, considering they've already jumped the gun and invested in him with an entry-level contract earlier this summer.

For now, Cederholm's place on this list is suppressed as he finds himself stuck behind a handful of other defensemen in the system that are either a.) closer to tangibly contributing to the Vancouver Canucks, b.) have a considerably larger perceived upside, or in most cases, a healthy combination of both.

[Master Mind]

I'll be interested to see how these match up against CDC's rankings

[Sedins 55]

Cederholm was ranked 16th in the CDC poll.

[TOMapleLaughs]

A Level - Horvat, Virtanen

B Level - Markstrom, Corrado, Demko, Jensen, Shinkaruk, Gaunce, Vey, McCann, Labate, Cassels, Tryramkin, Hutton, Cederholm, Grenier, Eriksson

C Level - Fox, McNally, Cannata, Pettit, Zalewski, Andersson, Forsling, Subban, McEneny, Blain

D Level- Lain, Archibald, Tommernes, Mallet, Kenins, Friesen, Welsh, Liberati, Beattie, Blomstrand, De Fazio

[Bure fan]

#1. Bo Horvat

[elvis15]

A Level - Horvat, Virtanen

B Level - Markstrom, Corrado, Demko, Jensen, Shinkaruk, Gaunce, Vey, McCann, Labate, Cassels, Tryramkin, Hutton, Cederholm, Grenier, Eriksson

C Level - Fox, McNally, Cannata, Pettit, Zalewski, Andersson, Forsling, Subban, McEneny, Blain

D Level- Lain, Archibald, Tommernes, Mallet, Kenins, Friesen, Welsh, Liberati, Beattie, Blomstrand, De Fazio

Based on that, you're thinking they end up with (right or wrong) 3 of the C/D level players ahead of Cederholm? Possible, with different evaluations, but that's how it'd play out based on those levels.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Based on that, you're thinking they end up with (right or wrong) 3 of the C/D level players ahead of Cederholm? Possible, with different evaluations, but that's how it'd play out based on those levels.

I'm probably high on Cederholm, but I like him. I guess he should be C level though.

[elvis15]

I like Cederholm as well, but his limited offensive upside hurts him.

[canucklehead44]

Cederholm around 20 sounds right. Reminds me a lot of Daniel Rahimi, who was actually rumoured to sign a contract with Washington this offseason.

[wshdrvvn]

I'll be interested to see how these match up against CDC's rankings

I was thinking the same. It would be cool if the OP had the 2 rankings side by side.

[elvis15]

I was thinking the same. It would be cool if the OP had the 2 rankings side by side.

Got a link? Was it one of those "new poll every day until we get everyone ranked" threads?

EDIT: Think I found it: http://forum.canucks.com/topic/363029-top-30-canucks-prospects-28/

I added that in, even though I think it spoils the surprise somewhat since you can easily see a potential list that way, and added the Canucks Army prospect methodology so there's no confusion.

[JustABandwagoner]

Horvat is #1

Shinkaruk and Demko are #1 in my heart <3 (My fav prospects)

[elvis15]

PROSPECT PROFILE: #19 MICHAEL ZALEWSKI

Zalewski spent last season playing at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers of the NCAA's ECAC where he finished 2nd on the Engineers in assists and 4th in points and goals. He attended Winnipeg Jets training camp in the fall, and signed a contract with the Canucks on March 4th. Due largely to injuries, Zalewski actually made his NHL debut before his AHL one and, in a sample admittedly too small to make any sort of projection, performed very well.

In two games against the Flames and Oilers, Zalewski played roughly 12 minutes per game, carried a 55.9% Corsi while starting just 33% of his shifts in the offensive zone, and added one assist. His NHL performance doesn't tell us much (there were multiple games last year where Tom Sestito led the Canucks in Corsi% after all), but it's still a thing that happened to Zalewski and it happened in the NHL, so it's worth mentioning.

...

From SBNation:

SBNation's college hockey blog also ranked Zalewski as the 32nd best prospect in the NCAA last year, 11 spots behind another Canucks prospect Ben Hutton, and immediately ahead of former Calgary Flames 1st round draft pick Mark Jankowski. RPI Engineers blog Without A Peer' had this to say about Zalewski, via Nucks Misconduct:

Standing at 6'2, 205 lbs, Zalewski certainly possesses the physical tools to play a very meat-and-potatoes style of game. He's always carried relatively high PIMs totals, and while that's not necessarily a good thing, it may lend support to the argument that he has the disposition to play a grinding-type game too. Zalewski fancies himself as a power-forward type, and watching him skate alongside other Canucks prospects at development camp last month, his hockey skills appeared to be above average for the group. In short, while size is likely what got him noticed, it's far from the only thing he has going for him.

...

At the end of the day, while I really like everything I've seen and read about Zalewski, the biggest threat to a decent prospect making the NHL is that there are a ton of decent hockey players around. Competition is going to be fierce for a player of his abilities since there are a ton of guys looking to make the jump to the next level, and Zalewski won't just have to be good, he'll have to be better than a lot of guys with better pedigrees who Vancouver has already invested more in to. And at 22 years old, this will have to happen relatively soon. If Zalewski is like most guys, and we don't have reason to believe he isn't, he'll reach his peak ability in the next 2-4 years. If he's not knocking on the NHL door by then, well, that won't be good.

[wshdrvvn]

Got a link? Was it one of those "new poll every day until we get everyone ranked" threads?

EDIT: Think I found it: http://forum.canucks.com/topic/363029-top-30-canucks-prospects-28/

I added that in, even though I think it spoils the surprise somewhat since you can easily see a potential list that way, and added the Canucks Army prospect methodology so there's no confusion.

yeah i believe thats the one. I don't actually follow the CDC thread for it so if you wanted to, you could reveal each number one at a time from each list? whatever's clever either way; I appreciate this thread regardless.

[JustABandwagoner]

Does anyone have access to this??

http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/11323131/top-100-prospects-1-50-nhl?ex_cid=InsiderTwitter_PRONMAN_PROSPECTS1-50

thanks :D

[Master Mind]

I added that in, even though I think it spoils the surprise somewhat since you can easily see a potential list that way, and added the Canucks Army prospect methodology so there's no confusion.

To eliminate that problem, maybe just compare the 2 lists when this one is completed?

I wasn't suggesting for you to put CDC's rankings in the OP. I just thought it would be interesting to see how similar CDC's opinions compare to those at Canucks Army.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Does anyone have access to this??

http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/11323131/top-100-prospects-1-50-nhl?ex_cid=InsiderTwitter_PRONMAN_PROSPECTS1-50

thanks :D

I'd like to know how TT goes from #5 one year to off the list the next. He didn't seem to graduate to another level during that time. And since he played 5 games in Rockford and 2 in Chicago. (I don't see him being a Hawk for long.)

[TOMapleLaughs]

Pronman's entire list briefly put up on HF, but cut down by their mods of course.

Top 10, Players

1 Jonathan Drouin LW Tampa Bay Lightning QMJHL 1

2 Aaron Ekblad D Florida Panthers OHL IN

3 Sam Bennett C Calgary Flames OHL IN

4 William Nylander RW Toronto Maple Leafs SHL IN

5 Sam Reinhart C Buffalo Sabres WHL IN

6 Nikolaj Ehlers LW Winnipeg Jets QMJHL IN

7 Kevin Fiala LW Nashville Predators SHL IN

8 Leon Draisaitl C Edmonton Oilers WHL IN

9 Michael Dal Colle LW New York Islanders OHL IN

10 Evgeny Kuznetsov C Washington Capitals NHL 4

Top 5, Goalies

1. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning

2. John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks

3. Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators

4. Petr Mrazek, Detroit Red Wings

5. Zach Fucale, Montreal Canadiens

Gee, I'd put Mantha somewhere in that top-10, and looking at that list he could even be #1. But Drouin's opportunity in Tampa is sweet.

Interesting Nylander at #4, and at RW, because Kessel's going to be there for 8 more years, and he's already going to get all of Nylander's favorite looks. They'll probably try him at center, but I see him as more a winger in the NHL. And TO is already loaded with wingers. These factors will no doubt affect his 'ceiling' in TO, which is what the ranking would be solely based on. Right?

Overall I find the top-10 here to be a bit too loaded with 2014 draft picks. 8 out of 10? Serious?

Pronman kinda sucks here imho.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Here's Pronman's first ever list, 2011.

Prospects 1-5

1. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Center, Red Deer-WHL*

2. Sean Couturier, Center, Drummondville-QMJHL*

3. Ryan Strome, Center, Niagara-OHL*

4. Jonathan Huberdeau, Center, Saint John-QMJHL*

5. Adam Larsson, Defense, Skelleftea-SEL*

*Ranking explanation included

Prospects 6-10

6. Ryan Murphy, Defense, Kitchener-OHL*

7. Mika Zibanejad, Left Wing, Djurgarden-SEL*

8. Nathan Beaulieu, Defense, Saint John-QMJHL*

9. Mark McNeill, Center, Prince Albert-WHL*

10. Rocco Grimaldi, Center, USA Under-18-USHL*

*Ranking explanation included

Prospects 11-15

11. Alexander Khokhlachev, Center, Windsor-OHL*

12. Dougie Hamilton, Defense, Niagara-OHL*

13. Gabriel Landeskog, Right Wing, Kitchener-OHL*

14. Joe Morrow, Defense, Portland-WHL*

15. Joel Armia, Right Wing, Assat-SM-Liiga*

*Ranking explanation included

Prospects 16-20

16. Scott Mayfield, Defense, Youngstown-USHL*

17. Jonas Brodin, Defense, Farjestad-SEL*

18. Sven B�rtschi, Left Wing, Portland-WHL*

19. Nikita Kucherov, Left Wing, CSKA-MHL*

20. Dmitrij Jaskin, Right Wing, HC Slavia Praha-Czech Extraliga*

*Ranking explanation included

As you can see, it's historically been pretty much a confusing shot in the dark. Good for him on getting a job though.