Last year Dahlen, by his own admission and according to an assessment by Ryan Johnson, was not strong enough and not ready for the AHL. That's why he was sent to Timra. This year he seems to be doing fine. It's a development league. Let players develop. Most of the Utica gang on this forum are pretty pessimistic in their assessment of prospects who are sent to Utica to develop. From a Utica fan perspective, it is natural to want AHL lifers.
"Most of the Utica gang on this forum are pretty pessimistic in their assessment of prospects who are sent to Utica to develop. From a Utica fan perspective, it is natural to want AHL lifers."
This is not true.
We request that Benning provide those "prospects" you mention with adequate support to enhance their progress. When that isn't done the prospects don't prosper. This season is crystal clear evidence of that fact. He sent a boatload of wings to the farm and didn't provide them with the centers they need to play well. The D-corps is also without a puck moving D-man and there is no veteran anchor to solidify a bunch of kids who are struggling every game.
As to the prospects we have been overly critical of would you be so kind as to point out the success ratio of those we criticized?
First off, before this season we didn't see a whole host of prospects.
In year one ('13-14) there was Corrado, Grenier, and Jensen. Only Corrado was actually new to the pro game. We were quite supportive of Frankie. We panned Jensen for his one man show puck hoggery. Grenier could not and didn't even try to play in his own zone.
By year 2 ('14-15) we were much higher on Grenier and he finished as the top 1 or 2 scorer on the team for his duration here. He also learned to play in his own end. Jensen became a very responsible 2-way player, but it was obvious the Canucks had set sail on him. He was traded in year 3 and is now in Europe.
Year 2 also brought in Shinkaruk who was rehabbing a hip injury that would hamper his skating for over half the season, but Green played him every game. Gaunce came in as a career center that the Canucks wanted to make into a LW. Also played almost every game and there was little criticism about him other than a tendency to become lazy. By their second season they were top shelf. Gaunce was the top center and moved up and down between Vancouver and Utica and Shink was the top scorer. The only argument you got here was Shink's trade. We did a lot of bitching about Corrado that season , but only because Benning and WD kept him housed in the pressbox for more than half of the season instead of letting him play regularly in all situations in Utica.
Pedan would arrive via trade and quickly became a fan favorite. He got knocked out in a fight and lost the last third of the season and all of the long playoff run.
In year 3 ('15'16) the prospects after Shinkaruk and Gaunce (already covered) were Subban, LaBate, and Cassels.
Subban's faults were definitely pointed out. Overly critical? I don't think so. We said he was very good offensively, but it didn't counterbalance how bad he was in his own zone. Benning agreed and traded him.
He was even worse in Ontario (8pts/36/GP) and now he is with Toronto where he is not an every day player and is pretty much the same on the PP, 8pts in 17/GP.
He was given every chance to improve in Utica. He made the All-Star team his second season under Green based on his point production. Never looked so good for anyone else.
Only a miracle will see him as an NHL player. That's what we said.
LaBate was not a good skater. He didn't handle the puck with any skill either. He was good sized, hit, and fought, not well, but fought. The Canucks released him after his ELC. He's with Belleville now and tearing up the AHL, 5 pts in 29/GP. Again we were not wrong.
Cassels never even showed a sign of the talent he supposedly came here with in spite of the huge opportunity he was given. He played as high as 2nd line center in his rookie season and posted a measly 7 pts in 67/GP. Year 2 ('16-17) 11 pts in 66/GP. Year 3 ('17-18) his numbers improved to 26pts in 69/GP, but it was evident he was never going to even be a good AHL center. He too was released by Vancouver. He went straight to Germany this season where he has 12pts in 27/GP.
I suppose you could call Kenins a prospect because he had stints in '14-15 and '15-16 with the Canucks, but by the time he was sent down for the last time in '15-16 the Canucks had given up on him as well. Was not offered a contract in '16-17.
Sautner was an undrafted rookie and kept his head above water as a bottom pairing D-man filling in for injuries. The team had a lot of them and Vancouver did also, so he got 50/GP and was -1. I don't recall a lot of negativism attached to his game.
Pedan would see some time in Vancouver and returned a horrible defenseman trying to be a Bobby Orr type D-man. Never figured out that routine.
Year 4 ('16-17) saw the arrival of undrafted Michael Carcone and he was dreadful until the last 25 games when he put up almost all of his 18 points. Got a lot of criticism when he had like 3 points in his first 45+ games. LaBate was out more than half of the season and we already profiled Cassels' 2nd season. Pedan was still baffling, running around like he was in the Ice Capades one night and a stellar D-man the next. He would come back in '17-18 after not making the Canucks and was hot and cold. Vancouver had given up on him the year before and they traded him mid-season to the Pens. He's in the KHL this season. Another failed Russian D-man on Benning's list.
It would be McEneny's 1st season on the AHL and he was good and the reports from here said so. He took Subban's #1 PP position near the end of the season after they both played on the PP together for a while previously.
Demko made his appearance on the pro scene and you didn't get any bad reports about him. It was noted he had some wrinkles to iron out and Rollie did a great job with that.
Last season '17-18 MacEwen would arrive and had some serious difficulties keeping up and fell a lot, not as much as Carcone who fell on almost every shift. Zack could not handle passes on the half boards and still struggles with that some nights. Did too much toe dragging and turning it over continuously with that move. He got better and it was reflected in our reports. I did not like Carcone those 2 seasons and am not shy about it. He was improving on his team play this season, but like Shinkaruk that made him trade bait and the Comets got nothing in the deal, not even a pickup off free agency somewhere just to fill the gap with a guy that had a history of surviving in the AHL which is better than the PTOs who will roll through here as the season progresses. Never got anyone for Pedan, Subban, Shinkaruk, Jensen, Dahlen, Holm, and Carcone. Dahlen, Rodin, and now Palmu when they went back to Europe and no players acquired to replace them either. These are all roster players who the Comets lost and they were not elevated to the Canucks, just stripped off the roster leaving gaps in the Comets #s. All were players the Comets depended upon and made the depth chart disappear. Last season there were 56 Comets and don't tell me that's normal for an AHL team. Yes they all lose players and have to find replacements in the ECHL, but nowhere near that kind of number. I can also tell you that many of the teams the Comets play against have their rosters replenished in those trades or further trades or free agent acquisitions are made to fill those key holes.
2 rookie D-men, Guillaume Brisebois and Jalen Chatfield joined the Comets. They had veterans Patrick Wiercioch and Philip Holm to be paired with as they adapted to the pro game. Big problem. Holm and Wiercioch had never heard of physicality. Wiercioch was the king of the poke check and neither had any inclination to keep the front of their net free of opponents. That job was left to Sautner and McEneny to do by demonstration while the rooks watched from the bench. That lasted all of 11 games and McEneny was lost for the season. Injuries brought Dylan Blujus in on a PTO. He ended up paired with Sautner and the 2 became Utica's top D-pair. Brisebois and Chatfield stumbled along all season. Getting a little better here and there, but often a real ,nightmare in their own end. All of this was reported game by game. If reporting the way a guy plays is considered negativity to you so be it. i have never puled any punches and tried to explain exactly what i see. They are both better this year, but Brisebois still panics in his own end and he throws the puck anywhere as long as he doesn't have it when the pressure gets hot. Meanwhile Jalen handles the pressure by running all over the place instead of calming down, assessing the situation and doing what's best for him in each different circumstance.
Finally, the Canucks have actually sent a large group of, so called, top prospects to their farm. Highly touted rookies that all play on the wings. They were added to a 2nd year prospect who should have been on an upswing after a decent rookie season in MacEwen and a 3rd year prospect who had to shine or his career would be pretty much over in Carcone. Mix two good veteran wingers into the mix, Archibald and Boucher, and the Comets stood to have a lot of scoring punch out on the wings. All they would need was some serious talent down the middle. That's where it fell apart. Gaudette was the first actual top center prospect sent here, but as I predicted in the Summer he wouldn't be here log, nope 4 games.
They had picked up an AHL/NHL tweener like Chaput in a trade for that exact player, Kero in and Chaput out. That left the Comets with 3 AHL/ECHL tweeners in the middle. The kids didn't prosper. Dahlen proved to be a PP specialist who stayed out on the perimeter and basically disappeared 5 on 5. Jaske showed good hands, but only did a good thing or 2 each game and was otherwise invisible. MacMaster who had worked so well with Jasek at the end of the previous season never showed that talent again.Jasek still has put up 15 points and MacMaster 11. Dahlen's game has been coming on , but just as he was turning a corner a goon concussed him. His 17 points will hold for God knows how long. Lind, Gadjovich, and Palmu have been very inept. Not just on the score sheet, but out on the ice. Their skating is poor, they show little stick skills, they are easily bodied about, they don't have any idea of how to play in their own end, and they look so far over their heads. This isn't a case of getting used to the pro game, it's about their ability to play hockey at this level. Right now it's not there. Throwing them to the dogs to sink or swim can't be the best way to bring them up to snuff.
I'm also not sure not playing for games at a time is the best bet either. They have every look of Curtis Valk when he first showed up in Utica for the '14-15 season after a good Vancouver rookie camp and decent training camp. Vancouver didn't tender him a contract but he was given and AHL contract and in short order was assigned to the Comets ECHL affiliate Kalamazoo. He played one game in Utica and only 30 in the Zoo before being lost to in jury for the season. He came back in '15-16 and had a couple call-ups totaling 12 games. Still didn't show a lot but was able to function without hurting the team, not like the kids here now. Then in '16-17 an explosion. He centered Archibald and Grenier. Archi was the leading scorer, Valk one point behind and Grenier one point behind Valk.
Curtis for sure earned a spot for '17-18, but Benning didn't see fit to give the kid a contract which Curtis wanted. Instead Molino ot one and he sucked big time witnes his release at the end of the season and now after signing with the Toronto marlies , he's been sent to the ECHL. Benning clutched his extra contracts to his heart. Valk? He got that contract---- from the Panthers and got a call-up and 1 game with Florida. He put up 62 points in 73/GP with AHL Springfield. The Comets could have used those points in a big way. He would easily have been Utica's #2 center, while Darcy, Cassels, Woods, and Hamilton fought over the other 2 spots.
Right now the Comets have Kero, Gaunce, Darcy, and PTO Cameranesi down the middle. An injury to Woods forced Cull to move Gaunce into the middle for the first time. It was a long overdue move. 2 lines are now dangerous instead of one, but Dahlen's loss and Carcone's trade may kick that good thing in the ass.
So in short, the Utica posters are not negative nor positive, but are instead giving you all the best candid description of the play exhibited by the guys wearing Comets jerseys. If it's not what you want to hear, I can't help that. You will get the description as it takes place on the ice, good or bad with no dressing up nor unnecessary put downs. It's not pessimism it's just plain reality.
