Some teams not fully decided on underage juniors to invite to camp – most are – but here’s a list that should be more or less accurate: — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 9, 2013

Scott Laughton (PHI), Morgan Rielly (TOR), Frank Corrado (VAN), Mark Scheifele (WPG). Most are confirmed but a few are still "likely." — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) January 9, 2013

While I suppose we still don’t know for sure whether or not Frank Corrado is one of the names Bob McKenzie listed that are "confirmed" training camp invites or if he just remains a "likely" invite, if Bob McKenzie says Frank Corrado is coming to Canucks training camp, that’s good enough for me.

Considering the Canucks are kicking the tires on the likes of Jim Vandermeer and Cam Barker, this shouldn’t really come as a surprise.

Frank Corrado has emerged over the past sixteen months as one of Vancouver’s top prospects, and it appears he’ll be rewarded with a training camp-invite (other top prospects like Nicklas Jensen and Brendan Gaunce will remain with their SEL/OHL teams). Frank Corrado has a mature game for a 19 year old defenseman and his offensive game has come along nicely in the OHL this season (though a jump in production is to be expected of a major junior defenseman in their age 20 season – even if that prospect doesn’t necessarily have NHL upside).

In 2011/12 with the Sudbury Wolves, Corrado was an ace shutdown defenseman and was arguably one of the OHL’s best two-way defenseman. He also impressed, as he’s continually done, in his short stint with the Chicago Wolves at the tail end of the season. This season, as Wolves captain, Corrado continued to do the heavy-lifting for Sudbury while also providing a lot more offensive punch (he beat his career high in goals, and is only 2 points short of his career high in points through 42 games).

Corrado was recently traded to Kitchener, a club coached by Steve Spott, the coach of the 2012/13 Canadian world junior championship team that cut Corrado from their roster in mid-December. In something of a comeuppance, Spott’s club team will now be without the prized OHL veteran who they traded for on Tuesday for at least a week (and possibly more).

Corrado is clearly a long-shot to realistically make a significant contribution in the NHL this season, though Mike Gillis did mention this summer that Corrado’s development was a major reason why the Canucks feel comfortable with their right-side depth as it stands now. Of course, we should take that comment with all of the salt in the dead sea, but I really do think there’s a legitimate possibility that Corrado will earn a five-game look with the Canucks to start the season.





