TheRussianRocket. Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Found this read very promising. Goes to show when others, other than Canucks fans, are beginning to take notice on how well of a shape our prospect pool is in. Thought I'd share it here. And before you read, just know that HF has some inaccuracies in the article. Can tell whoever wrote it doesn't really follow the Canucks too much but for the most part he hit the point home. Some mistakes I caught: Horvat never started on the team because he was injured, not b/c he never made the team. Vey isn't playing wing on the 2nd line and never centred it. Forsling is not a shutdown dman and he's certainly not big. Etc. HF is known to be east coast bias so no surprise they kind halfassed a few common sense things we know. And also, some (if not majority) of their evaluations on prospects are based on points and it's not a fair measuring stick on a guy like Bo who isn't expected to rack em up. Just some things like this to know before the reading and keep in the back of your head...HF isn't perfect by any means but just thought I'd pick out some of the flaws. And with no further adieu, here ya have it http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/114203/depth-center-remains-strength-vancouver-canucks-system/#more-114203 Depth at Center remains strength of Vancouver Canucks system Photo: Bo Horvat is transitioning from the OHL to the AHL in 2014-15. He is still looking to record his first point after five games. (courtesy of Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) With the Vancouver Canucks entering something of a mini-rebuild, they have built up a pipeline of extremely talented young centers that are nearly on the cusp of being ready for the NHL. While the NHL squad’s top talent is slowly aging and settling more into the latter stages of their careers, the Canucks have many players who are going to be considered cornerstones of the franchise waiting just on the other side. With the last several Stanley Cup winners building teams from the net out and down the middle, the Canucks have emulated that by having one of the better goaltending prospects in the NCAA and one of the deepest groups of center prospects in all of hockey. If all holds true to plan, the Canucks will have a formidable group for many years to come at the NHL level, and it could be the backbone of their return to prominence. Left Wing The Canucks left wing group remains thin. They do have Hunter Shinkaruk at the top, who is entering his rookie season with the Utica Comets. After that there is not much in the way of top-shelf talent. Shinkaruk will no doubt have his growing pains in 2014-15, but he remains a legitimate top-six forward for the Canucks to develop. Past that comes a slew of grinders and bottom-six forwards. Darren Archibald has already seen time with the Canucks at the pro level in that role, as has former collegiate player Michael Zalewski. Both are suiting up for Utica this season and are expected to provide the team with energy. Added to the mix of energy forwards was Latvian free agent signing Ronalds Kenins. A member of the Swiss National League A team ZSC, Kenins participated in the Sochi Olympic Games and the World Championships with Latvia. He embraces the hard-working attitude that has become synonymous with the Latvian hockey program in recent years. He has two goals and three points in eight games with Utica and should be an interesting addition to watch moving forward. He is still just 23 years old as well. Although excelling at the ECHL level, Ludwig Blomstrand continues to find it difficult to break into the AHL lineup. The former 2011 fourth round selection played 47 games with Kalamazoo of the ECHL and has started there for 2014-15 as well. Center The real core of the Canuck system remains it’s diverse and talented group of centers; they have also added a few pieces over the course of this last season which make it even stronger. The two top men in the system are taking steps into the AHL this year, which is exciting for Canucks fans as the next wave gets ever closer. Bo Horvat and Brendan Gaunce have been staples of the next wave for a few years now, and both are now playing professionally. The former first round selections are going to encounter a fair share of growing pains and a steep learning curve this season. Horvat in particular has had his struggles already this season, as many expected him to make the Canucks out of camp. However, he was upstaged by trade acquisition Linden Vey. Patience is key with both Horvat and Gaunce, and seasoning in the minors is not a bad thing. Both players have a lot of talent and leadership and it would not be surprising to see them get their chances and call-ups sooner rather than later. Vey, who already had his first taste of NHL action with the Los Angeles Kings, came over at the 2014 Draft in exchange for the Canucks’ second round selection. He was immediately thrust into a top-six role with the Canucks and has not looked out of place. The slick playmaking center has seven points in 13 NHL games and along with Nick Bonino has helped make up for the absence of Ryan Kesler. Vey has shifted to wing in order to allow Bonino to center the second line, but do not be surprised to see him move back at some point if Bonino struggles. Further down the pipeline the Canucks added to their already stellar center depth by drafting Jared McCann with their 2014 first round pick. McCann is a great two-way addition to the system, and you can see the mentality of the Canucks front office to build down the middle with McCann, Horvat, Gaunce, and potentially Vey or Bonino. McCann has been excellent with the Soo Greyhounds so far in 2014-15 as well. Another solid CHL center is Cole Cassels, who has been tremendous for Oshawa this year and is also wearing a “C” for the Generals. Past the top tier in the Canucks pipeline at center there are a number of energy players. Kellan Lain filled in briefly in the NHL last season but will be primarily a member of the Utica Comets this year along with fellow lower-line center Alex Friesen. Alexandre Mallet has started the year with Kalamazoo in the ECHL, and alongside him is rookie Dane Fox. Both players are down with the Wings for playing time purposes as the Canucks and Comets have an excess amount of centers. Recently drafted power forward Kyle Pettit is a very raw prospect who will be playing Eerie Otters for at least a few more years. Finally, Joseph Labate is in the midst of his own long-term development path as he enters his senior year with the University of Wisconsin. Right Wing The big addition to the small right wing group of the Canucks is Jake Virtanen. The rough season the Canucks had in 2013-14 gave them the opportunity to draft high, and they selected one of the WHL’s most hard-working and offensively-gifted talents. Virtanen is coming off a huge season with the Calgary Hitmen where he had 45 goals and 100 penalty minutes. His blend of skill and tenacity is going to be something Canuck fans will enjoy for years. He remains in the WHL for this season and has been scoring at a near point-per-game pace thus far. The remaining pair of right wingers in the pipeline are Nicklas Jensen and Alexandre Grenier, both of whom are playing in Utica. Jensen, a former first round pick, had an outstanding camp but just missed out on making the Canucks’ 2014-15 squad. However, he still has the outlook of a potential top-six forward. Grenier shows a lot of potential as a top-nine power forward given his size and aggressiveness. Both are off to fantastic starts for the Comets. Defense While there are many defensive prospects in the pipeline for the Canucks, few of them have the talent that the team will need to establish a strong long-term blue line from within. Most of the system is filled with bottom-pairing defenseman or NHL hopefuls. They do have a number of potential shutdown defenseman though, but few are puck elite puck-movers. Frank Corrado and the Swedish duo of Henrik Tommernes and Peter Andersson are currently suiting up for the Utica Comets. Corrado had an extended look with the Canucks last season that bordered on 20 games, but the team has pushed him back down to the Comets for more seasoning. Andersson brings good size and shutdown ability while Tommernes likes to play the role of a shifty puck mover. Both have helped strengthen the Utica blue line in the last two years but it remains unseen whether or not they have an NHL level game. In the CHL, Jordan Subban remains an extremely exciting and athletic young defenseman. His offensive game seems to be rounding into fine form, and albeit undersized he is scoring at a point-per-game pace with the Belleville Bulls to start the year. He may be a puck mover to watch moving forward within the organization. 2013 selection Miles Liberati will play another year for North Bay in the OHL, and his fellow 2013 draft mate Anton Cederholm will also play another year for the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. 2014 draft selections Gustav Forsling and Mackenze Stewart enter the mix. Forsling takes his big shutdown game to the SHL with Linkoping, where he has looked fairly good thus far. Stewart jumps in for his third season with the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL. He also plays primarily as a shutdown defenseman. In the NCAA the Canucks have Patrick McNally. After an unbelievable freshman year with Harvard, McNally was tied to the 2012 cheating scandal at Harvard. He looked flat last year in his 20 games and will look to return to his former near point-per-game form of 2011-12. Also in the NCAA is Ben Hutton, looking to build on an exceptional 2013-14 with University of Maine, and Mike Williamson who is entering his sophomore year with Penn State. Finally, a 2014 third round selection, and one of three defensemen selected by the Canucks, is Nikita Tryamkin. The massive 6’7” defenseman is in the midst of the KHL season with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. As a 19 year old, Tryamkin was very solid with Yekaterinburg last year and will be looking to build upon that. He has been a regular in the KHL since he was 18, which is very impressive. Overall the defensive pipeline has improved with the recent draft, but they remain a thin blue line in terms of top-end potential. Goaltending The Canucks took a huge step in boosting the talents of their goaltending ranks with the selection of Thatcher Demko in 2014. Considered one of the best goaltenders in the draft, the Canucks picked him up in the second round. The big butterfly-style net minder was great for Boston College last season and has continued his performances into 2014-15, where he holds a .929 save percentage and a goals against average under 2.00 through the first six games. While the Canucks have two decent, yet older, goaltenders at the pro level, the addition of Demko makes the forward-looking projection in goal much more sound. Demko has all the makings of a potential future starter. In the pro ranks Joacim Eriksson remains with the AHL’s Utica Comets. His backup from last season, Joe Cannata, has been pushed down to the ECHL’s Ontario Reign for more playing time. Cannata has been stellar with Ontario, with a .958 save percentage and a 1.81 goals against average through five games. Eriksson has been equally strong with Utica in his first five games but is now splitting playing time with former first round selection Jacob Markstrom, who has been stellar. He might be hard pressed to overtake the talented Swede. Prospect pool looks really bright with centre depth and goalie depth leading the way. As much as I like the current status of our prospect pool, it does raise cause for concern. On one hand you have unbelievable depth in 2 areas, and on the other hand, the Wing (specifically LW & to a lesser extent RW) and defense pools are relatively thin. Though a positive is with our current defense locked up, we won't need young dmen to step up any time soon so there is still some time gap to fix that. Obvious strengths are the blue chip prospects at centre + goal but a concerning weakness is the wingers and a lack of dmen with game breaking ability. Great time to be a Nucks fan though with JB in charge, I'm sure he's already planning how to address all areas. "If all holds true to plan, the Canucks will have a formidable group for many years to come at the NHL level, and it could be the backbone of their return to prominence." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Canada Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Looks like a few of our young centers will have to shift to the wings in the future...if Dane Fox can improve his skating, he could be a valuable piece as he already has terrific hands. Extremely excited for Jake Virtanen, such a force in the WHL and played well vs the Russians this weeked...cant wait for the World Juniors! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Yeah some of our C's will undoubtedly fill those W vacancies. It's always so painful to read prospect ranking/review from these places. They're painfully out of touch. I mean look at this Hockey's Future summary/ranking: Strengths: While it has not surfaced yet, the Vancouver Canucks have some deep talent in the CHL that is going to make a difference in the next few years. Bo Horvat, Brendan Gaunce, and Hunter Shinkaruk are going to be relied upon as banner forwards for the Canucks future, and they have done extremely well at the junior level so far. Nicklas Jensen and Jordan Schroeder are also expected to be difference makers and have great potential despite some growing pains in recent years. There are also some potentially useful players mixed into the pool with Yann Sauve, Joseph Labate, and Alexandre Grenier. Frank Corrado has also shown vast improvement recently and looks ready for the NHL on the backend. Weaknesses: It is all very far away for the Canucks, with their most talented prospects still several years away from contributing to the NHL team. In their current state, they have few impact players ready to compete at the highest level, and lack depth at goaltending and on defense. Top 5 Prospects: 1. Bo Horvat, C; 2. Nicklas Jensen, RW; 3. Brendan Gaunce, C; 4. Jordan Schroeder, C; 5. Frank Corrado, D. Key Additions: Jeff Costello (trade-OTT), Dane Fox (free agent), Michael Zalewski (free agent). Key Losses: Zac Dalpe (graduation), Steven Anthony (trade-FLA), Adam Polasek (released). Schroeder? No mention of Virtanen? Lack of goal tending depth? And IMO none of these guys are giving Hutton enough credit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRussianRocket. Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Yeah some of our C's will undoubtedly fill those W vacancies. It's always so painful to read prospect ranking/review from these places. They're painfully out of touch. I mean look at this Hockey's Future summary/ranking: Schroeder? No mention of Virtanen? Lack of goal tending depth? And IMO none of these guys are giving Hutton enough credit. They haven't updated their team rankings yet. Why there's no mention of Virtanen/McCann/Demko and ex-Canucks are there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aGENT Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 They haven't updated their team rankings yet. Why there's no mention of Virtanen/McCann/Demko and ex-Canucks are there And besides that, it was pretty clear Schroeder was not a major cog as of last year and we still had pretty good goal tending depth as well. Hockey's Future ranks the prospect talent of each NHL team from best (#1) to the worst (#30). We publish these rankings twice a year, once before and after each regular season. NHL prospects considered for these rankings meet HF's prospect criteria at the time the list is published. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robongo Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Sorry, Can't get over all of the glaring mistakes. Just a terribly written piece from top to bottom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THERETOOL Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 finally ... just that . finally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dral Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 anyone in highschool looking for a job? I suggest you apply here... guy didn't even proof read his own article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyhee Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Thought I'd share it here. And before you read, just know that HF has some inaccuracies in the article. ... Boy, do they ever. Thanks for sharing-and especially for the warning. There are so many mistakes that the article, to me, came off as amusing rather than informative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Canucks may have depth at center, or quantity, but there's no future star first kine center, or quality. In net, we have quality and quantity with Markstrom, Ericsson and now Demko. On wing I'd say we have enough depth and some pretty elite quality, particularly with Virtanen in the mix. Unfortunately we dont have quantity or quality on defence and that has to be addressed this coming draft unless Benning can snatch us a future top line center. Defencemen are usually picked up in later rounds and the correlation of high picked D-men to success isn't as strong as it is with centers. I know people always want to draft the best available player, and we probably should with our earlier pick, but after the first round we have to start drafting defencemen who will develop in our system for 3 or so years and be ready for our Cup run in 4-5 years under the Benning model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tystick Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Awesome to see I hope this year we draft a defenseman in the first round, and then go with wingers after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerbera Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Some glaring mistakes I find... Vey, who already had his first taste of NHL action with the Los Angeles Kings, came over at the 2014 Draft in exchange for the Canucks’ second round selection. He was immediately thrust into a top-six role with the Canucks and has not looked out of place. The slick playmaking center has seven points in 13 NHL games and along with Nick Bonino has helped make up for the absence of Ryan Kesler. Vey has shifted to wing in order to allow Bonino to center the second line, but do not be surprised to see him move back at some point if Bonino struggles. Pretty sure Vey played mainly as our 4th line center and on our top PP. Played only 1 game on the wing of Bonino but I don't think he is close to pushing Bonino out of the 2nd line C (esp. with how well our 2nd line is right now). But still good year for Vey. Another solid CHL center is Cole Cassels, who has been tremendous for Oshawa this year and is also wearing a “C” for the Generals. Cassels was demoted to wearing an "A" after Florida sent back Josh Brown and he took the "C". Grenier shows a lot of potential as a top-nine power forward given his size and aggressiveness. Grenier is known for not playing consistent and aggressively for the Comets. But still a good prospect on our RW. Forsling takes his big shutdown game to the SHL with Linkoping, where he has looked fairly good thus far. Pretty sure Forsling is more of an Offensive Defenseman more than Big shutdown D. Overall, is not a completely wrong article. Some of the stuff they mention are a bit off and not up to date. For fans that don't follow the prospects as much, this article provide an average estimate of how our prospects' are doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dasein Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 That was awful. Just awful. So many mistakes it's kind of hard to take their compliment at face value. Regarding LW, Virtanen? If they're going to keep a LHS Jensen on RW, then keep a RHS Virtanen on his natural position of LW. So we have Virtanen, Shinkaruk and even Gaunce who has been turned into a LW in Utica. Center depth is solid with Vey, Horvat, Cassels, McCann, Lain, Friesen and LaBate. RW is okay too as Kassian is young, Jensen is on the come up and Grenier is working things out in Utica. Defense is suspect. Goaltending is amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowYaDrouin Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 18. (27) Vancouver Canucks Strengths: The Vancouver Canucks have started to revamp the system a little bit, and much of it is due to the development of the big names like Bo Horvat and Hunter Shinkaruk. They have also added Linden Vey to the mix at center, which gives them a very solid group down the middle. Thatcher Demko, Jared McCann and Jake Virtanen were great pick-ups from the 2014 draft and helped add to a solid group in goal and at left wing. There are some intriguing peripheral characters in the system as well in Jordan Subban and Darren Archibald. Weaknesses: While many of the wingers can shift from right to left, the Canucks are limited in natural right wingers. Only three are listed in Nicklas Jensen, Alexandre Grenier, and Virtanen. Defensively, there is not a headlining talent, either, with 2014 draft pick Nikita Tryamkin the top defensive prospect. Subban is a potential boom or bust, and Jeremie Blain,Frank Corrado, and Henrik Tommernes have failed to make enough of an impression at the pro level to be of significant value. Top 5 Prospects: Jake Virtanen, RW; 2. Thatcher Demko, G; 3. Bo Horvat, C; 4. Nikita Tryamkin, D; 5. Hunter Shinkaruk, LW. Key Additions: Linden Vey (trade with Los Angeles), Jake Virtanen (2014), Thatcher Demo (2014), Jared McCann (2014) Thats also from HF. Pretty impressive that in one summer we went from 27th in the league for prospects to 18th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerbera Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Thats also from HF. Pretty impressive that in one summer we went from 27th in the league for prospects to 18th. Esp with how Oilers dropped from 18 to 25 despite picking 3rd overall in this draft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowYaDrouin Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Esp with how Oilers dropped from 18 to 25 despite picking 3rd overall in this draft. Well lets think here, they have 3 players in the minors who are considered "good talents": Marincin, Klefbom and Nurse. Thats literally all they have. Their best forward prospect is Mitch Moroz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzle Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 And besides that, it was pretty clear Schroeder was not a major cog as of last year and we still had pretty good goal tending depth as well. Oops. Guess they forgot about the Canucks being an NHL team after last year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaudette Celly Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Horvat "seasoning in the minors"? As much as I like the current status of our prospect pool, it does raise cause for concern. On one hand you have unbelievable depth in 2 areas, and on the other hand, the Wing (specifically LW & to a lesser extent RW) and defense pools are relatively thin. Though a positive is with our current defense locked up, we won't need young dmen to step up any time soon so there is still some time gap to fix that. How about compared to a year ago, when there was no significant depth anywhere? Benning managed to fill in the 2007-2010 draft hole a bit with Bonino, Vey, and Sbisa. Likewise, he's probably working on doing the same for the defensive prospects, if not by trade then by drafting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pears Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Loving the way our prospects are coming together. We really just need a top line/franchise center along with a defenseman and we're set. Shinkaruk - _____ - Virtanen Vey - Horvat - Kassian Gaunce - McCann - Jensen Archibald - Cassels - Grenier Pretty nice set of forwards for the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amish Rake Fighter Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Cassels is playing in the Subway Series on Sportsnet1 in 20 minutes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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