2015 Young Stars Classic

[biturbo19]

Of course guys like Bennett, McDavid, Nurse etc don't have to prove much of anything, but by playing well they help themselves more then floating around. That said I do agree with your point that in the long run dominating the tourney doesn't really matter.

However saying the tournament = shinny is more than a bit silly, as the majority of players there are trying to make their mark, and turn some heads in management. These games generally have good/great intensity for this reason.

Again not saying Jake has to dominate, but playing well would be better for him imo.

As for the bold...no kidding.

Yeah, fair enough.

I love watching the Young Stars Tournament. It's great fun and yeah, calling it "shinny" is probably a bit too far. But it's a weird tournament where some non-signed prospects have everything to prove and everything to gain, and a top-10 pick like Virtanen is sort of...there, but ought to be more focused on ramping things up for "real camp". Such a mix of ages and career stages, statuses with organizations, etc. that it's hard to say anyone has to "dominate" to show anything...other than invites.

With a guy like Virtanen, you'd certainly hope he doesn't know what half-effort is...but let's be honest about the type of prospect he is. He's not a "cruise through prospect tourny" type prospect any more than he's a "cruise through Juniors" type prospect. The bet on Virtanen has always been translatability from day 1. Despite being wildly different players...it's the same sort of thing that was relevant with Bo heading into his "prospect tourny" last year. Where he was...very unremarkable and Curtis friggin' Valk was the Star.

 

[Pip]

Does he?


I mean, this is a shinny tournament for the kids. It's fun and all...but it means jack squat as far as whether a guy like Virtanen is ready for the NHL or not.


I mean, you'd love to see him make a real splash and show off what he can do and have that attitude about the whole thing...but realistically? Nah.

Agreed. Even if Virtanen makes no impact at this tourny or even stinks it up, he'll still have the inside track for an NHL job and the real evaluating for him will be in main camp and preseason. Of course I (and management) would much rather him play well here, in the end it doesn't make a difference for Jake. For the invitees and lower prospects this tourny can be absolutely massive .

 

[WTG]

So was thinking about potential rosters for the teams, and ws wondering if anyone wanted to take a crack at them?

Canucks

1st - Shinkaruk, Mccann, Virtanen
2nd - Gaunce, Cassels, Jensen
3rd - Fox, Zhukenov, Jasek(?)
4th - LaBate, Pettit, Blomstrand(?)
*? not sure if these players will be there, and if not invites will fill in.

1st - Hutton, McEneny/Subban
2nd - Cederholm, Subban/McEneny
3rd - Brisebois, Neill
Olson

#1 - Invite
#2 - Invite

Not bad, but we'll see how they do at the tourney.

Well at least we have a pretty damn good top line and top pairing defense pairing.

Hutton - Subban should be fun to watch. Both big shots, Hutton physical, Subban finesse.

 

[VanJack]

Unfortunately in goal the 'Nucks will be in the same situation they always seem to be in at this tournament.....without a drafted netminder who is eligible to play for them.....so they'll be relying on invitees again...did Jackson Whistle get drafted by anyone?...where is Chris Leveque when you need him?

 

[biturbo19]

Unfortunately in goal the 'Nucks will be in the same situation they always seem to be in at this tournament.....without a drafted netminder who is eligible to play for them.....so they'll be relying on invitees again...did Jackson Whistle get drafted by anyone?...where is Chris Leveque when you need him?

Said it in pre-draft threads...but it's extremely bad news that we have literally only ONE goaltending prospect in our entire organization.

Even if Demko is undeniably a stud, it's insane to roll through seasons with literally nothing else in the pipeline at lower levels. And no, Cannata is not a "prospect", in hf terms or otherwise...he is not a serious NHL prospect, even if he weren't way too old to participate in this prospect tournament.


Fortunately, Benning and Co. acknowledged that they're interested in adding some more later round goaltending prospects to the organization (and were open to doing so this year, depending on how the draft fell). But they didn't...which still leaves us in a really uncomfy situation...for this tournament, and at large as a "eggs in one basket" situation, at an undeniably unpredictable and "most important" position.

 

[biturbo19]

There are some interesting CHL goaltenders worthy of an invite to familiarize themselves with the organization and maybe Rollie or at least Clouts...but we'll probably just get the 7 ft tall novelty sideshow guy we invited to orientation camp instead.

 

[The Iron Goalie]

Unfortunately in goal the 'Nucks will be in the same situation they always seem to be in at this tournament.....without a drafted netminder who is eligible to play for them.....so they'll be relying on invitees again...did Jackson Whistle get drafted by anyone?...where is Chris Leveque when you need him?

Whistle was at our prospect camp as an invite, so hopefully is in net for us.

 

[DCantheDDad]

Whistle was at our prospect camp as an invite, so hopefully is in net for us.

I wouldnt mind seeing Whistle getting an invite for sure.

 

[Balls Mahoney]

I wouldnt mind seeing Whistle getting an invite for sure.

Austin Lotz had flashes of brilliance last year although I doubt the Canucks would bring back the same invitees two years in a row.

I freakin' love the Young Stars Classic.

 

[HasbeenHallzy]

Ken Appleby, anyone?

 

[Guardian452]

Austin Lotz had flashes of brilliance last year although I doubt the Canucks would bring back the same invitees two years in a row.

I freakin' love the Young Stars Classic.

Austin Lotz is attending Chicago's rookie camp.

Ken Appleby, anyone?

Ken Appley is attending the Devils' rookie camp.

 

[ATypicalCanadian]

Maybe John McLean gets invited if they liked him ?

 

[ugghhh]

Said it in pre-draft threads...but it's extremely bad news that we have literally only ONE goaltending prospect in our entire organization.

Even if Demko is undeniably a stud, it's insane to roll through seasons with literally nothing else in the pipeline at lower levels. And no, Cannata is not a "prospect", in hf terms or otherwise...he is not a serious NHL prospect, even if he weren't way too old to participate in this prospect tournament.


Fortunately, Benning and Co. acknowledged that they're interested in adding some more later round goaltending prospects to the organization (and were open to doing so this year, depending on how the draft fell). But they didn't...which still leaves us in a really uncomfy situation...for this tournament, and at large as a "eggs in one basket" situation, at an undeniably unpredictable and "most important" position.

It's pretty worrisome considering Miller is on the decline and Markstrom might never make it in the NHL.

It would be awfully nice to have Ericsson as a 3rd option right now, imo -- sucks that he never got a good look at the NHL level.