Prospect Info: Vancouver Canucks Top 25 Prospects 2015 - #17

[Nuckles]

It's that time of year again! The HF Vancouver Canucks board will be ranking the team's top 25 prospects (including the 2015 draft selections). Polls will be left open for 24 hours.

Feel free to explain your choices and suggest who should be added to the list for the next poll.

Rank | Player | POS | HT | WT | DOB | 2014 Rank | Poll%
1| Jake Virtanen |RW|6.01|207|Aug 17, 1996|2 (↑1)| 80.00%
2| Jared McCann |C|6.00|185|May 31, 1996|6 (↑4)| 68.21%
3| Brock Boeser |RW|6.00|191|Feb 25, 1997|Not Ranked| 57.14%
4| Thatcher Demko |G|6.04|195|Dec 8, 1995|10 (↑6)| 48.87%
5| Cole Cassels |C|6.00|180|May 4, 1995|12 (↑7)| 51.45%
6| Hunter Shinkaruk |LW|5.11|180|Oct 13, 1994|3 (↓3)| 58.67%
7| Brendan Gaunce |C/W|6.02|207|Mar 25, 1994|5 (↓2)| 34.59%
8| Ronalds Kenins |LW|6.00|201|Feb 28, 1991|17 (↑9)| 38.96%
9| Frank Corrado |D|6.00|190|Mar 26, 1993|7 (↓2)| 53.59%
10| Adam Clendening |D|6.00|190|Oct 26, 1992|Not Ranked| 26.06%
11| Ben Hutton |D|6.03|200|Apr 20, 1993|9 (↓2)| 27.48%
12| Jordan Subban |D|5.09|185|Mar 3, 1995|15 (↑3)| 32.76%
13| Guillaume Brisebois |D|6.02|175|Jul 21, 1997|Not Ranked| 38.46%
14| Alexandre Grenier |RW|6.05|200|Sep 5, 1991|20 (↑6)| 39.81%
15| Andrey Pedan |D|6.05|215|Jul 3, 1993|Not Ranked| 54.62%
16| Dmitri Zhukenov |C|5.11|170|Mar 24, 1997|Not Ranked| 33.33%
17|???|???|???|???|???|???| ???

*Please note that only players that Hockey's Future considers to be prospects will be included, meaning Horvat, Baertschi, Vey, and Markstrom will be excluded from voting.

2014 ranking: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1719893
2013 ranking: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1486113

Click to read more...

 

[duplo]

Guys. GUYS. This is getting stupid now. Just pick Jensen already.

 

[TheWanderer]

Nope. Tryamkin is more likely to be a serviceable NHLer than Jensen.

 

[CRDragon]

Why is Jensen still available? Lolol

 

[Nuckles]

Jensen. Everyone left doesn't have much potential or is extremely unlikely to reach their potential. Jensen has dat sweet ass 1st round draft position, along with size (which you can't teach), and this goal on that one goalie who used to play for us (can't remember his name but he was Schneider and Lack's backup):


He also has one year left on his ELC so hopefully he figures out his game this off-season.

 

[duplo]

If Tryamkin scores ONE goal in the NHL, he's completely exceeded expectations; Jensen's already scored three. I'm not even high on Jensen after his poor output this year, but he's already accomplished more than a lot of these prospects ever will.

 

[duplo]

Conservatively, I would've had Jensen listed somewhere between 11-12 on this list.

 

[Yossarian54]

Don't agree on Jensen, i'm ready to call bust on him after 3 years of underwhelming AHL performances and little to no improvement on subjective measures of performance. Prospect implies scope for improvement and advancement.

Jasek, Tryamkin, maybe even McEneny have that scope. Jensen is cooked.

 

[Thad Castle]

Tryamkin

 

[NeoCanuck]

Yeah, I think it's Tryamkin here.

 

[DadBod]

Big Tram for me.

 

[Proto]

I'll take Tryamkin here and Jasek after that. Jensen isn't even in the Top 20 for me. He's done. He's a non-prospect.

 

[TheWanderer]

I'm glad some people decided to get out of bed and vote here, I was a bit worried with the Jensen love off the bat.

Jensen is a bust.

 

[Intoewsables]

I'll take Tryamkin here and Jasek after that. Jensen isn't even in the Top 20 for me. He's done. He's a non-prospect.

This, but I've got Jasek and Tryamkin flipped.

Can't see any way Jensen turns into a capable NHLer at this point. Looks like a guy who's bound for Europe once his ELC expires.

 

[Jimson Hogarth*]

Tryamkin, Jensen, Jasek, Cederholm

 

[Jimson Hogarth*]

Wouldn't surprise me to see Jensen in Europe next year and Tryamkin in North America in a couple years. When's the earliest he'll likely be able to come over?

 

[duplo]

Jensen "love" at 17th on our prospect chart! Jensen's going to get a look at preseason and won't look out of place with NHL players, much like he did the last time he was up with the Canucks. Unless he has some kind of unprecedented offseason, I don't think there's really much of a chance of making the Canucks roster. But he's further along then these other guys will ever get.

Jensen's poor AHL performance this year could be mental. Maybe he was down on himself, sulked and regressed, because there was an expectation for a roster spot on the Canucks this past year. I know a lot of people at the beginning of last season had him pencilled in. Maybe he comes in hungry and turns it around. He probably doesn't. Bottomline, he still has the skill-set to be an NHL'er and he's still young. We've probably seen enough to say it doesn't look good for him at this point, but to put guys like Zhukenov above him is just asinine.

The only exposure the majority of people have to these other prospects are Youtube highlight videos. They haven't had the opportunity to bust in front of your eyes yet playing in the AHL.

 

[Grazzy]

The only exposure the majority of people have to these other prospects are Youtube highlight videos. They haven't had the opportunity to bust in front of your eyes yet playing in the AHL.

It's a fair point and it's probably hurting Jensen here as we can actually see how ineffective Jensen has become. Regardless a 23 year old who can't make an AHL starting roster is nothing but a bad sign. Simply put, Less-heralded Comets have been outplaying him and people are expecting him to make the big team? That's wishful thinking.

It's also not as if this is just last year, same thing happened last year. He had like 1 goal until December and then caught fire. Nothing is impossible, but as others have said, he's likely Euro bound next year.

The 18-20 year olds still have the ability to show improvements. That's why Jensen isn't getting any love.

 

[Saturated Fats]

At this point, I don't think Jensen will make any sort of impact in the NHL... But he's a better prospect right now than any of the others on that list, bar MAYBE Jasek. Tryamkin's numbers don't impress me.

 

[Verviticus]

at this point we're looking at the dregs. 5-10%ers, maybe lower. thats about where jensen falls into as a 23 yo who can't make an impact at the AHL level

that said, unless you're like me and of the mindset that a guy like jasek is/was seriously undervalued in this last draft (thus why i voted for him), there's really not much separating jensen's probability of becoming a 4th line quality player and tryamkin being a 6/7. flip a coin or something

 

[duplo]

It's a fair point and it's probably hurting Jensen here as we can actually see how ineffective Jensen has become. Regardless a 23 year old who can't make an AHL starting roster is nothing but a bad sign. Simply put, Less-heralded Comets have been outplaying him and people are expecting him to make the big team? That's wishful thinking.

It's also not as if this is just last year, same thing happened last year. He had like 1 goal until December and then caught fire. Nothing is impossible, but as others have said, he's likely Euro bound next year.

The 18-20 year olds still have the ability to show improvements. That's why Jensen isn't getting any love.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying, it's why I don't really look at him as a top-10 prospect in our pool. I mean, he did play in the Calder Cup after being scratched in game 1 and scored 2 goals in 4 games. In those 4 games, he produced 14 shots, which would put him up there in shot totals with AHL vets like Cal O'Reilly and Conacher. I'm not even high on Jensen, but he warrants some consideration.

 

[denkiteki]

Jensen had a bad year but he's really getting under-rated. He probably isnt a top 10 prospect for us anymore but to consider him worst than a mid round pick in a recent draft? I dont think he has fallen that far down and the organization probably hasnt completely given up on him yet. Next year is probably his final chance... he has the skillset to be an impact player, the question has always been his work ethic. Knowing its his last chance, you would think he'll work his ass off and do everything possible to make the NHL.

 

[Nucker101]

There's simply more room for growth for the younger prospects, even if they're unlikely to reach it. Jensen has already matured physically, and he's been a streaky/inconsistent player since his junior days, that's not going to suddenly change. He is what he is mentally.

I'd rather take the 5% odds at a chance to win $100 then take the guaranteed $1 or $2 with my lottery ticket.

 

[biturbo19]

Jensen is certainly teetering on the brink of busting out entirely...

But at this point in the prospect polls, we're talking about a slate of guys who will realistically speaking, be lucky to just manage effective AHL careers...much less play some NHL games and at times look even slightly promising as Jensen has at times.

So...in a battle of "longshot fringe prospect" vs "failing top prospect", i'll still go with Jensen here...but it's pretty easy to be wrong even if you could choose both.

 

[ChilliBilly]

Jensen is certainly teetering on the brink of busting out entirely...

But at this point in the prospect polls, we're talking about a slate of guys who will realistically speaking, be lucky to just manage effective AHL careers...much less play some NHL games and at times look even slightly promising as Jensen has at times.

So...in a battle of "longshot fringe prospect" vs "failing top prospect", i'll still go with Jensen here...but it's pretty easy to be wrong even if you could choose both.

This is the part i disagree with. Zhuk Jasek and Trymakin all have the unusual aspects where they could be sleepers. Yes its unlikely, but so is with Jensen being unable to make an impact in the AHL.