Friday September 12 - Edmonton Oilers Prospects 4 - Vancouver Canucks Prospects 3 (OT)
After a long summer of waiting, Canucks finally got their first taste of hockey action since mid-April when the Vancouver Canucks prospects took to the ice at the South Okanagan Events Centre against the Edmonton Oilers YoungStars.
After just one day of practice, perhaps it's not surprising that the Canucks took awhile to find their rhythm. They were badly outplayed in the first period but got better as the game wore on. Vancouver's prospects dominated in the late stretches of the third, only to get caught out of position after an overtime penalty kill, which led to Edmonton's winning goal.
Here are your highlights:
The Canucks' strongest offensive force was undersized centre Curtis Valk—an undrafted 21-year-old who plays for (who else?) the Medicine Hat Tigers. Valk's listed at 5'9" and 170 pounds—but had 47 and 46 goals in his last two seasons with the Tigers, according to Hockey DB.
I'd heard some buzz around Valk but didn't take it too seriously since he's only with the team on a tryout. But the kid made the most of his opportunity. If he can have a couple more good games this weekend, maybe he can play his way into an AHL or even ECHL contract and become our next Alex Burrows?
The fun fact about Valk, courtesy of the Vancouver Sun's Elliott Pap: he's not related to Garry Valk and has never met him, but he does have a hockey connection in the family. His great-uncle is Kelly Hrudey.
Both of Valk's goals were unassisted; one on the power play.
The Canucks' third marker came from sniper Dane Fox—another undrafted overager who seems to have some soft hands and a nose for the net.
Click here for the box score. It's too bad we don't get to see ice time totals, but there's some information to be gleaned from the plus-minus numbers. Anton Cederholm had a solid game and was a plus-two along with unheralded defenseman Jeramie Blain, while "veteran prospect" Frank Corrado had a pretty tough game. He was a minus-three and was way out of position on the Oilers' winning goal in overtime, leaving a flailing Jordan Subban to try to do all the work in front of the net.
I thought Subban showed some flashes of potential, especially that hip-check he laid out midway through the game.
As promised, I checked out the radio broadcast on TSN 1410 while watching the livestream and found that Blake Price and Dave Tomlinson offered up a much more informative take on the action than did Joey Kenward, even if the audio didn't always sync up with the video.
New arrival Jon Abbott was in charge of player interviews on the radio side and spoke with Hunter Shinkaruk in the first intermission. Though Shinkaruk has been wildly confident in interviews leading up to this weekend's camp, he didn't have a great game—and he knew it. He was quick to admit that his timing was off after having missed so many games last season due to his hip surgery: he hasn't played a game since December 1.
On Friday, he looked like the weak link on the top line with Fox and Bo Horvat, but I'm willing to give him some time to get back in the groove.
Speaking of Horvat, he didn't jump out at me except for his prowess at winning faceoffs, but it seems his game might be a bit less flashy and more solid—and responsible. Those are some qualities that the Canucks could use in replacing the Selke Trophy-winning part of Ryan Kesler's game and would surely appeal to a coach like Willie Desjardins.
A friend was at the game last night, and singled out Horvat for praise. "You can see the skill he has, just needs some time."
As for Desjardins, he was in Penticton to watch the games along with the rest of the Vancouver scouting staff. Another step in the right direction from last year, when the previous coach didn't even attend the tournament.
For the Oilers, Leon Draisaitl drew eyeballs—and praise—but the team was led by winger Mitch Moroz and hulking center Bogdan Yakimov, who will turn 20 before the season begins. As an AHL-eligible player, he might turn out to be a better option for the Oilers at centre than going straight to Draisaitl, who doesn't turn 19 until late October and will have to be sent back to junior if he doesn't make the big club.
All told, it wasn't the most scintillating game, but it has left me hungry for more.
The Canucks' next game is Sunday at 2:00 p.m. against the Winnipeg Jets. Once again, it'll be streaming on Canucks.com.
Tradewinds
A quick comment to wrap up today, on the rumours that the Canucks could be interested in acquiring Jaden Schwartz or Evander Kane.
As I said a couple of weeks ago, I don't think we'll see Vancouver make a serious move until after the season starts. The braintrust seemed to address the roster as a whole when the series of moves were made surrounding the Kesler trade and the draft. Everything they've said since then indicates that they'll want to see what they have with this group.
I'm not worried about the team carrying three goalies: I think Jacob Markstrom will clear waivers if he's sent down before the beginning of the regular season, when there will also be plenty of other action on the waiver wire.
Perhaps I'm underestimating "Trader Jim," who didn't hesitate to get things done this summer, but my expectation is that management will want to see what's been assembled and how the group responds to Willie Desjardins before doing any more tinkering.