In case you missed it, I've been breaking down the Vancouver Canucks' roster for next week's Young Stars Classic over the last couple of days.
Click here for a look at the prospects that will be making their Young Stars debuts and
here for the lowdown on the returnees.
Over the next two days, I'll dig a little deeper, looking at the 11 invitees who aren't under contract to the Canucks. Some are free agents; a few have already inked AHL deals with the Utica Comets.
They’re under the radar for now, but sometimes these little-known names grow into NHL players. When they do, they’re often grateful to the teams that gave them a chance to show their stuff at hockey’s top level.
Just ask Antoine Roussel, who spoke effusively on July 1 about the Canucks giving an opportunity to an undrafted kid from France back in 2011.
That 2011 development camp roster is quite a trip down memory lane.
Click here to check it out. At that time the Canucks' top prospects were Nicklas Jensen, Jordan Schroeder, Anton Rodin, Frankie Corrado and Kevin Connaughton.
Roussel will know one current Canuck from his time in Penticton: Darren Archibald was also at that 2011 Young Stars tournament.
For this year's invitees, I’ll look at the forwards today, then do the defensemen and the goaltender on Friday.
INVITEES – FORWARD:
Nando Eggenberger – FW – The Swiss winger got some ink around draft time for his excellent name, but the 18-year-old was not selected by an NHL team, despite having played most of last season at Switzerland’s top pro level with HC Davos. He also served as Switzerland’s captain in his second World Junior Championship in Buffalo and should be in Vancouver for a third go-round this year.
Eggenberger was invited to the Canucks’ development camp in July but had to pass due to injury. He’s back on the ice now, and will be spending this season skating with Matt Brassard as part of the Oshawa Generals.
Listed at 6’2” and 185 pounds, Eggenberger has NHL size but his offensive upside has been limited during his development in Switzerland. For whatever it’s worth, he has been scoring in the Generals’ training camp scrimmages over the last couple of days. It’ll be interesting to see how he looks beside Vancouver’s other top prospects.
Reid Gardiner – RW - Already signed to an AHL deal with the Utica Comets, Gardiner is a 22-year-old winger whose career highlight was a playoff MVP performance with the Kelowna Rockets in 2016-17, when he had 28 points in 17 postseason games.
As a former Rocket and a Saskatchewan boy, I’m going to guess that Gardiner has a good relationship with Kole Lind? Gardiner was born in Humboldt and started his hockey career playing Midget AA with the Humboldt Broncos back in 2010-11 before moving into the WHL with the Prince Albert Raiders.
Gardiner spent last season in the Pittsburgh organization, where he had 57 points in 58 games for the Wheeling Nailers. His 30 goals were tops for any U22 player in the league, and he was named to the ECHL’s all-rookie team.
The Canucks took a look at Gardiner back in 2015 when they invited him to their summer development camp as a 19-year-old. Now 22, he signed a one-year AHL deal with the Comets on July 12.
Owen Hardy – FW – A native of Nanaimo, Hardy is going into his fourth year at forward for the Vancouver Giants. The 19-year-old had his best season to date in 2018-19, with 11 goals and 23 points in 56 games.
Hardy has good size at 6’1” and 200 pounds, and is most effective when he’s playing a physical game. Consistency seems to be his main stumbling block.
Young Stars will be Hardy’s first real opportunity to show what he can do for an NHL team. You can read more about him here:
Tanner MacMaster – Seemingly out of nowhere, Tanner MacMaster showed up in Utica toward the end of last season and started putting up points. The 22-year-old Calgary native signed an amateur tryout contact with the Comets after he wrapped up his senior year at Quinnipiac in mid-March—where he reached the final of the Frozen Four in 2016 before losing to Bock Boeser’s North Dakota Fighting Hawks.
MacMaster isn’t big. On the game sheet from July’s development camp, he was listed at 5’10” and 165 pounds. But he had two goals and seven points in 13 games after joining the Comets, then added a goal and three assists in those five playoff games against the Marlies—one of the team’s offensive drivers as they came tantalizingly close to upsetting the eventual Calder Cup champs.
MacMaster was signed to a one-year AHL contract with Utica on May 17. He clearly made a positive early impression on Comets coach Trent Cull; it’ll be interesting to see if he can continue his impressive trajectory next season on a more talented Utica team.
Isaac Nurse – RW – He’s got the sporting bloodlines. His cousin is Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse, so his uncle is also former NFL great Donovan McNabb. Sarah Nurse is his sister—she played on the Canadian women’s hockey team at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang and was chosen second overall by the Toronto Furies in this year’s CWHL draft.
As for Isaac, he won an OHL championship in his second season with the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2017-18. He wasn’t blessed with Darnell’s size but managed 17 goals with Hamilton in the regular season and chipped in with 7-4-11 in 21 playoff games.
Nurse turned 19 in July and was listed at 5’11” and 185 pounds when he was invited to development camp in July. He’s listed on the Bulldogs’ preseason roster for the new season. Apparently the Canucks thought enough of what they saw of him this summer to bring him back for another look.
Anthony Salinitri – LW – Salinitri is another player who skated at the summer development camp, where a sharp eye noticed that he already has a doppelganger in the organization.
Like Michael Del Zotto, Salinitri is also an Ontario native, though he hails from Windsor. Now 20 years old, he put up back-to-back 58-point seasons with the Sarnia Sting in the last two years.
Salinitri was originally drafted in the sixth round by the Philadelphia Flyers, but became a free agent last June after he wasn’t signed to an entry-level contract. He’s on his way back to Sarnia for a fifth season this fall and is looking to find a spot to catch on as a free agent.
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