PENTICTON, B.C. – The last time anyone in Canucks jerseys looked this dominant, it was 2011 and Vancouver was the best team in the National Hockey League right up until the Stanley Cup Final.
Alas, it was only a prospects game, but the Canucks’ 8-2 victory Friday against the Winnipeg Jets was more proof that being awful on NHL ice the last three years while being good at the NHL draft table has given Vancouver its deepest, strongest pool of prospects since the franchise joined the league in 1970.
The Canucks and Jets play again Sunday. Maybe the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers knew something when they bailed on Vancouver’s Young Stars tournament this year.
The Canucks pumped in six goals in eight second-period minutes and outshot the Jets’ prospects 40-23.
“I think it showed today there are a lot of skilled guys, both D and forwards,” Canuck super-prospect Ellias Pettersson said. “I feel very positive about it and hopefully everyone in the Canucks organization, fans and all that, feels positive about it.”
Fans at the South Okanagan Events Centre came mostly to see Pettersson, the fifth-overall draft pick from 2017 who is rated as one of the top prospects in hockey. The 19-year-old Swedish centre didn’t disappoint, scoring twice, including a bar-down laser from the left-wing faceoff dot. Pettersson also beautifully set up countryman Jonathan Dahlen’s breakaway goal with a saucer stretch pass.
But Petrus Palmu, the Finnish League rookie of the year last season, also scored twice for the Canucks, and so did 2017 second-rounder Jonah Gadjovich.
College hockey’s Hobey Baker Award winner, Adam Gaudette, opened scoring for Vancouver, and Western Hockey League grad Kole Lind was excellent on a line with Pettersson and Dahlen, which could one day be a thing in the NHL.
Michael DiPietro, chosen by Team Canada to be its third goalie at last spring’s world championship, stopped 21 of 23 shots in the Vancouver net.
“We had great chemistry and we had a great game,” Dahlen said. “It’s a really skilled team and it’s fun to be part of it. We have a really great prospect pool and it showed today.”
Two of the Canucks’ best prospects, college defenceman Quinn Hughes and minor-league goalie Thatcher Demko, aren’t even in Penticton.
In contrast to the Canucks’ deep lineup, the Jets dressed seven forwards who are trying out for contracts. Draft picks Michael Spacek and Jansen Harkins scored the Winnipeg goals and were also the best Jets.
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