Now that the Young Stars tournament is complete, here are five big takeaways from the Canucks prospects’ performances.
1. Jake Virtanen is going to sell some jerseys
Top Canucks prospect Jake Virtanen made an abrasive first impression at this tournament. Just ask Connor McDavid.
“Personally I think that hit was just there,” Virtanen said Monday, still downplaying the incident that’s been on the tip-of-the-tongue in the Okanagan Valley since Friday evening.
A top-10 pick at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Virtanen has NHL-ready speed and physicality. He’ll very likely be a well-above average skater and a fearsome hitter the moment he steps onto NHL ice.
That moment could come sooner, rather than later.
“We want him to get in there and use his speed on the forecheck, be physical, and when he has the puck, take the puck to the net and use his shot,” Canucks general manager Jim Benning said. “He buries his shoulder and goes to the net hard and I think with his size and speed that that’s something we could use on our team.”
Virtanen ended the tournament with a game-winning overtime goal on a breakaway. Not too shabby.
2. Vancouver’s numbers guy
Ever since July 2014 and the so-called ‘Summer of Analytics,’ hockey’s data craze has entered something of a gold rush.
Some teams are hiring third-party companies to track events, provide player evaluations, and even text coaches with shot attempt data between periods. Other organizations are building extensive hockey research departments internally.
Many of those hockey research departments are staffed by former bloggers or academics. The trend seems to be to bring in researchers and analysts not just from outside the organization, but from outside the hockey world entirely.
The Canucks have bucked that trend. When the organization re-shuffled its personnel, it promoted longtime front office hand Jonathan Wall to the role of Director of Hockey Operations and Analytics.
The Vancouver native has been with the organization in some capacity since he got his start working for the Vancouver Voodoo, a short-lived professional roller hockey team.
While we don’t know what data the Canucks are looking at to inform their decision-making, their moves this summer suggest the organization doesn’t trust in the most popular publicly-available metrics like shot attempt differential. (Understandably, Wall and the Canucks aren’t keen to discuss anything analytics-related in detail on the record.)
3. Canucks are building ‘critical mass’
There’s no doubt that this was the best team the Canucks have iced in their five years hosting the Young Stars event.
“We’re starting to get some critical mass in our prospect pool now,” Canucks president Trevor Linden told Sportsnet Monday.
Surely the play of the organization’s prospects on the whole this weekend — with a special nod to young blueline assets like Ben Hutton, Jordan Subban, and Guillaume Brisebois — bodes for the club going forward.
“I like our prospect pool, we’re starting to get some depth in it now,” Benning said. “I think we have five to seven legitimate NHL players out there now, which is good to see.”
4. An up-and-down performance from Shinkaruk
Canucks prospect Hunter Shinkaruk arguably has more offensive upside than any other prospect in Vancouver’s pool.
The 20-year-old forward had an up-and-down season in his first year in the pros with the Utica Comets. He had an up-and-down tournament in Penticton too, to hear Canucks management tell it.
“I thought the first game, maybe it was rust, but he had a few turnovers that I didn’t like,” said Comets coach Travis Green. “I think his game really progressed and he was real good tonight. When he’s going he’s got the puck but he’s not forcing plays and as a result he gets chances. When he’s not on his game he tries to make something out of nothing and it goes the other way.”
Benning agreed.
“I thought over the course of last year when he started playing pro he played a junior game at the pro level,” Benning said. “About halfway through the season we saw him play the pro game, do all the little things right. All of a sudden the first game he was back to doing all the things he did last year…”
Based on a conversation with Sportsnet on Sunday, Shinkaruk isn’t convinced that his game changed significantly in the second half of the season.
“For me it was just getting back to playing my game,” Shinkaruk said. “When I was in junior I went out there and used my skill and did the things I know I could do. Once I got that confidence back I feel like I showed that I can be a [top-line player].”
5. McCann can do it all
When asked if there were any players other than Virtanen who could realistically push for a roster spot at next weekend’s main camp, Benning named two: Cole Cassels and Jared McCann. Both centreman.
Look out, Linden Vey.
“[McCann] plays with a certain intensity and he’s a skilled player,” Benning said. “You saw the other night how he comes down the wing, he’s got a nice release on his shot and he ripped it into the corner there.”
“He seems like he can do everything — play the power play, the penalty kill — and you can never have enough of those kind of players,” added Green.
“I don’t see him being a defensive forward,” said Green. “He’s just a real good two-way player. Offensively I’d expect him to be a point-producing guy that can still be a matchup guy as well.”
