We are back for another year of the Blackfish: Canucks Army Prospect Report!

With some signings, draft picks and trades, there are some new players to follow this year.

In North America, some Canucks prospects kicked off the CHL seasons with some accolades and strong play. Across the pond, the Canucks European prospects are off to good starts after competing in the Champions Hockey League last month.

For this week, we are using Elite Prospects lists (all of the images below are from their site). We are working to adjust the automation of our tables to allow me to edit and add with ease and hopefully should be back to normal for next week.

Without further ado, let’s dive in and take a look.

CANADIAN HOCKEY LEAGUE

Western Hockey League

2017 2nd round pick Kole Lind is off to a blazing start with 8 points in two games for the Rockets. He had 1 goal and two assists on Friday, then followed that up with 2 goals and 3 assists in Saturday’s contest. He was named the WHL player of the week on Monday, and then named the CHL player of the week on Tuesday. So a pretty good week overall.

#Canucks prospect Kole Lind's second goal from Saturday night – picks the corner…… then taunts the Kamloops crowd. pic.twitter.com/maUsIRUc5l — Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) September 25, 2017

Jakob Stukel was returned to the Hitmen last week and was held pointless in two contests. This is the last year that the Canucks retain the 2016 6th round picks’ rights. He will need to take a step forward or could end up without and ELC.

Ontario Hockey League

The other 2017 2nd round pick, Jonah Gadjovich, is also off to a good start with one goal and one assist in one game for the Owen Sound Attack. His line of Gadjovich – Suzuki – Hancock had 26 shots in that game, and they could’ve easily had a couple more goals.

Cole Candella was traded to the Sudbury Wolves for a slew of picks and is off to a decent start with 2 assists in three contests. Both of those points came in the same game.

Matt Brassard was limited to one assist in two games.

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Michael DiPietro started the season like a brick wall, going 3-0-0 with 1.00 GAA, 0.966 SV% and 1 S/O. He was named the OHL goaltender of the week, and then was also named the CHL goalie of the week. He and Lind made for a pretty good week for the Canucks CHL prospects.

NCAA

Adam Gaudette and the Northeastern University team take on the University of Prince Edward Island this Saturday in an exhibition game. NE U saw some graduation to professional ranks this summer, so Gaudette will be leaned on even more this season.

William Lockwood and Michigan University will play the University of Western Ontario in an exhibition night on Saturday as well. It likely won’t go well for the Canadian team in this game. Lockwood is just returning from shoulder surgery in the summer, so he will likely be easing back into it.

EUROPE

Sweden

Elias Pettersson is off to a decent start in the SHL with 3 assists in four games, with today’s 1-0 win being the only game where he hasn’t registered a point (he was on the ice for the goal though). This follows two goals and two assists in four Champions Hockey League games.

#Canucks prospect Elias Pettersson with the primary assist on @vaxjolakers 2nd goal today – great pass for the tip. pic.twitter.com/wbWHN54jDH — Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) September 21, 2017

Kristoffer Gunnarsson has failed to register a point to start the SHL campaign. But is a regular in the lineup, which is encouraging.

Finland

2017 6th round pick Petrus Palmu is off to a great start in Finland with 8 points in 9 games. He is currently on a five-game point streak. He missed half of the SM Liiga pre-season and then all of their Champions Hockey League games due to a knee injury. He also had 5 points in the preseason before being sidelined.

Russia

Nikita Tryamkin is being included in these updates because the Canucks retain his rights until June 30, 2022. The Russian defender has 5 points in 14 games for Avtomobilist. He is averaging 20:10 of ice-time per game.

Dmitry Zhukenov has been jumping between the KHL and MHL over the past few weeks and appears to be healthy scratch in the KHL last game.

#Canucks prospect Dmitry Zhukenov picks the top corner for his first KHL goal! pic.twitter.com/REg00Y1ETS — Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) September 5, 2017

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Czech Republic

The forgotten man, Lukas Jasek is off to a decent start in the Czech ExtraLiga with one goal and two assists in seven games. His goal earlier this week was he first goal in the Extraliga since 2015-16. He is playing 2nd line minutes and regular powerplay time. He had three assists in four Champions Hockey League Games in August.

AHL

The Utica Comets begin their pre-season with a home and home series with the Syracuse Crunch this weekend.

ECHL

At this moment, the Canucks do not have any prospects assigned to the ECHL. That may change over the next week or so with training camps wrapping up.

Schedule

That’s it for this week, but this report should grow as the season goes on and the AHL season kicks into high gear.

If you have any suggestions for things that you would like to see, just let me know in the comment section and I will do my best to implement them as the season goes on.

Have a good weekend!





