Abbotsford Canucks Thread | Down on the Farm

[kcunac]

I can't keep up. Seems like alot of D, especially RD, and top 9 forwards? Lots of help for DiPietro and Klimovich, and some competition for Woo. Too bad we don't have any other prospects...

 

[Get North]

The top D could be Hunt/Keeper/Woo/Bowey. I'm sure Brisebois will be back. Stephens is still around too so plenty of talent on D. Burroughs seems to be a good AHL defencemen too.

Dries, Dowling, Focht, Stevens is the center depth in the AHL. Plenty of talent at forward too even if 2-3 injuries hit.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

July 28th might as well be Abby’s free agency day

 

[kcunac]

The top D could be Hunt/Keeper/Woo/Bowey. I'm sure Brisebois will be back. Stephens is still around too so plenty of talent on D. Burroughs seems to be a good AHL defencemen too.

Dries, Dowling, Focht, Stevens is the center depth in the AHL. Plenty of talent at forward too even if 2-3 injuries hit.

So Petan will be on the wing most likely?

 

[kcunac]

Just trying to keep up here:

14Forwards - Di Giuseppe, Dowling, Petan, Dries, Jasek, Plasek, Klimovich, Lockwood, Focht, Gadjovich, Stevens, Bailey, Wouters, Rempal

LD: Stephens, Brisebois, Juolevi
RD: Hunt, Woo, Keeper, Burroughs, Bowey

G - DiPietro and Silvos

Did I miss anyone?

Edit - Added Bailey! Seems like that is the entire roster, with the majority being signed today. Frankly seems like a stacked AHL team. Let's go get that Calder Cup!

Edit2: forgot Wouters and Rempal. Seems like a really full roster; 24 players

 

[vanuck]

Hilarious that they're finally going all out on signing vets for the farm when they almost never did this for the Comets.

 

[kcunac]

I think there must be some financial gain behind it. Like, more interest in Abbortsford, more in the Canucks, which equals ticket sales and merchandise? I wonder if the parent club gets more of ticket sales and merchandise then they did in Utica?

 

[bobbyb2009]

Just trying to keep up here:

12Forwards - Di Giuseppe, Dowling, Petan, Dries, Jasek, Plasek, Klimovich, Lockwood, Focht, Gadjovich, Stevens, Bailey

LD: Stephens, Brisebois, Juolevi
RD: Hunt, Woo, Keeper, Burroughs, Bowey

G - DiPietro and Silvos

Did I miss anyone?

Edit - Added Bailey! Seems like that is the entire roster, with the majority being signed today. Frankly seems like a stacked AHL team. Let's go get that Calder Cup!

The Sheldons:
Sheldon Rempel
Sheldon Dries (oops, you have him)

 

[MS]

They just signed more guys for Abbotsford in one day than they signed for Utica in 7 years. Absolutely bizarre.

I guess they probably had to because there will basically be zero prospects on the farm this year. But that didn’t stop them from ignoring Utica in prior years.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

They just signed more guys for Abbotsford in one day than they signed for Utica in 7 years. Absolutely bizarre.

I guess they probably had to because there will basically be zero prospects on the farm this year. But that didn’t stop them from ignoring Utica in prior years.

There will me ALOT more eyes on Abby than Utica

 

[DonnyNucker]

A center/LW according to EliteProspects.
The guy wasn't drafted. He spent an extra year in Jrs. He is a rookie. Has had very poor numbers for a jr who is going to be a good pro.
Focht came in from Jrs after basically a PPG in his last 2 jr seasons. Was actually a 5th rd selection of the Canucks. He was basically a 4th line center, but in a watered down 2021 AHL season he made it to the 3rd line center.
He will be a much better player for the Abby Canucks.

This is exactly the same kind of preseason signings that Johnson did every season he was in Utica. He signed guys who would end up stashed in the ECHL for emergency call-ups, who turn out to be terrible when they did get that call.

With the dearth of actual AHL talent the Canucks have to put back in the AHL off last year's short roster, Johnson and his boss are going to have to do some heavy lifting to bring this team up to a serious competitive level. With the work Benning is currently involved with like every other year, by the time he gets around to the AHL team the best options will be gone. Instead of the Sam Anas, Cal O'Reilly, and even Carter Camper types in nthe middle, you'll end up with the Cam Darcy and John Stevens ilk.

This post aged very poorly

 

[MS]

There will me ALOT more eyes on Abby than Utica

It’s fairly shameful if the threat of being embarrassed is the only thing driving them to ice a competent AHL roster.

 

[Billy Kvcmu]

It’s fairly shameful if the threat of being embarrassed is the only thing driving them to ice a competent AHL roster.

I mean that’s like 90% of life in general

 

[Catamarca Livin]

Benning said a lot of players were reaching out to them to be signed. They want to play in the lower mainland if they are from here or even western Canada. Said he has never seen anything like it. Said in the past it was difficult to sign top Ahl depth. Seems like this benefit surprised Benning. So cannot give him credit for planning it but this is a nice side affect of the move.

 

[NuxFan09]

Benning said a lot of players were reaching out to them to be signed. They want to play in the lower mainland if they are from here or even western Canada. Said he has never seen anything like it. Said in the past it was difficult to sign top Ahl depth. Seems like this benefit surprised Benning. So cannot give him credit for planning it but this is a nice side affect of the move.

Yeah I could definitely see this. An AHL team in the area is something that probably entices a lot of NHL/AHL tweener types.

 

[Bad Goalie]

The top D could be Hunt/Keeper/Woo/Bowey. I'm sure Brisebois will be back. Stephens is still around too so plenty of talent on D. Burroughs seems to be a good AHL defencemen too.

Dries, Dowling, Focht, Stevens is the center depth in the AHL. Plenty of talent at forward too even if 2-3 injuries hit.

Who is this Stephens fellow "that's still around"?

 

[Bettman Returnz]

I think this is great! Good start to building depth right here in our backyard. And all for a ronning signing too. Hopefully dipietro will get a few starts with the big club too.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Just trying to keep up here:

14Forwards - Di Giuseppe, Dowling, Petan, Dries, Jasek, Plasek, Klimovich, Lockwood, Focht, Gadjovich, Stevens, Bailey, Wouters, Rempal

LD: Stephens, Brisebois, Juolevi
RD: Hunt, Woo, Keeper, Burroughs, Bowey

G - DiPietro and Silvos

Did I miss anyone?

Edit - Added Bailey! Seems like that is the entire roster, with the majority being signed today. Frankly seems like a stacked AHL team. Let's go get that Calder Cup!

Edit2: forgot Wouters and Rempal. Seems like a really full roster; 24 players

Scratch Jasek. He has signed in the Liiga.

 

[NuxFan09]

Scratch Jasek. He has signed in the Liiga.

How are the new Utica Comets shaping up Bad Goalie?

Also good to see that you'll still be around from time to time.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Can only say I expected this exact behavior out of Benning. Hehas a team right down the road and everyone will be watching and he can't take heavy heat from 2 directions at the same time. Solution? oad up the AHL team and then you can go on with business in Vancouver.

Benning never even considered signing UFAs for the Comets on the first day they became available. I used to sit with a list of every single UFA on day 12 and then check them off one by one for weeks until he finally got around to seeing what w2as left and picked a couple so-so leftovers and then filled out the roster with whatever he could find including some NCAA guys yet to be signed and a couple more washed up journeymen AHLers who just couldn't make themselves retire and a top shelf ECHer or 2 like John Stevens who could barely tread water in a regular AHL season. Thank God there were at least good goalies. That's all that came to Utica that would end up making their way to the NHL.

Hope the ABBY folks can get to see what we in Utica always wished for after Benning fired Henning. Henning showed us what a good GM could do and somehow that earned him the backdoor with an additional boot in the ass.

 

[supercanuck]

I'm thinking Aquilini had a hand it this as well. More bums in the seats = more ticket revenue, more merchandise sales, etc. Wouldn't hurt the "Canuck" brand either to have a Calder competing team.

 

[MS]

I mean that’s like 90% of life in general

I mean, this isn’t a 13 y/o who only takes a shower so he doesn’t get mocked for having BO.

This is a pro sports organization worth hundreds of millions of dollars that should be aiming for excellence at every level.

 

[NuxFan09]

Can only say I expected this exact behavior out of Benning. Hehas a team right down the road and everyone will be watching and he can't take heavy heat from 2 directions at the same time. Solution? oad up the AHL team and then you can go on with business in Vancouver.

Benning never even considered signing UFAs for the Comets on the first day they became available. I used to sit with a list of every single UFA on day 12 and then check them off one by one for weeks until he finally got around to seeing what w2as left and picked a couple so-so leftovers and then filled out the roster with whatever he could find including some NCAA guys yet to be signed and a couple more washed up journeymen AHLers who just couldn't make themselves retire and a top shelf ECHer or 2 like John Stevens who could barely tread water in a regular AHL season. Thank God there were at least good goalies. That's all that came to Utica that would end up making their way to the NHL.

Hope the ABBY folks can get to see what we in Utica always wished for after Benning fired Henning. Henning showed us what a good GM could do and somehow that earned him the backdoor with an additional boot in the ass.

For what it's worth, I really hope you guys get to enjoy a fun, well managed team under the Devils.

 

[Bad Goalie]

How are the new Utica Comets shaping up Bad Goalie?

Also good to see that you'll still be around from time to time.

The signing of Bernier and Hamilton are big moves for the Devils and will benefit the kids below.
Bernier will free up Wedgwood to mentor the Comets keeper(s) There are 3 of them and they are going to go head to head to see who remains in Utica. The other 2 will be in ECHL Adirondack, the NJ Devils ECHL affiliate. It's in Glens Falls, 2 hours East of Utica.
Newark, NJ is a little less than a 4 hour drive. Expect call-ups will probably fly out of either Syracuse or Albany rather than be driven. But who knows?

There are a lot of prospects that will be on the Utica roster and expected to hold down some key spots.

Jersey is setting up like this on defense.
Dougie Hamilton will be the man on D.
Veterans PK Subban and Damon Severson will back him up.
21-yr old 1st rounder Ty Smith looks to be a good one. He'll start his second season and 1st with a full NHL schedule.
Ryan Graves was just acquired in a trade.
Jonas Siegenthaler joined the team late last season from Washington. He's a 2nd rounder and looks to be capable.
GM Fitz is not done yet and will probably add one or 2 more D-man. That will allow the kids they have on D to grow their games together at the AHL level.

They have high hopes for:
Nikita Okhotyuk (2nd Rd) year 2
Kevin Bahl (2nd Rd) year 2, a wrecking ball
Michael Vukojevic (3rd Rd), year 2
Reilly Walsh (3rd Rd), year 2
There's a couple more but these are the big dogs.
Then there's a couple pseudo Brisebois/Sautners in Colton White and Josh Jacobs.

Up front the young prospects are oozing with potential.
Nolan Foote (1st Rd), year 2, 21 yrs-old in Nov. - 17Pts/24 GP in the AHL last season
Dawson Mercer (1st Rd), 20 yr-old rookie - 36 Pts /23 GP QMJHL last season plus 17Pts/9 playoff games.
Alexander Holtz (1st Rd), 19 yr-old rookie - J20 Super Elit (J20 Nationell) 1.23PPG53GP/SHL .44PPG/WJC-20 .67PPG


Fabian Zetterlund (3rd Rd) year 3, 21 yrs-old - .48 PPG/80 AHL GP
Graeme Clarke (3rd Rd) year 2, 20 yrs-old - .58 PPG/31 AHL GP last season.
Nathan Schnarr (3rd Rd) year 3, 22 yrs-old - .42 PPG/76 AHL GP

Tyce Thompson (Rd 4, 22 yrs-old) year 2 and Marian Studenic (Rd 5, 22 yrs-old) year4 have made some noise.They split last season with the Devils and AHL Binghamton.

We have never seen this kind of youth movement in Utica. The issue now is how well they will be supported by the parent club. You're looking at 4d and 6-8 forwards that need some decent veteran support.

The D need a couple good vets to pair up with the lesser 2 and and let the top 2 try it together like Jett and Jake did here last season.. shelter a couple and be the catalysts for few more. NJ just acquired Christian Jaros a 4yr pro with 1 season of NHL experience with Ottawa a swell as 3 AHL seasons with Belleville (1) and San Jose (2). He's a big defense first guy right side defender which the organization is thin in both at the top and the AHL. I get the feeling he will be one of those guys for the Comets.

The Devils also signed Bryan Flynn, a C/W who has spent the last 2 seasons in the Swiss NL after 2 seasons with Buffalo and 2 with Montreal followed by a real good one in the AHL with Texas. I think he might also end up in Utica.

They also acquired Chase DeLeo, a high scoring AHL vet with 115 Pts in his last 154 AHL games. Can't believe he was picked up for any other reason than to play with the Comets.

I'll update you later when the roster is put together. Win or lose it will be lots of fun to see a large group of prospects for a change.

 

[Bad Goalie]

For what it's worth, I really hope you guys get to enjoy a fun, well managed team under the Devils.

Thanks. So do we!