One of the fun things about these prospect profiles is that we get to look way into the future, daydreaming about what’s yet to come for the Canucks organization. At the same time, that gets a little stale sometimes; occasionally, you want to talk about a player who will make an immediate impact on the roster.

It’s safe to say that Frank Corrado, who has already had a couple of large grande cups of coffee in the NHL, matches that description.

Corrado didn’t originally jump into the organization as a top-end prospect. If anything, he was drafted in the fifth round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft with the expectation that, if everything went absolutely right, he could be a pleasant surprise for the organization. They recognized that if anything were to happen with the 6’1, 195lb defenceman, it was going to take time.

With that said, he managed to catch the eye of his employers pretty quickly, and managed to get an Entry Level Contract signed by the end of his first training camp; a relatively rare occurrence for a fifth rounder. From there, he was sent back to the OHL for two more seasons to further grow the offensive end of his game.

The latter of those two years was definitely his most interesting one. He cracked the 5-goal mark for the first time in his OHL career, and late in the season, was traded from the Sudbury Wolves to the Kitchener Rangers. Now on a much better team, his playmaking ability suddenly blossomed, and he picked up an additional goal and seventeen assists in the next twenty-eight games. Eventually, the Rangers made it into and were eventually eliminated from the playoffs, but that didn’t stop his wild ride; he made his AHL and NHL debuts before finally beginning his offseason.

Since then, Corrado has spent his time living the professional life. His first full season with the Utica Comets saw him pick up six goals and seventeen points in 59 games, and he followed that up with a similar 7G 9A stat-line in a much shorter thirty-five game stint this year. Interestingly enough, Corrado scored just a single point (a goal) in eighteen games during this year’s push to the Calder Cup Finals.

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He’s also seen more time with the Canucks since then. Corrado scored his first NHL goal in April of 2014, and added an additional tally this season. Through 28 regular season and four playoff games, he’s put up two goals and added no assists.

Corrado isn’t likely to have top pairing upside, but he’s the type of guy that you look forward to having in an NHL rotation. The mental side of his game is very strong, in the sense that he has a lot of patience with the puck and can shake off a mistake without it throwing off his game afterward. He also possesses the speed to often mend those mistakes in a timely fashion, which also allows him to be a viable option to carry the puck into the offensive zone if necessary.

Ideally, he’ll begin to become more involved in directly influencing offensive play. So far in his NHL career, he’s averaged just barely over a shot per game in the NHL – decent, but with a lot of room to work with. We’ve seen him fire some real bullets into the net in several leagues, so if he can find himself the room to confidently go for it more often, it could be enough to put him into at least a second pairing role.

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Where he slots in this year remains a big question. The Canucks only have six defencemen making “NHL Money” (over $925,000), meaning that he’s in all the position in the world to make himself a number seven or the immediate replacement if somebody is injured or suspended. At the same time, he’ll gave to compete with the likes of Alex Biega, Taylor Fedun, and possibly even Andrey Pedan or Ben Hutton for that spot in training camp. Really, it’s up to Corrado to impress once again, and given that he’s entering a contract year, it’s likely that the twenty-two-year-old will have plenty of motivation.

#8 – Alexandre Grenier

#7 – Cole Cassels





