As our longtime commenter GolfingSince pointed out in the comments on Tuesday's blog:
The NHL season never really ends does it.
I'm feelin' that right now. It's hard to believe that it has been nearly three months since the Vancouver Canucks played their last game, but there has barely been a moment to breathe between playoffs, world championships, the expansion draft, the draft and free agency.
After development camp wraps up on Thursday, we'll have a bit of a break before the World Junior Summer Showcase at the end of July. Starting August 7, we'll get our first look at next year's draft class at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup and from there, it'll be only a month until this year's edition of the YoungStars tournament in Penticton.
Yesterday, I got hit with some very special instructions for the show that I'm DJing tonight, so that's taking some time to get organized. I also put together this piece on the best value signings of free agency so far:
I was tempted to add Alex Burmistrov to this list, but I don't want to jinx him. I really like the fact that Burmistrov seemed to find some confidence after he went to Arizona last year.
Considering Burmistrov scored four of his five goals with the Coyotes on the power play, it makes sense that he and coach Brown were on the same page. In 201 games during his four seasons with the Thrashers and Jets, Burmistrov collected just four power-play points while averaging 1:02 of ice time per game with the man advantage. In Arizona, he beat that number in just 26 games, where he averaged 2:03 of ice time per game.
Maybe part of the reason why I'm so convinced that this will work is because two of Burmistrov's four power-play goals with Arizona came against the Canucks.
The first came in Vancouver's 3-0 shutout road loss to the Coyotes on January 26. It was his first goal with Arizona.
His other goal against Vancouver came in the Canucks' second-last home game of the season—the third goal in a 4-3 win for Arizona.
Two very different looks on those goals—on the first, he's parked at the top of the right circle. In the second, he's hanging on the edge of the goal crease.
Sam Gagner's coming in next season with the tag of power-play specialist, but I'm very interested to see what Burmistrov will bring to the table—and whether he'll make me look bad for leaving him off my list of value signings.
This long preamble is my way of saying that I didn't make it out to UBC for development camp today, either. Still in my sights—the Summer Showdown Top Prospects Game on Thursday night at Rogers Arena. Fingers crossed!
Reports from Tuesday's on-ice session came down pretty much as we'd expect, especially with respect to the size of the last two first-round draft picks.
After Tuesday's practice, the boys moved on to another team-building session—and hopefully picked up some cooking skills along the way!
Instagrammer
fongbao has posted a collection of videos of the prospects doing drills. Here's Kole Lind:
Check out his account for looks at Jonah Gadjovich, Elias Pettersson, Jack Rathbone, Olli Juolevi, Adam Gaudette, Jonathan Dahlen, Petrus Palmu and more.
For the moment, Palmu is leaving the door open as far as his plans for next season...
Now, a quick look at the defensemen and goaltenders that are attending camp this week:
DEFENSE
Matt Brassard - D - Drafted 188th overall by the Canucks in 2017 - A good-sized defenseman who was selected in the seventh round after going undrafted in 2016.
Guillaume Brisebois - D - Drafted 66th overall by the Canucks in 2015 - Brisebois won gold at the 2014 Ivan Hlinka tournament and bronze at the 2015 U-18 tournament. He was the captain of the QMJHL's Charlottetown Islanders last season. The Canucks signed Brisebois to his entry-level deal in December of 2015. He turns 20 later his month and will be expected to make his debut in Utica this fall.
Adam Brubacher - D - Undrafted Invitee - The 21-year-old spent one year in the BCHL with Prince George and Powell River before heading to R.I.T. for his freshman year of college in 2016-17.
Cole Candella - D - Drafted 140th overall by the Canucks in 2016 - Candella posted a low-key third season in the OHL in 2016-17, logging three goals and 20 points with the Hamilton Bulldogs to match his point total from his draft year.
Jalen Chatfield - D - Undrafted - Chatfield was signed to a three-year entry level contract as a 20-year-old free agent in March, two months before his Windsor Spitfires went on to win the Memorial Cup.
Simon Chen - D - Undrafted Invitee - Born in Beijing, China, it's believed that Chen became the first Chinese-born player to score a goal in the BCHL during his season with the Cowichan Valley Capitals last year. The 20-year-old is hoping to go the college route, so don't expect him to be part of the Canucks entourage that travels to China for those preseason games in September—that would cause him to lose his NCAA eligibility.
Kristoffer Gunnarsson - D - Drafted 135th overall by the Canucks in 2017 - Gunnarson is a big defensive defenseman who graduated to the Swedish Elite League in 2016-17, playing 10 regular-season and eight playoff games with Frolunda. At 20, Gunnarsson is a man among boys in the Canucks prospect camp photos.
Aaron Irving - D - Drafted 162nd overall by the Nashville Predators in 2014 - Last year's captain of the WHL's Edmonton Oil Kings and a Memorial Cup winner with the Oil Kings in 2014, Irving was not offered a contract by the Nashville Predators after he was drafted by the team three years ago, so he's now a free agent. Irving will be looking to use this development camp to make a good enough impression to get offered a minor-league contract for next season.
Aiden Jamieson - D - Undrafted Invitee - Now 21, Jamieson just finished out his fourth OHL season with the Sudbury Wolves, where he recorded 26 points and 66 penalty minutes in 64 games. His weakness is said to be his skating.
Olli Juolevi - D - Drafted fifth overall by the Canucks in 2016 - After all the fussing last season about how the Canucks should have taken NHL-ready Matthew Tkachuk over Olli Juolevi, the Finnish defenseman has started to make his case as a worthy fifth-overall pick by showing up to development camp at a reported 198 pounds. He also brought his personal mentor, Sami Salo, along with him.
Salo is on board as an assistant coach for Team Finland at the 2018 World Junior Championship. His offseason work with Juolevi could give the Canucks prospect another boost as he looks toward his third World Junior tournament this winter.
Juolevi is making no bones about the fact that his goal is to avoid another year of junior by cracking the Canucks roster.
Matthew Kellenberger - D - Undrafted Invitee - Passed over the in the 2017 draft, Kellenberger is an 18-year-old defenseman who earned Top Prospect honours in his second season with the Oakville Blades of the OJHL. He's aiming to head to Princeton in 2018-19.
Jack Rathbone - D - Drafted 95th overall by the Canucks in 2017 - A personal favourite of Canucks director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett, Rathbone is the high school player who's tracking to go to Harvard for the 2018-19 season.
GOALTENDERS
Michael DiPietro - G - Drafted 64th overall by the Canucks in 2017 - Undersized in today's goalie market at 6'0" and 200 pounds, DiPietro showed tremendous skill and determination when he backstopped the Windsor Spitfires to their upset win in May's Memorial Cup tournament.
Francis Marotte - G - Undrafted Invitee - At 22 years old, Marotte just finished his freshman season at Robert Morris University, near Pittsburgh. Before college, Marotte spent one season with the Cowichan Valley Capitals of the BCHL in 2013-14 before moving on to the Nepean Raiders of the CCHL for two years.
Linden Marshall - G - Undrafted Invitee - Passed over in this year's draft, 18-year-old Linden Marshall has spent the last two seasons with the Trail Smoke Eaters of the BCHL. He's one of five BCHL invitees at development camp this year.
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