Every month throughout the NHL season we’ll be updating you on the development of key Vancouver Canucks prospects with up-to-date stats, videos, analysis and scouting reports.
Brock Boeser: RW, University of North Dakota (NCAA)
Drafted: first-round, 23rd overall, 2015
Season to date: 16 GP | 8G | 8A | 16 Pts | +16
Brock Boeser has been a revelation in his freshman year with North Dakota.
The Canucks’ top prospect is third among NCAA freshmen in total points with 16, and first among freshmen who don’t play for Boston College, the most feared offence in the land. He leads all NCAA freshmen in shots on goal and is currently riding a nine-game point streak dating back to the Nov. 13.
“He plays with passion and heart and desire,” North Dakota coach Brad Berry told the Beaumont Enterprise following the club’s 4-1 victory over Michigan State on Sunday.
Boeser is playing on North Dakota’s top forward line with Chicago Blackhawks first-round pick Nick Schmaltz and senior Drake Cagguila. Not only did Boeser’s line power North Dakota’s offense in November, they even went viral with a ridiculous passing sequence on a mid-November goal (Boeser is #16):
“As much as they’re scoring they’re good away from the puck too, and that’s creating a lot of their offense,” Berry said during a media scrum on Sunday. “It’s creating turnovers by the other team and going the other way.
“You can kind of get caught up in the one-dimensional side of scoring goal, but they’re (also) playing the right way away from the puck.”
With how well Boeser has played in his freshman year, he’s a likely shoo-in to make the USA’s U20 team and compete in the IIHF World Junior Championship in December.
Thatcher Demko: G, Boston College (NCAA)
Drafted: second-round, 36th overall, 2014
Season to date: 13 GP | 12 W | 1 L | 1.23 | .953 SV% | 6 SO
At 19 years old, Boston College starter Thatcher Demko is easily the best goaltender in the NCAA this season.
Demko leads all Division 1 netminders who’ve started at least 10 games this season in every major individual category, including save percentage, goals-against average and shutouts. Boston College has won 12 of the 13 games Demko has started, which is preposterous.
On top of Demko’s videogame stat line, consider this: from Oct. 23 through to Nov. 8 the 2014 second-round pick managed a string of six shutouts in seven games.
Nikita Tryamkin: D, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (KHL)
Drafted: third-round, 66th overall, 2014
Season to date: 36 GP | 4 G | 7 A | 11 Pts | -1
Nikita Tryamkin, 21, is hard to miss. The Russian-born defenceman stands 6-foot-7 and weighs in at close to 230 pounds.
Often described as toolsy, Tryamkin’s point production and minutes have spiked significantly in recent weeks. In Avtomobilist’s past eight games, Tryamkin has logged at least 20 minutes five times.
With an expanded role has come increased production, and Tryamkin has recorded two goals and six points during this eight-game stretch. The Canucks are hoping to get the jumbo-sized blueliner signed and sent to Utica this season, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Anton Rodin: RW, Brynas (SHL)
Drafted: second round, 53rd overall, 2009
Season to date: 23 GP | 13 G | 17 A | 30 Pts | +10
Anton Rodin, 25, left for Sweden following the 2012-13 season, but the club qualified the skilled forward in the summer of 2013 and he remains on their reserve list.
Rodin’s first stint in North America was unremarkable, but he’s leading all SHL players in goals and total points. His play has turned heads in the industry, with several NHL teams reportedly keeping tabs on his progress.
Any visions of Rodin being the Canucks’ answer to Artemi Panarin are premature, but his stellar performance has put him back on Vancouver’s radar. Since returning from an injury in early November, Rodin has managed three goals and six points in seven SHL games.
(Courtesy: VanCityBuzz)
Hunter Shinkaruk: LW, Utica Comets (AHL)
Drafted: first round, 24th overall, 2014
Season to date: 18 GP | 11 G | 8 A | 19 Pts | +1
Hunter Shinkaruk made his NHL debut in Montreal earlier this month and fared well, getting stronger as the game went on.
Shinkaruk only got a brief cup of coffee at the NHL level, but the skilled winger has continued to power the Utica Comets’ offence in the AHL. After an inconsistent first professional season, Shinkaruk is third in the AHL in goal-scoring and ranks top-10 in point production.
“He’s a lot closer to playing in the NHL full time than he ever has been,” opined Comets head coach Travis Green in a conversation with Sportsnet on Monday.
Alexandre Grenier: RW, Utica Comets (AHL)
Drafted: third round, 90th overall, 2013
Season to date: 19 GP | 3 G | 9 A | 12 Pts | -5
Alexandre Grenier was impressive in his NHL debut this month – it’s very rare to see a 6-foot-5 forward who can skate like Grenier can, even at the NHL level – and he probably should’ve had his first NHL goal:
That tough bounce is indicative of Grenier’s season so far. Though the skilled winger is recording shots on goal at a decent clip, he’s converting on only six per cent of those shots (and one of his goals was an empty netter).
“He plays his best games when I’m not necessarily worried about him scoring,” Green said of Grenier. “I like that he’s starting to develop into a power forward, I think his ticket to the NHL is going to be using his big frame not just to produce goals and assist, but to bear down on opponents and play a heavy game.”
It’s a good sign that Grenier’s physical game is coming along and that he’s second among Comets in scoring despite being snakebit, but he is 24 years old. The time for him to establish himself as an everyday NHL player is getting a bit short.
Brendan Gaunce: LW, Utica Comets (AHL)
Drafted: first round, 26th overall, 2012
Season to date: 11 GP | 5 G | 3 A | 8 Pts | Even
Brendan Gaunce, like Grenier and Shinkaruk, made his NHL debut with the Canucks earlier this season. He’s been productive when he’s been in the lineup for the Comets, though he has been dealing with an upper-body injury of late.
“He’s a lot closer to coming back, there’s a good chance he’ll be back playing this week,” Green told Sportsnet.
“He won’t play Wednesday, but I’d say next week at the latest.”
Jordan Subban: D, Utica Comets (AHL)
Drafted: fourth round, 115th overall, 2014
Season to date: 13 GP | 1 G | 7 A | 8 Pts | Even
When Jordan Subban has played, he’s been an effective offensive defenceman. In 13 games with the Comets, Subban has managed a goal and eight points – an excellent scoring clip for a rookie defender.
Subban hasn’t been able to stay in the lineup though. He’s been a healthy scratch for the Comets in six of their 19 games, even in spite of his impressive offensive contributions.
“We all know that he’s got an offensive knack for the game,” Green told Sportsnet. “He’s got some points here, which I’m happy about.
“I don’t always put a lot of stock into goals and assists for how much a player plays,” Green continued. “For me when he’s been good he’s been really good, and he’s had some games where he’s struggled.
“There’s certain times, whether we’re at home or on the road, where we want to put him into a situation where he can succeed. So there are going to be nights where maybe we don’t to play him against certain teams, because we can’t get the matchups.”
Tate Olson: D, Prince George Cougars (WHL)
Drafted: seventh round, 210th overall, 2015
Season to date: 18 GP | 2 G | 12 A | 14 Pts | +3
Prince George Cougars defenceman Tate Olson was selected with the second-to-last pick at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. In his draft plus-one season, Olson is increasingly profiling like a player with a better-than-average shot of over-performing his draft slot.
In 18 games this season, Olson has managed two goals and 14 points. The Prospect Cohort Success (PCS) model – which seeks to objectively rate a prospect’s chances of playing 200 NHL games by creating a group of historic comparable players in terms of age, height and scoring production – produces the likes of Johnny Boychuk, Dion Phaneuf, Cam Barker, David Schlemko and Brent Seabrook as defencemen who fared similarly in their 18-year-old WHL campaigns.
Of the prospects with a similar PCS profile to Olson – in terms of age, height, and point production – 29.5 per cent went on to play 200 or more NHL games. Those are far better than normal odds for a recent seventh-round pick.
Guillaume Brisebois: D, Acadie-Bathurst Titan (QMJHL)
Drafted: third round, 66th overall, 2015
Season to date: 26 GP | 4 G | 6 A | 10 Pts | -6
After getting off to a slow start, Guillaume Brisebois heated up offensively in November with three goals and seven points in 11 games.
Brisebois has now matched his goal output from the entirety of last season, and his fourth goal of the year was a stone-cold beauty:
Carl Neill: D, Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL)
Drafted: fifth-round, 114th overall, 2015
Season to date: 25 GP | 4 G | 22 A | 26 Pts | -1
Carl Neill, 19, is the fifth-highest scoring defenceman in the QMJHL and has combined with San Jose Sharks prospect Jeremy Roy to form arguably the CHL’s most offensively dynamic defence pairing.
Though the Roy-Neill pairing are putting up some eye-popping numbers – Neill has managed four goals and 26 points in 25 games – the Sherbrooke Phoenix is below .500 in QMJHL action.
