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Canucks prospects Kole Lind, Michael DiPietro shine in returns to junior
September 26, 2017, 1:33 PM ET [338 Comments]
Carol Schram
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Tuesday's a day off for the Vancouver Canucks. They'll get back on the ice for practice on Wednesday—with Bo Horvat expected to be back in the mix. He didn't finish the Canucks' game in Shanghai last Thursday after taking a hard hit from Drew Doughty.




The big news from practice on Monday was Brock Boeser lining up with the Sedins. Boeser's no longer the outright preseason scoring leader; his six points tie him with seven other players after Monday night's games, including Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine.

The NHL website is not publishing preseason point totals but you can find them here, at FOX Sports.

Reid Boucher did clear waivers this morning, so he's on his way to Utica. That clears one spot in the crowded forward ranks—and I'm going to assume that spot is earmarked for Boeser, whose shot looks like it's even more lethal than Boucher's.

Travis Green's experience as a poker player shows in this media availability from Monday. He offers some clues about his thoughts on players but also holds his cards pretty close to the vest.




Green wouldn't confirm that he'll play Boeser with the twins in the next game on Thursday but if he does, and they click, Boeser may as well start looking for his apartment here in Vancouver; he won't be going anywhere.

I think Anton Rodin's play also helped to make Boucher expendable. A bit of a forgotten man after his injury-riddled 2016-17 season, Rodin's also an effective scorer—and has two goals in three games, both at even strength, even though he's averaging just 9:52 of ice time.

At this point, I'd say Rodin is ahead of both Jake Virtanen and Nikolay Goldobin in the push to earn one of those final spots at forward. Last week, I thought Virtanen could grab a spot on the big club; after the Alberta games last weekend, now I'm not so sure.

Green does seem enthusiastic when talking about the games that he saw Jake play before the China trip. I get the feeling that he'd like to see Virtanen succeed as it would be a feather in his own cap—that he was able to turn Virtanen's career around when he worked with him last season in Utica.

Still, both Virtanen and Goldobin will need to be outstanding in the last two games if either of them hopes to avoid being handed a ticket back to the AHL.

Green says the next round of cuts are coming soon—either Wednesday or after Thursday's game.

The big news from Monday is something that I believe is unpredecented. The Canucks don't seem to have standout prospects in major junior very often but Mike DiPietro and Kole Lind both made bold statements in their first week of the 2017-18 season.







Like the graphic says, DiPietro gave up just three goals on his way to winning his first three games of the season with the defending Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires.

Kole Lind came out of the gate with eight points in his first two games with the Kelowna Rockets. He was the picture of humility at Young Stars but shows some swag with this goal against Kamloops last weekend:




Meanwhile, over in Sweden, league play has begun. Elias Pettersson's Vaxjo Lakers have one regulation win and two overtime wins in their first three games, and Pettersson is third in team scoring so far with three assists.







Those two Finnish guys, Janne Pesonon and Tuomas Kiiskinen, are the players ahead of him on the stat sheet, so it looks like Vaxjo has put together a very effective first line.

Jumping up one division from playing in Timra last year, Pettersson says he's seeing more speed and skill at his new level.




To close today—a quick look at a few ex-Canucks.

Linden Vey is off to an excellent start in his first KHL season; he's among the league's top scorers with 15 points in 13 games with Barys Astana.

Meanwhile, David Booth is back in North America after two seasons in Russia. He's currently on a PTO with his hometown Detroit Red Wings. He has one assist in three games and has been getting some pretty solid reviews for his play.

Elsewhere, two other ex-Canucks hit the waiver wire today.




Enjoy the moment, Jim and Trevor.
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