It came down to the last game of the season, but the Utica Comets' 2016-17 season came to an end on Saturday as they dropped a 5-2 decision to the Syracuse Crunch. While the Comets' game was in progress, the St. John's IceCaps logged a 4-1 win over the Toronto Marlies to clinch the fourth and last playoff spot in the AHL's North Division.
The IceCaps finished with a 36-30-8-2 record for 82 points in 76 games, while the Comets came up just short with a record of 35-32-7-2 for 79 points.
It was an impressive finish from a Utica team that got off to a terrible start, and was undermanned for most of the year.
The Comets were 2-5-0 in October, 5-6-1 in November and 3-4-4-1 in December, so they finished out the first three months of their season with a 10-15-5-1 record in 31 games.
That means they went 25-17-2-1 in 2017—and the main reason for those improved results was Thatcher Demko's adjustment from college to AHL play.
Like their parent club, the Comets struggled to score—they finished in a tie for 23rd in the 30-team league with an average of 2.56 goals per game. Defensively, they finished in a tie for 20th, allowing 2.89 goals per game, but Demko's late-season numbers were fantastic as the Comets surged to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Demko played his best hockey as, basically, a one-man show, after Richard Bachman was recalled by the Canucks in late February. Up till the last week of the season...
Comets general manager Pat Conacher has effusive praise for Demko.
The Canucks have been committed to giving Demko another year of development before moving him up to the NHL level, but plans have changed before. "Play the kids" doesn't usually apply to goalies, and I can't imagine it would be helpful to throw a top prospect into situations like we saw in the last few months in Vancouver, where the goalie was facing 40-plus shots a night—hopefully something that will change with the new coach.
I think the Canucks will need to tighten up their on-ice structure before they consider bringing Demko up for an NHL look.
The Canucks' injury situation impacted the Comets roster of skaters, as well as the goaltenders.
Click here to take a look at Utica's opening-night roster for the 2016-17 season.
Sure, Travis Green gained Jake Virtanen when he was sent down in November, but the Comets lost forwards Jayson Megna and Michael Chaput from their lineup for most of the season—Megna was called up by the Canucks on October 24 and Chaput arrived on November 7. At various other points in the season, Green was without Joseph LaBate, Alex Grenier and Borna Rendulic up front.
On defense, Troy Stecher was supposed to spend the year with the Comets but ended up playing only four minor-league games before being recalled by Vancouver on October 24. Andrey Pedan, Jordan Subban and Evan McEneny also saw recalls by the Canucks at various times during the season, though only McEneny got into game action.
Subban finished out his year in Utica with an impressive 16 goals, tied for third among AHL defensemen with David Warsofsky. But Warsofsky finished the season with a solid plus-30 for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. Subban was a minus-12.
Jake Virtanen finished out his AHL season with 9-10-19 in 65 games—tied in team scoring with Wacey Hamilton and three points behind Carter Bancks. He didn't play an especially physical game during his time in Utica, either—he ended the year ranked eighth on the team with 48 penalty minutes, one less than 5'9", 170-pound Curtis Valk.
Virtanen's going to need to keep working hard this summer. Maybe he'll feel less distraction in the offseason after earning just $70,000 as his AHL salary this year (plus his $92,500 signing bonus) as opposed to the $894,167 he would have earned if he'd spent the season with the Canucks.
One bit of great late-season news out of Utica—in his three games under coach Travis Green, Nikolay Goldobin scored four goals. It's quite the outburst considering he had 15 goals and 41 points in his 46 games with the AHL San Jose Barracudas before he was traded to Vancouver in late February.
Still, it sounds like Goldy will need to work on his game in the offseason.
For everything he went through in Vancouver, he still seems to have kept a positive attitude.
With any luck, we're seeing a good fit between Goldobin and Travis Green, who seems to be the front-runner to be Vancouver's next coach.
Now that the Comets have been eliminated, Green has reached the end of his contract. Will we see a swift move to get him on board as the Canucks' new bench boss?
I keep coming back to Elliotte Friedman's
30 Thoughts column from last week. He's as plugged-in as anybody in the league, and he used the likelihood of Green landing in Vancouver as his headline during a very busy week.
We have been hearing for awhile that the Canucks feel almost obligated to promote Green, as they worry about how it'll look if he ends up being successful with another team.
I wonder about this comment from Friedman:
"I’m told that internally Linden recognizes the NHL team did not provide enough support to its American League partner, and will change that."
During the last month of the season, while the Comets were in the playoff hunt, we saw the Canucks bring in players like Joseph Cramarossa, Drew Shore and Griffen Molino from outside the organization to fill their injury holes, rather than continuing to raid the farm. I suspect that shift in strategy came with the recognition that the Comets were hit hard this year by the Canucks' constant call-ups, when they had to scramble to fill their own roster holes.
Will Green appreciate the fact that the Canucks made the effort to support him down the stretch, or might he be frustrated that he was left in a tough spot for much of the year? I imagine his feelings on this issue will end up playing a big part on whether or not he ends up choosing to join the Canucks—assuming that head-coaching offer is, in fact, forthcoming.
Earlier in the week, I mentioned the possibility that more big-name coaches could end up on the unemployment line if their teams crash and burn in the playoffs. At the time, I did not expect that the Chicago Blackhawks would be the first team in trouble!
I'm stunned that the Blackhawks not only lost their first two games at home—they didn't even score! Not one chorus of Chelsea Dagger for their demanding fans—and now they're at risk of their season coming to an end without even getting back to the United Center.
If the Blackhawks do go out in the first round—especially if they get swept—does that put Joel Quenneville's job in jeopardy? That'd be two-straight first-round exits for a team that's built to deliver much better results.
I'm not writing Chicago off quite yet. For me, it's a big story to watch!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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