Okay I'll take the bait and play like Debbie downer.
1. MacEwen doesn't look anything lije Jake Virtanen. If anything, he is more like a Grenier that hits but with less puck finesse. Jake was faster and had a better shot.
2. A playmaking center will have to come after he plays center. Right now he is basically a right wing with Boucher on his opposite side and Chaput in the middle. With the centers in the pipeline he is most likely being prepped as a power forward.
3. Don't become mesmerized by his points. Look at who his linemates are. He hasn't been setting these two up with any kind of tantalizing net play making. He is making a simple pass to a wide open line mate 150 feet or so from the opposing net or a short pass on the perimemter before going back in front of the net on the PP. It's the farthest thing from playmaking. Basically he gets the puck to one of them, to get the rush going up the ice and Boucher is a shooting machine (and he hits the net from every position including the corners). You almost have to twist both his arms and promise him dinner to get a pass. Chaput is a set up man that can score and most of the time the guy he's setting up is Bouch.
4. However, if Zack could ever get a shot off, he has been set up with the chances. He is also around the net on the PP, but just can't seem to find a way to make contact with loose pucks that are right there. LaBate incidentally has the exact same problem in close around the net. Zack is supposed to have better hands and I do see a decided skill difference between him and Joe.
5. His normal play when bringing the puck through the neutral zone himself is to try and deke out the guys in his way and fails 90% of the time. The couple times he's sort of succeeded he got off shots from the perimeter that were stopped but were good shots that if he could ever get in close, might find the net. Very reminiscent of Jake.
He did make an excellent pass to Chaput for a goal on Friday after winning a puck battle on the end boards and centering it to Michael coming off the bottom of the circle. He counterbalanced that positive with turning the puck over at the attacking blue line when he put a move on the defender on the rush, but then did some kind of inexplicable spinorama and unfortunately left the puck sitting dead still back behind him while he was making this move. The defender stepped around him and headmanned the puck to his backchecking forwards that trapped the Zack and his linemates up ice while Bridgeport sped back up ice in a 3 on 2 that ended up behind Demko.
Zack is very raw and seems to try to make moves that his body is too big to accommodate. I know that may sound weird but that's what it reminds me of like a large puppy who hasn't become coordinated to his rapid growth. Thus, a lot of awkward actions or movement from his body that isn't matching what his mind wants to do. That probably doesn't make sense to a lot of you, but suffice to say he is not on the express pathway to the NHL. This kid has lots of work to do before he'll be considered a top prospect. The most I can say is he the best possibility from the not so impressive crop of Vancouver prospects that are playing with their AHL affiliate. The likes of Gaudette, Lind, Pettersson, and Dahlen seem to be way farther ahead on the NHL path than any Comet outside of Demko and they have not even turned pro. Lind, Dahlen, Lockwood (if he comes out) and Gadjovich should join him next season and then we'll see how a year behind him helps him establish himself as the kingpin among the newcomers. If they all go by him, he is a Grenier, Jensen, Archibald. If not, he still has a shot.
