

Courtesy of @EverettStalker

Happy Halloween and welcome to this weeks Canucks Prospect Report. It was a good week for many Canuck prospects as many goals were scored, points were acquired, lots of transactions and people returning from injuries. As always, follow me @nuckprospects for the latest in prospect news and feed free to send me any feedback on anything prospect related you wish me to cover.

Utica

Games

Friday Game

On Friday night played against the Syracuse Crunch (the current Tampa Bay, and the old old old Canucks farm team) for the first time. It was the closest game for the Comets all year as Stuart was quick to score and the Comets managed to hold the 1-1 tie to overtime where they eventually lost in the shootout. Comets finally got their first point and had their first lead! There were many fights in this game and by the end of Friday the Comets have had as many fights as they have scored goals (9). Many scraps in this game as Wilson, Lain, Mashall and Biega all fought.

Eriksson kept the Comets in this game as the Crunch and their strong young prospects were on the attack all night, Kucherov really stood out. The shootout was going to be a problem as the Comets haven’t been able to score all year; Ferriero scored on the first shot and no other Comet was able to. The Comets managed to get two "Too Many Men" penalties in the first period and then they did it in Saturdays game too. Shots were 34 to 20 for Syracuse, Erikkson stopped 32 of 33 saves and Ferriero lead the team with 5 shots. The PP went 1 for 6 and the PK went 5 for 6.

– Utica’s Game Report

– AHLs Box Score

– BoltProspects Review

Saturday game

The Comets played back to back games this weekend with their second against Hamilton Bulldogs (farm team for Montreal). Eriksson was in net again. The Comets were down 3-0 as they entered the 3rd period but despite two goals they could not tie it up to go to OT with a final score of 3-2. Goals were scored by Tommernes and Andersson. The Comets outshot the Bulldogs 33-24, Erikkson stopped 21 of 24 shots. Stuart lead the team with 5 shots. The PP went 0 for 6 but the PK went 2 for 2. Lain did stand out a bit more in this game which is always good to see from a touted NCAA free agent.

– AHLs box score.

– Utica Game Report.

Wednesday Game

Wednesday nights game was another exciting game as goals were traded back and fourth. The Heat quickly scored and the Comets were down 0-1. They returned 3 unanswered goals and the score become 3-1 for the Comets. The Heat returned the favour making it 3-4 before the Comets could score with Mullen scoring with two minutes left. In OT it was Corban Knight who scored as the Comets ended up losing another game in OT. They earned a point but they are still looking for their first win. This was the first game for both Jensen and Friesen and Eriksson was in net. Stuart led in shots with 5 with Jensen behind with 4. In his first game Jensen earned 1A while Friesen was quiet. Final shots were 27-40 for the Comets, with Eriksson saving 35 of 40 shots. The PP went 1 for 3 and the PK went 2 for 3.

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– AHL’s Box score.

– Utica Game Report.

Players Performance

Players stats who have played at least one game with the Comets so far are:

# Name Pos Age GP G A Pts PPG Shots Sh/G PIM +/- Sh% 23 Pascal Pelletier C 30 6 2 7 9 1.5 8 1.33 8 1 25 28 Alexandre Grenier R 21 7 1 4 5 0.71 8 1.14 15 3 12.5 78 Benn Ferriero R 26 7 2 2 4 0.57 24 3.43 0 -7 8.3 4 Yann Sauve D 23 7 0 4 4 0.57 18 2.57 4 -4 0 26 Frank Corrado D 20 7 2 1 3 0.43 11 1.57 0 -2 18.2 9 Zach Hamill C 24 7 1 2 3 0.43 11 1.57 4 -3 9.1 10 Colin Stuart L 31 7 2 0 2 0.29 25 3.57 4 -5 8 25 Darren Archibald (X) L 23 4 1 1 2 0.5 10 2.5 22 0 10 40 Peter Andersson D 22 7 1 1 2 0.29 6 0.86 4 -2 16.7 14 Patrick Mullen D 27 7 1 1 2 0.29 15 2.14 0 -2 6.7 20 Zac Dalpe C 23 5 0 2 2 0.4 12 2.4 2 -7 0 24 Brandon DeFazio F 24 7 1 0 1 0.14 10 1.43 15 -1 10 7 Henrik Tommernes D 23 7 1 0 1 0.14 17 2.43 0 -5 5.9 17 Nicklas Jensen C 20 1 0 1 1 1 4 4 0 -1 0 3 Alex Biega D 25 7 0 1 1 0.14 7 1 19 -3 0 8 Alex Friesen F 22 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 Sacha Guimond (X) D 22 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 44 Brayden Irwin R 26 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 Alex Mallet C 21 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 -2 0 22 David Pacan (X) R 22 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -1 0 15 Jeremy Welsh (X) F 25 2 0 0 0 0 5 2.5 0 -2 0 12 David Marshall R 28 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.25 9 0 0 16 Kelsey Wilson L 27 5 0 0 0 0 1 0.2 9 0 0 21 Ludwig Blomstrand (X) L 20 6 0 0 0 0 5 0.83 0 0 0 19 Kellan Lain C 24 7 0 0 0 0 2 0.29 37 -1 0

Goalies so far:

# Name GP Min GA GAA W L T ENG SO Saves SvPct 30 Joacim Eriksson 5 305:26 17 3.34 0 4 1 1 0 134 0.887 35 Joe Cannata 2 119:43 7 3.51 0 2 0 1 0 37 0.841

Transactions:

Sauve was called up to the Canucks last week. It was only a paper transaction and was sent back down.

Pelletier and Archibald were called up to the NHL.

Pelletier was sent back to Utica after 1 game.

Comets sign Brayden Irwin.

Guimond to the ECHL’s Gwinnett Gladiators.

Blomstrand sent to the ECHL’s Kalamazoo K-Wings.

Jensen activated by Canucks and sent to Utica

Pelletier was sent down after 1 game and Archibald is still playing with the Canucks. After some good production in the AHL it is good to see Archie given a chance in the NHL. He has not been playing too terribly either and Torts has mentioned him wanting Archibald to steal a job in the NHL. In two games he has played 14.8 minutes (which have been reduced each game), his playing has been split between the Neutral and Defensive Zones while having a 50% 5v5 Fenwick (10 for, 10 against).

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Pelletier was sent back down after 1 game and had some ugly numbers (in a one game sample size). Pelletier played 8 minutes in one game and was 18% in 5v5 Fenwick while playing mainly in the defensive zone. You can follow the #fancystats for Archibald as he plays here. In his first two games so far Archibald has been 2-1 in even strength scoring chances while he was on the ice.

Guimond and Blomstrand had great camps with the Canucks so it is a bit surprising to see them already sent to the ECHL. Blomstrand hasn’t registered a point yet and has been very quiet. Guimond has only been in two games with the glut of Canuck prospects and Canuck players (Biega, Mullen). It is probably better to give him time in the ECHL to develop than sit on the bench. Still it is rarely good to go down to the ECHL. Good to see Jensen, who was hurt in pre-season play, is finally ready to start playing. If he does well, with the injuries to the Canucks, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him called up.

Other:

Currently the Comets are in 15th place with 2 points (0-5-1-1). They have been out-scored 15 to 25 (-10), and have outshot their opponents 204 to 196 (+8). They are controlling 51% (acknowledging score effects) of the shots with an on ice shooting percentage of 7.4% and a save percentage of 86.8. A simple version of PDO puts them at 94.2%, they may not be able to shoot but their goal tendering isn’t helping. Their PP is currently at 25% (16th place) and their PK is 79% (24th place).

Their upcoming games will be on Friday vs Abbotsford and then on Tuesday the 5th vs the Toronto Marlies.

Colin Stuart has been named the Captain for the Utica Comets.

If you want to see an Archibald fight, watch this.

Dalpe continues to play well at the AHL. He has no goals but two assists. He has 12 shots in his 5 games, and his Sh/G rate is one of the teams better ones. He will start to score eventually and hopefully help the Comets lack of offence.

OHL

Cole Cassels continues to look like a great pick for the Canucks as he has had a few multi-goal and multi-point nights this week. He’s keeping up in PPG with Horvat and Gaunce, but it should be kept in mind he is playing on a great team right now. Oshawa is 1st in the East (23 pts), while Belleville is in 10th (9 pts). In the West London is 4th (17 pts) and Kitchener is 10th (8 pts). Liberati and McEneny continue to be quiet but Subban continues his offensive play. The OHL players stats in the last week are:

Name Position GP G A P PPG +/- PIM Bo Horvat C 3 1 1 2 0.67 -1 2 Brendan Gaunce C 4 5 2 7 1.75 -3 6 Cole Cassels C 3 2 2 4 1.33 -1 2 Jordan Subban D 4 1 2 3 0.75 0 4 Evan McEneny D 2 0 0 0 0 -2 8 Miles Liberati D 3 0 0 0 0 1 4

And so far this year the stats of these players are:

Name Position GP G A P PPG +/- PIM Bo Horvat C 11 6 7 13 1.18 3 12 Brendan Gaunce C 14 8 9 17 1.21 -3 16 Cole Cassels C 15 6 12 18 1.2 2 26 Jordan Subban D 16 1 10 11 0.69 -2 16 Evan McEneny D 10 1 3 4 0.4 -7 17 Miles Liberati D 14 1 2 3 0.21 2 16

In the news there have been some great articles on Cole Cassels and Brendan Gaunce. Also, Gaunce and Horvat were named to the OHL roster for the Subway Super Series and will be playing later this month. Rumours keep circulating on the eventual trade of Gaunce to a contending team.

WHL

Hunter Shinkaruk has injured his hip and has not been playing this week. I don’t have much more information on this but it sounds like he shouldn’t be out too long. Cederholm played in two games this week but was quiet on the score sheets. Medicine Hat is 3rd in the East (20 pts) and Portland is 3rd in the West with 23 points. The players stats in the last week are:

Name Position GP G A P PPG +/- PIM Hunter Shinkaruk L 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Anton Cederholm D 3 0 1 1 0.33 5 4

And so far this season the players stats in the WHL are:

Name Position GP G A P PPG +/- PIM Hunter Shinkaruk L 7 4 6 10 1.43 3 12 Anton Cederholm D 15 1 7 8 0.53 12 26

If there is only one ECHL game you watch, or go to, this year, it would be Saturday night when the K-Wings go to Toledo as they host their Star Wars night.

NCAA

The NCAA has now started for all teams. Ben Hutton scored his first goal of the season as UMaine won both its games this weekend over Massachusetts. Labate and UWisconsin had the week off, they will be in action again this weekend. Williamson has his first point with Penn State. He seems to be only playing every second game which may be a product of him being a freshman. When he does play he is usually on the second pairing. Yale has started off their season with a loss to Brown and beating Princeton. Beattie has already scored a goal. Harvard has also started their weekend but McNally is still out on suspension, he has to serve 7 games this season and will be back November 16th. It will be interested to see how this long break will affect his development, he may not miss a beat or he may struggle. NCAA players so far this year are:

Name Position School GP G A P PPG +/- S S/G PIM Ben Hutton D Umaine 5 1 2 3 0.6 -4 11 2.2 0 Joseph LaBate F Uwis-Mad 4 1 1 2 0.5 -6 12 3 0 Mike Williamson D Penn State 3 0 1 1 0.33 2 3 1 7 Matthew Beattie F Yale 2 1 0 1 0.5 1 4 2 0 Patrick McNally D Harvard 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

ECHL/CHL

Now that the ECHL regular season has started and more players have been sent down there is a bit more action here. The K-Wings played one game this week and lost 2-1 to Evansville. If you can only watch 1 ECHL game this year, make sure it is on Saturday when the K-Wings participate in Star Wars night! So far Gwinnett has played 5 games and won their first Wednesday night. Guimond played his first game with them registering 2 SOG and a -1. In the Central Hockey League They will be playing again four times in the next week. In St Charles the Chill have finally won their first game 6-5 over Quad City. Corbeil isn’t playing well after 3 games and has already been pulled in a game and Steve Anthony still has not played a game. Canuck and Utica players so far are as follows:

ECHL Position Team GP G A P PPG +/- SOG S/G PIM Blain D K-Wings 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 2 Pacan RW K-Wings 2 0 0 0 0 -3 1 0.5 0 Polasek D K-Wings 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Anthony F CHL St Charles 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blomstrand F K-Wings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Guimond D Gwinnett 1 0 0 0 0 -1 2 2 0

And Corbeil’s stats are:

Goalies Position Team GP Min GA GAA W L OTL SV SV% Corbeil G CHL St Charles 3 129 10 4.65 0 0 1 46 0.821

Europe

An update of the Canuck players in Europe:

Name Position Team Age GP G A P PPG +/- PIM Anton Rodin W SHL Brynas 22 17 4 12 16 0.94 -2 10 Ronald Kenins LW Swiss ZSC 22 17 5 8 13 0.76 8 8

Other:

ex-Canuck Ryan Johnson was named to Canucks player development

It’s been a fairly busy week for Canuck prospects as all leagues are in action now. It’s always great to see Canuck prospects working hard and producing points. If you have any feedback on what you’d like to see covered more (or less) in these reports send me a message. And make sure to follow @nuckprospects for the latest in Canuck News.





