On Tuesday, the Vancouver Canucks announced their roster and schedule for this year's prospect training camp.
Sessions will run at Rogers Arena, with players hitting the ice at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday and 9 a.m. on Monday. Sessions are not open to the public.
Here's the full roster, which features eight forwards, eight defensemen and three goalies:
As I mentioned in the last blog, when Jim Benning talked about how the team wouldn't be participating in a prospects tournament this year, he mentioned that they'd need to include a large number of invitees in order to ice a full roster. Seems that has turned out to be true in the forward ranks.
Last year,
the Young Stars Roster included 14 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies.
Perhaps the team is missing out on a potential hidden gem by not issuing invites to this year's Nando Eggenberger or Kaleb Bulych — but it's nice to see that the Canucks are now stocked with enough defensemen and goalies in their system that they don't have to go the invite route. We also have to think in terms of how the team's resources are used — how many man-hours does it take to locate players that can come to camp as invitees, basically just to fill roster spaces?
Also, the Canucks did offer spots to invitees at their Development Camp back in July.
That roster of 26 players included three undrafted defensemen and three forwards who are all in the NCAA this year, one forward from Sweden, and one forward who's playing in the OHL this year. That player, 18-year-old centre Keegan Stevenson, is the only one in that group who realistically could have come to prospect camp this fall.
So, here's how this weekend's roster breaks down:
First rounders: Quinn Hughes (2018), Olli Juolevi (2016)
- Ben Kuzma of The Province reported on Tuesday that Juolevi is still rehabbing his knee surgery and is not expected to participate in on-ice sessions with the group.
Second rounders: Jonah Gadjovich (2017), Kole Lind (2017), Jett Woo (2018)
Third rounders: Guillaume Brisebois (2016), Michael DiPietro (2017)
Fourth rounders: Ethan Keppen (2019)
Fifth rounders: Carson Focht (2019)
Sixth rounders: Lukas Jasek (2015), Arturs Silovs (2019)
Free-agent signings: Justin Bailey (signed 2019), Zack MacEwen (signed 2017), Jalen Chatfield (signed 2017), Mitch Eliot (signed 2018), Brogan Rafferty (signed 2019), Josh Teves (signed 2019), Jake Kielly (signed 2019)
Trade acquisitions: Francis Perron (acquired 2019)
Now, a look at the key players who aren't in camp, and why:
2019 Draft:
Round 1 - Vasily Podkolzin - SKA St. Petersburg - KHL
Round 2 - Nils Hoglander - SHL
Round 6 - Karel Plasek - Czech League
Round 6 - Jack Malone - Cornell - NCAA
Round 7 - Aidan McDonough - Northeastern - NCAA
Round 7 - Arvid Costmar - Sweden (SHL or U20 Superelit)
I'll put together my prospect profiles for those four late-round picks soon!
2018 Draft:
Round 3 - Tyler Madden - Northeastern - NCAA
Round 5 - Toni Utunen - Liiga - Finland
Round 6 - Artem Manukyan - Avangard Omsk - KHL
Round 7 - Matthew Thiessen - Maine - NCAA
2017 Draft:
Round 1 - Elias Pettersson - NHL!
Round 4 - Jack Rathbone - Harvard - NCAA
Round 5 - Kristoffer Gunnarsson - Mora - Allsvenskan - not signed by Canucks
Round 6 - Petrus Palmu - ???
Round 7 - Matt Brassard - not signed by Canucks
Where in the world is Petrus Palmu?
Elite Prospects shows him to be property of the Utica Comets for the upcoming season — which makes sense, since he signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Canucks in May of 2018.
But you may remember, Palmu left Utica after appearing in 12 games last season and went back to Finland, where he played 29 games for Turku on loan from the Comets. He's not currently listed on
Elite Prospects' Turku roster for the new season, which kicks off on September 12 — but he's also not on the roster for camp in Vancouver this weekend.
My best guess is that we'll eventually see him loaned to another European team but for now, it looks like the 22-year-old sparkplug's run at an eventual NHL job has reached a dead end.
As a European player, Gunnarsson became a UFA after the Canucks didn't offer him a contract this past spring. Brassard would have gone back into the draft, but wasn't selected.
Just a couple of other Canucks prospects from earlier drafts still to watch:
• Will Lockwood (third round, 2016) is going into his senior year at the University of Michigan. It was reported in April that he'd be captain this season, although I haven't seen an official announcement yet from the team. After dealing with injury issues, Lockwood had a good year last season. He said during Development Camp in the summer that he has every intention of signing with the Canucks after they kept the faith with him — and Corey Pronman ranked him as a "Legit NHL prospect" in his latest
Canucks prospect rankings. Lockwood's an undersized guy who plays big: if he can stay healthy, he could have quite a year.
• Dmitry Zhukenov (fourth round, 2015) - Now 22, the Russian centre has taken a bit of a step backwards. After being drafted, Zhukenov spent two seasons in the QMJHL, then went back to Russia. In 2017-18, he played mostly in the junior-tier MHL but did get 15 KHL games with Avangard Omsk. Last year, though, he saw only 17 games of action in total, between Russia's second-tier VHL and the second tier of the Czech league.
This year,
Elite Prospects lists Zhukenov as property of Gornyak Uchaly in the MHL, with an affiliation with the KHL's Avtomobilist team. I'd guess his time as a Canucks prospect is winding to a close.
But speaking of young Russians, the Canucks did bring one under contract on Wednesday!
Goldobin signed a one-year deal worth $900,000 — a slight raise from the
$832,500 that CapFriendly reported he made last season.
Coming out of his entry-level contract, Goldobin didn't have much leverage. The Canucks have a glut of forwards, and he needs one more year of service before he can file for arbitration rights.
Acquired from the San Jose Sharks along with a conditional fourth-round draft pick in exchange for Jannik Hansen at the 2017 trade deadline, Goldobin hit career highs in his first full NHL season last year, with 27 points in 63 games.
"Nikolay is a gifted offensive player who has shown good chemistry with some of our other younger players," Jim Benning said in the Canucks' press release announcing Goldobin's signing. "He has taken steps to round out his game and we're excited to see continued improvement from him this season."
That being said, a roster spot on the big club is far from guaranteed for Goldobin this fall. He'll turn 24 on October 7 and would have to clear waivers if he is sent down to Utica.
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