Things have come full circle for Hunter Shinkaruk, at least as far as the prospect profiles are concerned. The talented winger was fifth in our organizational prospect rankings in his first year with the Vancouver Canucks and has since returned to the exact same place where he started, only now he’s in his third year with the organization.

Selected 24th overall in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft, the Canucks were all too eager to end this highly productive junior’s slide. Given that many expected Shinkaruk’s name to be off the board by the tenth selection, this pick fit the profile of fallen stars selected in the first round from the latter years of the Mike Gillis regime.

Shinkaruk checks in at fifth in our annual prospect rankings.

Based on the proximity of their selections, Horvat and Shinkaruk comparisons have been made en masse since their draft year. The comparisons aren’t entirely without merit, given the very legitimate reasons one might have had for ranking Shinkaruk ahead of Horvat at the time – I certainly did. Frankly, even with the benefit of hindsight, there might very well be a case for Shinkaruk as ranking at the top of the Canucks talent pool from this class all the same.

To this day, I still consider Shinkaruk as the only Canucks prospect with game breaking offensive upside.

Much of this is based on Shinkaruk’s resume as a junior, where he was an electrifying offensive force, playing for the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL. Shinkaruk’s draft and draft-1 campaigns were particularly revelatory, especially when stacked up against statistical and stature based comparable players using our in-house draft model, PCS (Prospect Cohort Success).

With the most cursory of glances, Shinkaruk’s development has been decidedly underwhelming since his draft year. In the year following, Shinkaruk was limited by a nagging hip injury, which he eventually opted for a major operation on. Shinkaruk played in just 18-games that season and was otherwise debilitated for the remainder.

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The impact of suffering such a major injury in the middle of his more formative years in development simply can’t be understated. All the more so, given that the biggest knock on Shinkaruk has been his build and strength. It’s hard to work on those when effectively immobilized.

In returning from this injury, Shinkaruk played his first professional campaign with the Utica Comets. It was a season of ups and downs, defined by what Thomas Drance described as “brutal shooting luck earlier in the year, and [struggles that] were then at least partly usage-related in the latter half”. Drance’s is an assessment that I more-or-less agree with, especially given his scorching finish to the season when put on a line with Cal O’Reilly. The latter of these observations was taken to task by Josh Weissbock, who found that development was taking a backseat in Utica.

The physical toolkit is tantalizing with Shinkaruk and I’ve noticed that there is more burst in his stride since the successful operation on his hip. I’ve long admired Shinkaruk’s reckless abandon when driving to the net, especially given his smaller stature at just 5’11 and 179 lbs. His shot is top-end and his hands are simply sublime; both these traits are especially profound relative to his peers when put into tight spaces. These factors could very well play into Corey Pronman’s continued admiration of Shinkaruk; a prospect he ranked 74th overall in his Top-100 rankings.

Here are Pronman’s thoughts on Shinkaruk (there is a paywall for this article, which I would say is very much so worth it)…

I had many questions about Shinkaruk coming into the season and I’m still confused about whether he’s a great or simply fine prospect. His first pro season was very up and down. On his best game, he’s a dynamic playmaker who is unique in terms of his agility and creativity. However, he also disappears for long stretches, with major issues in terms of his physical game and defense.



I don’t suspect Shinkaruk will challenge for a roster spot as early as this season, but if he takes on a more prominent role this upcoming campaign in Utica and can get back on track development-wise, it’s entirely possible he makes the big club next season. Certainly, it would be concerning if he didn’t.

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In the meantime, I would expect he returns to the Comets as the left-winger on their first line. It will be interesting to see what Shinkaruk can offer at the professional level, in a season which doesn’t follow major surgery.





