ABBOTSFORD – Nicklas Jensen claims he isn't overly concerned about his scoring famine but maybe he should be.

The Vancouver Canucks' first-round pick in 2011 doesn't have a single goal this season in the American Hockey League. He's played 11 games for the Utica Comets since recovering from a training camp shoulder separation and all he's managed is two assists.

It's hardly the recipe for a callup if the need arises. If he is truly an elite prospect, he'll have to figure a way to get on the scoresheet – and stay there.

Jensen and the Comets are in Abbotsford this weekend to meet the Heat in a Friday-Saturday double dip at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre. Game time both nights is 7 p.m. The Comets are in last place at 4-11-1-1 while the Heat are first at 17-5-0-1.

Abby may not be the easiest of opponents in which to snap a slump but that's what Jensen will be aiming to do.

“Obviously I'm the type of a player who like to push himself and I want to be the best every time I step on the ice,” Jensen said Thursday as the Comets practised at the AESC. “So not to score when you've been scoring your whole life is obviously frustrating. But I'm not too worried about it. Every player has his ups and downs and, right now, I'm going through a period when it's been tough scoring.

“It's not like the chances haven't been there. There have been some really big chances and it's been post-and-out. Hopefully, I'll turn it around this weekend.”

Jensen, 20, is in his first full American League season. He raised expectations, perhaps unrealistically, when he scored six goals in eight games in 2011-12 after a late season callup from the junior Oshawa Generals.

Last season, he scored 17 times in 50 games in the Swedish Elite League before joining the Chicago Wolves, then the Canucks' AHL affiliate, for 20 games. That's when the goal famine began. He managed just two goals in that stint. Count 'em up and it's two in 31 games.

To his credit, Jensen wouldn't use the shoulder injury as an excuse for his lack of a bottom line.

“You never want to get injured and miss time but that's how hockey is,” said Jensen, a Dane whose father Dan is from Toronto. “I was out for almost five weeks, which is tough. You miss out on practice. You miss out on the team building chemistry. I wasn't hoping to be out that long but stuff happens and you have to battle through it. I just want to get back to playing the way I know I can.”

Comets head coach Travis Green called Jensen a “work in progress”, an assessment that didn't exactly sound heart-warming. Then again, Canuck head coach John Tortorella referred to both Zack Kassian and David Booth as projects last week. Is there such a thing as a glass-half-full project?

“Nick's game is coming,” Green said Thursday. “It's not showing points-wise but I think, for Nick, it's learning the little details of the game that are going to make him effective. We've talked about how is he going to make the NHL? For a lot of young guys who are natural goal scorers, it's not easy to get your chance in the NHL as a top-six forward. So Nick had to find a way to become great in the little areas of the game that would allow him to be a guy who can get called up to play in the bottom-six. For a lot of guys, that's how they get their start in the NHL.”

Meanwhile, defenceman Frank Corrado said he wasn't at all upset to be sent down after finishing last season with the big club, including appearances in all four playoff games.

“When I look at the big picture, I'm 20 years old and I think it's good for your development to play here in all situations and play a lot of minutes,” he noted. “So it's definitely not tough to have a good attitude. I don't take anything for granted that way.

“I know the NHL is still in the big picture for me and that's something I'm working towards when I'm down here. You never know how close you really are.”

Corrado has two goals and two assists in 17 games as a Comet.

epap@vancouversun.com