Prospect Info: Vancouver Canucks Top 25 Prospects 2015 - #7

[Nuckles]

It's that time of year again! The HF Vancouver Canucks board will be ranking the team's top 20 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 | Poll%
1| Jake Virtanen |RW|6.01|207|Aug 17, 1996| 80.00%
2| Jared McCann |C|6.00|185|May 31, 1996| 68.21%
3| Brock Boeser |RW|6.00|191|Feb 25, 1997| 57.14%
4| Thatcher Demko |G|6.04|195|Dec 8, 1995| 48.87%
5| Cole Cassels |C|6.00|180|May 4, 1995| 51.45%
6| Hunter Shinkaruk |LW|5.11|180|Oct 13, 1994| 58.67%
7|???|???|???|???|???| ???

*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...

 

[VC]

Voted Corrado here.

 

[Lindgren]

I'm voting Gaunce. I think he'll be a good addition on the third line, if not the season coming, then the one after. The D prospects remaining on the list will be bottom paring guys at best, I predict, and the forwards are mainly long-shots to make the NHL.

How confident am I in my predictions? Not very.

 

[Love]

Subban.

 

[Numbers]

Clendening is going to get skipped over again, but people are going to see next year that he is one of the Canucks best prospects.

 

[TheWanderer]

Voting Gaunce on this one. Really not high on Corrado here.

Clendening is going to get skipped over again, but people are going to see next year that he is one of the Canucks best prospects.

One of our best prospects... based on what? He's not even top 10 IMO.

 

[Numbers]

Voting Gaunce on this one. Really not high on Corrado here.




One of our best prospects... based on what? He's not even top 10 IMO.

So Clendening is NHL ready and has produced very well in AHL. Former 2nd round pick. Why are people down on him? When he played with the Canucks last year he looked good. Not enough know about him I guess.

 

[Numbers]

Clendening is a NHL player now with offensive upside, while Gaunce is an AHL player that most people say has 3rd line upside. Doesn't make sense to rate Gaunce over Clendening. Corrado is better too.

 

[TheWanderer]

So Clendening is NHL ready and has produced very well in AHL. Former 2nd round pick. Why are people down on him? When he played with the Canucks last year he looked good. Not enough know about him I guess.

I guess it all depends on what you look for in these rankings. I'm not going off of who is the most NHL-ready, but their likelihood to make the show definitely factors in there.

Clendening and Corrado are in a similar boat, for me, where they are likely to make the show, but if they ever become anything more than #4-6 guys I'll be surprised, honestly. Very equivalent to a guy like Weber or something. Players that can be picked up at the UFA after each and every season. This is why I don't put much stock in these kinds of prospects, to be honest. I mean, it's good to have these guys in the system, but I'm not going to get all that excited about them as prospects. Their biggest perks are their ELC years, when they are cheaper than getting them off UFA...

 

[RandV]

So Clendening is NHL ready and has produced very well in AHL. Former 2nd round pick. Why are people down on him? When he played with the Canucks last year he looked good. Not enough know about him I guess.

A lot of people on here had eyes on Utica during the playoffs and Clendening was pretty underwhelming. Underwhelming the whole season actually, not sure how he went from 46P to 59P then down to 18P over 3 years in the AHL. Even before the trade while still with Rockford, in 38 games there he only had 11 points.

 

[TheWanderer]

Clendening is a NHL player now with offensive upside, while Gaunce is an AHL player that most people say has 3rd line upside. Doesn't make sense to rate Gaunce over Clendening. Corrado is better too.

Mm... I dunno. Personally, I put more stock into a 3rd line center than a depth defenceman.

And with Gaunce, he seems to have been converted to wing and is thriving. Who knows where he goes from there.

These guys are all at a similar level, to be honest, and opinions can go any way with these players.

 

[Numbers]

Mm... I dunno. Personally, I put more stock into a 3rd line center than a depth defenceman.

And with Gaunce, he seems to have been converted to wing and is thriving. Who knows where he goes from there.

These guys are all at a similar level, to be honest, and opinions can go any way with these players.

Clendening right now is a depth defenceman at worst! He is 22 and will get better. Difference is that Gaunce isn't a 3rd line centre now and we don't even know he makes it as a winger where he played all last season.

 

[Intoewsables]

No love for Kenins, eh?

 

[keslerburrows]

Gaunce for sure. Guy had a strong year in terms of developing into a potential NHL player. Big step for him

 

[Pip]

Easily Kenins

 

[ihaveyuidonttouchme]

Gaunce Corrado then Kenins for the next 3 picks for me.

 

[MS]

Kenins is being laughably under-rated for the 2nd consecutive year.

If Gaunce is ever as good as Kenins is now, I'd be over the moon.

 

[701]

I think Brisebois is going to be better than Corrado and Clendening (in a modified Tanev sort of way),
and he's a safer pick than Subban. He's still 17 but is 6'2" and growing, with excellent skating and hockey sense.
A captain at an early age. Smart, with a great attitude and personality. IMO his ceiling and basement are Tanev-like, but with better offence.

So of course I voted for him

 

[701]

Kenins is being laughably under-rated for the 2nd consecutive year.

If Gaunce is ever as good as Kenins is now, I'd be over the moon.

You're right about Kenins being undervalued. He's actually doing now what the rest can only hope to be doing someday.
I voted for Brisebois because I think he has a higher ceiling than Kenins, a 2,3, 4 D vs a high bottom-six LW (almost equivalent,
but top D are harder to come by, and IMO are basically more important).

Kenins gets my next vote.

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

Kenins part deux.

 

[Yossarian54]

Kenins, really don't think he is a 'prospect' though given he's been playing professionally for, what, 4+ years now?

 

[Southern_Canuck]

Pick your poison:
Gaunce: has size and smarts, but foot speed might prevent him ever sticking in NHL
Subban: has skating and offensive skills, but could be too small to make it
Kenins: has skating and forechecking, and seemed to be in the right places as a checking winger, but didn't seem to have top 6 potential
Corrado: seemed to regress, weak in front of his own net, and other than a good shot when he gets it away I'm wondering if he'll ever be more than a #7
Clendening: came to the team as a supposed offensive defenseman, but got walked like a pylon and where was the offense?
Hutton: has promise of offensive defenceman, size and skating, but it is unknown if he can play defence at the pro level
Brisebois: size, skating and skill - so a ton of potential, but basically an unknown

I'm going Hutton

S_C

 

[Verviticus]

jasek is almost certainly our 2nd best prospect in the 2015 draft

 

[Love]

Clendening is a NHL player now with offensive upside, while Gaunce is an AHL player that most people say has 3rd line upside. Doesn't make sense to rate Gaunce over Clendening. Corrado is better too.

To me Clendening and Subban both have similar size issues and similar skillets. Subban might be a bit better goalscorer and Clendening a better playmaker but either way they're small offensive minded defenceman.

The difference for me is that Subban is twice the athlete Clendening is and is also a better skater. Right now the only thing stopping Subban from being in Clendenings spot is age. Clendening is 3 years older than Subban and Im expecting that in 3 years Subban will be a lot better than what Clendening is now.

 

[VC]

I have Corrado as #4 upside which I value over a 3rd line winger. Kenins may be a surer to reach his upside leaving him ranked higher than Gaunce. Then Clendening.

The next tier being Hutton, Tryamkin, Pedan and Subban for me. Then a long shot tier of Jensen and Grenier then it doesn't matter after that.

The tough ones for me to rank is Brisebois, Zhukenov and Jasek as they are further away from the NHL. They may have equal or higher upside then some of the remaining but are not as safe bet to do so.