Over the weekend it came to light that the Utica Comets had signed Vancouver Canucks’ prospect Joseph LaBate, a forward from the University of Wisconsin, to a Professional Try-Out (PTO). This morning the press release officially confirmed the rumours.

With LaBate having left the Wisconsin Badgers, who didn’t earn a post-season berth, the Canucks have until August 15th to sign him to an Entry-Level Contract or he is free to walk away as an Unrestricted Free Agent.

Let’s take a look into what we might have in this 4th round pick.

LaBate was

drafted out of high school where he scored around 2 points a game both as a 16- and

17-year-old. It was his second season, after his scoring had dipped, where he was drafted by the Canucks at 101st overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.



Since then LaBate played

all four years at Wisconsin without missing any significant time away. His scoring numbers as seen above, never reach much

higher than a half point per game and have never been that impressive at first

glance. That is until you put it into context and realize that Wisconsin

has not been a high scoring team during his tenure (nor have they made the post-season). LaBate has been in the top 5 scoring on his

team all 4 years. Even this season, with

LaBate having scored a full 16 points, he is 2nd on his team in

scoring, while the club leader in points has twice the shooting percentage of LaBate.

Over the years LaBate has been rated the 8th (2012), 8th (2013) and 14th (2014) best prospect in the club’s pool. In the most recent mid-term re-ranking, LaBate fell off the board but did earn an honourable mention thanks to Drance and JD.



Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

LaBate may have some talent and from my perspective he is worth signing. He also has age working for him: as he is

still only 21 years old and has a few more years of development and growth

until he hits his predicted peak.

I had not heard much on the LaBate front until this weekend, with all of the focus on Patrick McNally (whose Harvard Crimson were just eliminated). I think signing him to an AHL PTO was a good way to further evaluate LaBate, but knowing history in the AHL, he is unlikely to see much game time. Much more highly lauded NCAA prospect Ben Hutton has yet to get into a game with the Utica Comets, who are currently riding a significant win streak.

It’s unknown at this point what the Canucks view is on him and if they are likely to pursue signing him. Presumably this is his chance to catch the club’s eye.





