As expected, the Vancouver Canucks locked up their third 2017 draft pick in less than a week when they signed goaltending prospect Michael DiPietro to his three-year entry-level contract.
After winning the Memorial Cup in 2017 with the Windsor Spitfires, DiPietro posted a 29-21-1 regular-season record with Windsor this year, including seven shutouts. Though the Spitfires were bounced from the first round of the playoffs by the Sarnia Sting, DiPietro was named OHL goaltender of the year.
He was a late cut from Canada's 2018 World Junior team but is expected to have the inside track on the starter's job in Vancouver for the 2019 tournament. He also served as Canada's third goaltender at the just-completed World Championship in Denmark, which gave him the opportunity to form a bond with Bo Horvat.
Listed at 6'0" and 201 pounds, DiPietro is well aware that he's never going to be able to share goalie gear with his Canucks teammates.
DiPietro's size is almost certainly the main reason why he fell to the Canucks at No. 64 in the 2017 draft. Exactly one year ago, he would have been making his case for why he can still succeed as a smaller goaltender during the one-on-one meetings at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo.
This year's meetings have been taking place this week, and the fitness testing goes Saturday. There's no TV coverage but you can watch a
livestream of the action at Sportsnet.ca from 6-9 a.m. PT.
Click here for the full list of the 104 players who are participating in the combine, in not-so-user-friendly all-caps alphabetical order.
Click here for the NHL.com portal, which has been updated every day this week with interviews and tidbits on big names including potential Canucks draft targets like Noah Dobson and Adam Boqvist.
Sportsnet has all the details of the 12 specific tests
here. The top 25 results from 10 of those tests will be posted in real time on Saturday
here, on the NHL's Central Scouting page.
There's more on the actual tests in this article from ESPN, as well as some quotes from Canucks' director of scouting Judd Bracket:
Brackett told Chris Peters that the Canucks are meeting with more than 80 prospects this weekāhoping to add info to players' files in case they come up as possible trade or free agent targets down the road, as well as helping to set this year's draft order.
Brackett says the interviews are the most important part of the combine.
"As a group, we expect to be doing a lot of interviewing throughout the year anyway," Brackett said. "In a way, we want to have [the combine interview] be a continuation of where an [earlier] interview left off in front of everybody so we get a good feel for the character, the make-up, what motivates them, what drives them."
The spotlight is shining so brightly on the next generation of Canucks during this offseason that the team's current budding star has been left on the back burner a little bit.
Though it seems like a foregone conclusion that Mat Barzal will win the Calder Trophy this year, Brock Boeser is a rookie of the year nominee and was a strong contender until he got injured in March. He'll be at the NHL awards in Vegas on June 20th.
Jim Benning said last week that he expects Boeser to be back at 100 percent for training camp. Based on this picture, I'd say he's feeling good!
Meanwhile, over in Europe, Boeser's old college teammate Troy Stecher also continues to live his best life. Click through to see all three Paris pictures.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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