Aidan McDonough | #25 | LW

[GoldenAlien]

 

LW |   6'2"   |   201 lbs
 

Shoots | Left

Born | 1999-11-06

Draft | 2019 Round 7 #195 Overall by Vancouver Canucks

 

 

[CRAZY_4_NAZZY]

Aidan McDonough  6'2''  201lbs

 

Shoots: Left

Born: Milton, MA / November 6,1999

 

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by CRAZY_4_NAZZY

[FlyLow_]

You'll always be McDonut to me!

 

Also, can you guys maybe just make 1 thread.

[Rush17]

6'3". Dam another big fella. Buddy of Rathbone. I Love it!

Edited June 22, 2019 by Rush17

[Trebreh]

I like this pick, i dont know anything about him but i like it lol

[Smashian Kassian]

Yeah this seems like a Brackett pick.

 

Big & can score from distance? Going to Northeastern? I like it. 

[24K PureCool]

Northeastern is quickly becoming our farm team.

Edited June 22, 2019 by 24K PureCool

[RetroCanuck]

14 minutes ago, 24K PureCool said:

Northeaster is quickly becoming our farm team.

Is producing more NHL players for us for sure compared to our actual farm...

[DeNiro]

So he`ll have a connection to Madden and Rathbone.

 

Always good to have layers with connections like this. Will make the transition to the bigs easier for them.

[GoldenAlien]

Nice article on McDonough:

https://www.vancourier.com/pass-it-to-bulis/canucks-7th-round-pick-aidan-mcdonough-had-to-cut-vacation-short-when-he-got-drafted-1.23868116

 

Fun thing about Rathbone:

“Actually, his dad coached me from first grade to my senior year of high school, so for 12 years,” said McDonough at Canucks development camp. “Me and Jack have been really close our whole life and he was one of the first people to text me after I got drafted.”

 

“My dad says sometimes, if you want your daughter to marry someone, that's the guy you want,” he added, with a grin on his face.

 

He was a late bloomer:

“My sophomore year I was about 5'8", 150 lbs and then shot up to about 5'11" at the end of the year,” said McDonough. “And then junior year, I was about 6'1". And I've kind of been slowly growing ever since then.”

 

McDonough is now 6’3” and 190 lbs, which is a solid frame for a power forward at the NHL level. The trick is adjusting to his new dimensions, though in some way it has been an advantage.

 

“It was awkward at first — skating, your balance, coordination, things like that,” he said. “I was small and had to learn how to play like that… You have to make quick decisions and keep your head up and have a good hockey sense. So I think that's helped me a lot.”

 

His 2018-2019 season:

Last season was McDonough’s first in the USHL, as he stayed in high school hockey for his draft year. After an early injury kept him off the ice to start the season, he had a solid year, scoring 21 goals and 42 points in 50 games, with Hockey Prospect noting that many of those goals and points coming from power forward type moves.

 

“I think I'm still growing and getting faster and stronger, but I think my goal is to be a power forward that can score goals,” said McDonough. “I love to shoot the puck. I love to make plays in the offensive zone. I think my strengths now are my shot, my hockey IQ, my body.”

 

According to Hockey Prospect, McDonough was his team’s best player in the playoffs, tallying 4 goals and 7 points in 6 games.

 

“[McDonough] has added tremendous strength in the last year and has a good combination of size, speed and power in his game,” reads his scouting report from Hockey Prospect. “While his skill isn’t eye popping, and he lacks the high end playmaking ability of some of the players at the top of draft lists, he possesses decent hands off the rush and the ability to quickly get his shot off, whether it is in traffic or in shooting in stride off the rush.”

 

Hockey Prospect also praises his commitment away from the puck and his “honest effort night in and night out.” In fact, they were high on him last year and were caught by surprise when he didn't get drafted.

 

He could earn big minutes as a college freshman:

“We expect Aidan to come in and challenge for a top role in our club and to contribute offensively right away,” said Northeastern’s head coach Jim Madigan. “He's someone who has a very good stick, shoots the puck really well, gets the puck off his stick quickly in the slot area, and can score from 25-feet out as well as scoring in around the net.”

 

Always like a late bloomer with some raw potential, and he seems genuinely pumped to be in Vancouver.

Edited June 27, 2019 by GoldenAlien

[Kobayashi Maru]

Looks to be a really solid 7th round pick.  He has had really good results and I bet he’s had some issues adjusting to that growth spurt.  I have a sense we may have a decent power forward here with this pick.

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

4 hours ago, GoldenAlien said:

He could earn big minutes as a college freshman:

“We expect Aidan to come in and challenge for a top role in our club and to contribute offensively right away,” said Northeastern’s head coach Jim Madigan. “He's someone who has a very good stick, shoots the puck really well, gets the puck off his stick quickly in the slot area, and can score from 25-feet out as well as scoring in around the net.”

Enjoyed that article and especially happy to read this quote from Madigan. He said something similar when Madden was drafted. At the time, I thought it was just a coach talking up his recruit, but it turned out Madigan meant what he said, gave Madden a prime role to start his college career, and Madden ran with it, posting a very impressive freshman season. Hopefully that trend continues with McDonough. 

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

Twitter thread with a ton of GIF highlights from McDonough:

Interview/article via Canucks Army:

https://canucksarmy.com/2019/08/10/getting-to-know-aidan-mcdonough/

[Fred65]

On 6/27/2019 at 2:02 AM, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Enjoyed that article and especially happy to read this quote from Madigan. He said something similar when Madden was drafted. At the time, I thought it was just a coach talking up his recruit, but it turned out Madigan meant what he said, gave Madden a prime role to start his college career, and Madden ran with it, posting a very impressive freshman season. Hopefully that trend continues with McDonough. 

I wonder if Madigan is on the Canucks pay roll  

[GoldenAlien]

McDonough, who didn't play Northeastern's first three games, made his college debut today on a line with Tyler Madden:

 

Northeastern tied with Holy Cross, 2-2.  Madden scored both of Northeastern's goals and was named the game's first star.  McDonough was held pointless but had 3 shots.  Hopefully he'll stay in the lineup, would be great if he can play with Madden all year.

[Kosmo Kramer]

I like that he was a late bloomer physically, alot of the early bloomers let's call it, do really well because of their size and when they catch up to playing men their own size it is a steep learning curve, their go to moves don't work anymore or as well.

 

Being small you learn to play smart,  then if you end up big, you have a bigger toolbox with size to boot.

 

Good luck this year Aidan.

[GoldenAlien]

Good work from two Canucks on this goal:

 

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

Glad to see McDonough finally hit the scoresheet. And kudos to coach Madigan and the Huskies staff for sticking with the kid in the top-six. I like the way Northeastern isn’t afraid to give their talented freshmen chances to play big roles. We saw this with Madden last year, who was slotted in as #1C from opening night and really made the most of his opportunity. Hopefully McDonough can do the same.

[Fred65]

1 hour ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

Glad to see McDonough finally hit the scoresheet. And kudos to coach Madigan and the Huskies staff for sticking with the kid in the top-six. I like the way Northeastern isn’t afraid to give their talented freshmen chances to play big roles. We saw this with Madden last year, who was slotted in as #1C from opening night and really made the most of his opportunity. Hopefully McDonough can do the same.

McDonough is a player the coach  hopes to play his full 4 years. It had to discouraging for a NCAA coach to have players walk away as sophomores

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

45 minutes ago, Fred65 said:

McDonough is a player the coach  hopes to play his full 4 years. It had to discouraging for a NCAA coach to have players walk away as sophomores

True, but their are still plenty of NCAA programs that make their freshmen “earn it” and will stick almost any rookie on the fourth line because upperclassmen are somehow “owed” all the spots at the top of the lineup. I just appreciate seeing Madigan tap these kids early on for key roles.

 

The Northeastern program has been a really good pipeline for Vancouver in recent years, and I think part of this is that they aren’t hesitant to give their recruits early opportunities, which can only help their development.

 

Of course, there can be a “too much too soon” factor throwing kids into top lines, but Madigan seems to have the right touch and knows how to develop young players.

 

I agree though that it’s easier for a coach to want to commit to giving a player an opportunity when that player is returning that commitment for four years, rather than a guy who looks at college as a pure stepping stone and doesn’t plan to stick around. Still, that’s just part of college hockey and in most cases, the short term players are top level talents and high draft picks, and most coaches are happy to have those kinds of recruits in the lineup, even if it’s just for a year or two.

Edited November 3, 2019 by SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME