Yesterday, Jackson McDonald kicked off our Canucks Army Midterm Prospect Rankings, chronicling the progression of Michael Carcone and Ashton Sautner, which we have deemed the 20th and 19th best prospects in the Vancouver system, respectively.

Welcome to part two of the Midterm Rankings, in which we will look deeper into the Vancouver Canucks’ 18th and 17th ranked prospects.

As mentioned in yesterday’s kick off of the series, as well as in the reader vote article, the parameters for consideration for the rankings are as follows:

The player must be 25 years or younger, and

The player must be eligible for the Calder Trophy next season.

As a result, players that are considered to be “graduated” to the NHL (Brendan Gaunce, Nikita Tryamkin, Jake Virtanen, Anton Rodin) are not eligible.

Without further ado, let’s jump into the player reviews.

#18: Rodrigo Abols

Previous Ranking: Unranked

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Position: Centre – Shoots: Left – Height: – 6’4″ – Weight: 187 lbs

As you’re most likely fully aware, Rodrigo Abols was acquired by the Canucks at the 2016 NHL Entry with the 184th overall selection. Abols has been something of a lightning rod for Canucks fans since that moment, and for this site in particular. The reasoning is simple: there were better options available on the board. Abols was in his third year of eligibility, coming off of a season in which he scored under a point per game as a 20-year old in the WHL. That certainly raises a lot of red flags.

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As we often have to remind ourselves, there’s a difference between a bad pick and a bad player. While I’m not thrilled that the Canucks used a draft pick on Abols when he was set to become a free agent when the draft was over, I don’t entirely dislike him as a player, even considering his mediocre year in 2015-16 with the Portland Winterhawks.

Abols came onto Canucks fans’ radar long before the 2016 draft. He was an invitee at the 2015 Young Stars Classic in Penticton, and a rather impressive one at that. He impressed fanbase to such an extent that they were clamouring for the organization to give Abols a contract right then and there – a request that could not be fulfilled as a result of Abols’ age and the fact that he hadn’t played a season in North America.

The year prior to that tournament, Abols split the season between the KHL and the MHL. Scoring five points in 14 games as an 18-year old in the second best league in the world is quite an accomplishment, and earned him quite an optimistic career projection.

Since then however, it’s been all downhill.

The Portland Winterhawks were clearly not expecting Abols to return for another season. The Riga, Latvia native recently turned 21, and thus he was eligible to play professional hockey this season. Instead, the Canucks tried to send him back to junior, where things got complicated.

The CHL has limits both on import players and overaged players. As Abols counts as both, it made it especially difficult to get him into the lineup, as it would require sitting two other players instead of one to make room for him. After getting into just two games in the first month of the season, Abols was waived by the Winterhawks and eventually signed with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, one of the CHL’s worst teams.

After a slow start, Abols has been on a bit of a tear, and has popped up over a point per game on the season (he’s got more points than Pierre-Luc Dubois don’t ya know?). He now sits at 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) in 26 games, with 22 points being of the primary variety.

As a 21-year old playing junior hockey (and in the QMJHL to boot), this hasn’t amounted to an impressive career projection. Zero of the 15 statistical matches went on to play 200 NHL games.

A lot of the qualities that Abols’ possesses are ones that Jim Benning has been known to look for in players, in that hockey intelligence and battle level are two of his lauded qualities. Despite his 6-foot-4 frame, Abols is just now beginning to use his size to his advantage, not for hitting, but for competing for pucks along the wall and in the corners. His hands and shooting are just marginally above average, but he’s got speed to burn and his playmaking is blossoming.

#17: Cole Cassels

Previous Ranking: 15th

Position: Centre – Shoots: Right – Height: – 6’0″ – Weight: 179 lbs

Cole Cassels story is well chronicled in this space as well as many others. Taken in the 3rd round (85th overall) at the 2013 draft, Cassels gradually improved his numbers over his OHL career, which culminated in an epic playoff series against Connor McDavid and the Erie Otters, in which Cassels was praised for “shutting down” McDavid (relatively speaking at least; McDavid’s contributions at even strength were noticeably limited).

Cassels was flying high, and heading into the 2015-16 season, there were questions about just how long it would be in his first professional season before he earned his first call up. Canucks Army had him ranked as the seventh best Canucks prospect at that point, and you can see his rise to prominence in this chart – as well as his precipitous fall.

Cassels’ first year in Utica did not go as hoped or expected. Having played through an abdominal injury through much of his final junior year, he underwent offseason surgery that in turn hampered his ability to properly train for the upcoming season. As a result, he spent much of the season trying to play catch up – and it took him 21 games to get his first AHL goal. The entire ordeal wreaked havoc on him psychologically.

This year-to-year projection shows his rise and fall as he transferred from junior to professional hockey.

This season was supposed to be a fresh start for Cassels, who was granted the appropriate amount of time to properly train in the offseason. However, after 28 games, Cassels has just four points, all of them goals. While that represents double the output he managed last season, it’s still not what we were hoping for, and combined with the fact that he’s another year older, it’s only kept his projections in decline.

Just a few months ago, I was fairly optimistic of his ability to resuscitate his career. In August, I ended his Preseason Ranking with an air of hopefulness:

With expectations lowered and a full off-season of good health and complete training, he should be about to get back on track. Travis Green still seems to have faith in Cassels and believes that with a good off-season, he can come in and be a main contributor in Utica. We’ll be hoping for a return to form in Cassels’ future, and that he can use that unfortunate experience to fuel him, rather than sink him.

Instead, his chances of becoming a full time NHLer seem to be diminishing with each passing month. It’s still not out of the question that he finds another gear – he’s still got another year and a year remaining on his ELC. If he does manage to make it, the odds are higher that it will be as a replacement level player, as many of his statistical matches were (see below), where even if he hits 200 games, it’s not as a player who’s in the lineup each and every night.

Cassels’ four goals and no assists is a bit ironic considering that one of my main criticisms of him is that he tends to be an over-passer. He turns down situations to shoot the puck in favour of finding a teammate – sometimes even when the teammate is in a less advantageous shooting position.

Despite his good vision and passing ability, it hasn’t amounted to any helpers yet this campaign. A portion of this could be due to his linemates: typically deployed as Utica’s fourth line center, Cassels is often saddled with less experienced wingers (although not necessarily less skilled – smaller skilled players like Michael Carcone and Cody Kunyk frequently flank him).

Cassels has managed to find himself a niche as an important penalty killer. After Travis Green rolls out Wacey Hamilton and Carter Bancks as his primary unit, Cassels is almost always on the second pairing out of the gate, usually with Darren Archibald. He also doesn’t see his role reduced late in games, particular when the Comets are trying to nurse a lead. The fact that Green trusts him can only help going forwards.

If Cassels can find a little more of an offensive gear, it’s not out of the question that we could see him in a Canucks uniform one day. He’s not exactly trending in the right direction at this point, but he’s not at the end of his rope either.

Canucks Army Midterm Prospect Rankings

#20: Michael Carcone and #19: Ashton Sautner





