One To Watch: Vancouver Canucks

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The Canucks are still considered one of the contending teams in the Western conference but for the first time in a few years there appears to be talented youth on the way. Camp has seen solid performances from recent draftees and it's compelling to see how many, if any, of the prospects at camp earn a spot with the big club. 

2012 Choice: Joe Cannata - The former Merrimack standout played sparingly in the AHL and ECHL last season and received a late season recall to sit on the bench while Cory Schneider was injured. Cannata posted decent numbers in AHL Chicago and oddly enough, pretty forgettable ones with ECHL Kalamazoo. He should see a lot more starting time this year.

My 2013-14 One to Watch for Vancouver comes after the jump.

One To Watch: Vancouver Canucks

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The Canucks haven't seen a lot of positive results from their drafting over the last seven years. Part of that may be the quality of the NHL roster has kept some worthy prospects on the farm longer than they would be with other franchises.  Another reasons may be that they've been picking late in round 1 for most of that time as well although that doesn't necessarily mean you can't find an impact player. 

The blueline is a bit thin when it comes to prospects; Yann Sauve, Patrick McNally and Kevin Connauton highlight the group. 

Up front the team has made nice value picks in Brendan Gaunce and Nicklas Jensen the last two years. It will be interesting to see how Jensen progresses this season as the Dane has chosen to return to Europe after two years in the OHL. 

It's been four seasons since Jordan Schroeder was taken 22nd overall. The Minnesota native is coming off a career year in the AHL with 44 points but fans have had to be more patient than they probably had expected they would need to be. Is this the year or is Schroeder nearing "more suspect than prospect" territory?

There is depth in goal for sure. Cory Schneider's play has won over the fan base and it seems just a matter of time before Roberto Luongo is dealt. That will clear room for Swede Eddie Lack to join the big club after two years spent in the minors. 

There is also another goalie worth mentioning, less heralded than Schneider and Lack but he's the guy I've chosen for this series. 

Rookie Watch: Vancouver Canucks

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Each Day until September 15th TPS will take a look at one team from the East and one team from the West and spotlight a few rookies to watch for this season. Today in the West it’s the Vancouver Canucks.

Hodgson Can't Buy a Break

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Vancouver prospect and Manitoba Moose rookie Cody Hodgson is on the shelf again. The good news is it's not his back. The bad news is he has a broken orbital bone. What makes it even worse is that he took the stick from teammate Billy Sweatt in practice. Tim Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press has the story here.

25th - Vancouver Canucks Draft Preview

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Historically speaking, the Canucks haven't been known for wearing the most attractive team emblems. This shoulder patch featuring the head of "Johnny Canuck" is in circulation now on the club's third jerseys and I think it's one of the better ones the team has had. Moving back to the blue and green colour scheme a couple of years ago was a good move for the Canucks too.

Canucks Prospect Snap Shot

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The Vancouver Canucks joined the NHL in 1970, increasing the Canadian content in the league to three teams at the time. Despite their 40-year existence, the Canucks have never won the Stanley Cup and in fact have only been to the Finals twice in that time. The closest the team has come to winning it all was back in 1994 when they took the New York Rangers to a 7-game series.

While the team is Western Canada's oldest NHL franchise, the Canucks have largely been overshadowed by the success of the two Alberta clubs which have won 6 Stanley Cups between them since joining the league much later. Since Calgary and Edmonton joined the league, Vancouver has claimed the division title only 5 times but, 3 of those years have been in the last 5 seasons played.

Notable players drafted by the Canucks who have gone on to have a significant impact of the team's performance have included Trevor Linden, Stan Smyl, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Don Lever and Pavel Bure.

Here is a look at the top prospect Coming Down the Pipe for the Vancouver Canucks...

Wednesday Re-Set

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I think every week I start the Wednesday Re-set by saying something like "Big show last night." Well... while I do think we have a pretty solid line up on our weekly radio program I don't think there is a soul alive who could argue that last night's guest list more than qualified as "A Big Show".

We started things off with one of the biggest power forwards available for the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Zack Kassian of the OHL's Peterborough Petes. We'd tried to have Zack on a few times over the last several weeks but for one reason or another it never happened. We're glad it finally did last night as the probable top-20 pick went into detail about his NHL combine experience including some rather interesting interview tactics by one club in particular (which he actually names!). We also talked about his year with the Petes and the way it wrapped up with Canada's U18 squad in Fargo. Hear from Zack Kassian HERE.

Last week we began our cross-Canada tour with the Calgary Flames and Assistant GM Tod Button. This week's first stop was Ottawa where we had a conversation with Senators Assistant GM Tim Murray. We spoke about the team's combine strategy and what their fans could expect at the draft. Several key Ottawa prospects were also discussed and an array of fan emails were directed Murray's way as well. Hear from Tim Murray HERE.

Jeremy Morin was a standout for the USA Hockey's National Team Development Program and represented his country at the U18s in Fargo. We talked with the likeable forward about his year, the US-NTDP, teammate Kyle Palmieri's exile from the program, his decision to play for the Kitchener Rangers next year and also about his impression of the growing trend that sees NCAA-bound prospects bolting for the Canadian Hockey League. Hear from Jeremy Morin HERE.

Next stop: Vancouver. Mike Gillis is the GM of the Canucks and he willingly answered a lot of questions that we received from Vancouver fans inclduing some fairly critical ones. Everything from draft and scouting strategy to prospect updates to his draft experience as a scout was covered including the impending signing of a top prospect. Hear more from GM Mike Gillis HERE.

We played a couple rounds of Bad Ass Trivia and also chatted about a couple recent blogs we wrote like the Ryan Ellis feature I did and Dean's Tomas Tatar piece debating the merits of his being asked if he was GAY at the NHL combine.

We closed the show with the biggest name of the night, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke. This year is the 10th anniversary of the fantastic draft day deals he made in 1999 that resulted in the Canucks landing both of the Sedin brothers and Burke gave us the "Cole's Notes" version of how the trades came to fruition including a great recap of his dealings with Rick Dudley. Burke went on to talk about Toronto's much-publicized desire to trade up in the draft, who he definitely won't trade, if it's true that Toronto is going to pass on Justin Pogge, are the Buds still hunting for Jonas Gustavsson, and much much more.

It was Brian Burke at the top of his form with zero B.S. and plenty of great sound bites as well as answers to questions posed by Leafs Nation. Hear from GM Brian Burke HERE.

I don't think we could have possibly fit anymore into our two hours this week but we've already got some work done for our June 16th show. We were able to speak with dynamic Swedish prospect Magnus Pääjärvi Svensson (or is it Svensson Pääjärvi... he sets the record straight) and we'll air that exclusive interview on next week's show. Plus we hope to complete our pre-draft cross Canada tour by checking in with both the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens.

Recently we've been getting asked about a podcast... here is the link to our FREE RSS subscription page which will take you to everything you need to get all set up with your TPS fix every week.

Mason The Man

When Mason Raymond moved the mesh 68 times in 107 games with the Camrose Kodiaks of the AJHL over a 2 year period, few took notice. He's playing in an inferior league critics said. The Canucks were interested though, enough to draft him 51st overall in 2005.

When the Calgary product jumped from 28 to 46 points in his sophomore season with the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs - in arguably the toughest NCAA conference the WCHA - it still didn't register that much with most observers.

But it was hard to ignore Raymond last year. After a great start with 17 points in 20 AHL games with Manitoba, he was summoned to the Canucks where his speed and smarts earned him an every day job.

He potted 21 points in 49 games before an injury ended his season.

One guy who has noticed Raymond is new Canuck Pavol Demitra, who during training camp, compared Raymond to his former teammate Marion Gaborik. The comment created a few double takes and quite likely a couple of chuckles. Some might have thought the newest Canuck was sampling BC's unofficial flower. You know "blunt" forced trauma.

But Raymond is a scorer, and with Demitra as a set up man (he's averaged 45 assists throughout his NHL career and twice set up more than 50 goals) he could provide some potent offence on the Canucks 2nd line. Taylor Pyatt is the 3rd member of the unit. I don't think 20 goals is out of question for Raymond this year, and in time with a slick passer by his side, could develop into a 30 plus goal guy.

Recently we had a conversation with Rogers Sportsnet's Dan Murphy, which included what role Mason Raymond will play this year. Click here to listen.