Young Stars tournament

[McHortton]

Brisebois hasn't been fantastic on any level, but the improvement from the first game to the second is huge and tells me that it may have been his nerves playing a role. Also the fact that he said those exact words when interviewed by Botch tells me that.

We'll see how he plays in this last game but he looked extremely calm and focused that last game , basically no mistakes and couple solid passes , il be very happy if he plays the same game today.

As others have mentioned countless time Sautner is just terrible and easily the weakest link of this young team hopefully he goes straight to the ECHL and stays there.

One thing I'd like to point out that I don't think has been mentioned her yet... Shinkaruk; lots of people getting down on him and though it seems like he's very far from being a top 6 talent I feel like with the added weight he's put on and a bit of a change in his game he could definitely be a solid energetic 3rd liner.

 

[Guardian452]

Maybe I'm an incurable optimist but I'm feeling pretty good about this tournament. I think there's legitimately six or seven players on the Canucks' Young Stars roster that have good potential to play in the NHL.

I agree. It's been ages since the Canucks prospects camp has looked as promising as this year. In 2007 we had Edler, Schneider, Hansen, Bourdon, Raymond & Grabner. Since then, the cupboard has been pretty bare.

 

[me2]

Best news out of this camp is that we look to have two legitimate defensive prospects in Subban and Hutton who should be able to step into the AHL and play regularly as rookie pros. Both have been very impressive.

Don't get the praise for Brisebois. He's obviously one of the youngest players here so gets some slack, but he's looked small, timid, overmatched defensively, and hasn't shown his alleged mobility or quality outlet pass much as all. If this was an undrafted tryout playing the same way, he'd be quickly labeled a bum and cut.

Agreed. I am not seeing the Tanev level IQ or game of why Benning talked about him as someone he would have taken in earlier 2nd round.

Still looked better in game 2, so hopefully he shows well in game 3.

 

[Balls Mahoney]

I honestly haven't noticed Brisebois which to me a good thing for a freshman defenseman in this tournament.

 

[McHortton]

Anyone find the starting roster for the game? I know subban isn't playing because I asked him while he was walking to Chevron lol.

 

[Zombotron]

Anyone find the starting roster for the game? I know subban isn't playing because I asked him while he was walking to Chevron lol.

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Howdy, Flames fans. Hoping for a good one this afternoon!

Canucks' Starting Lineup - notaebles not playing are 2012 1st Rounder Brendan Gaunce, and defender Jordan Subban. Otherwise, it's all hands on deck :

Abols - McCann - Virtanen
LaBate - Cassels - Gardiner
Shinkaruk - Zhukenov - Fox
Stewart - Pettit - Martin

Brisebois - Hutton
Cederholm - Neill
Olson - McEneny

Witt/Whistle will split the game.

 

[Hyzer]

stewart vs smith lol

 

[Orca Smash]

Witt looks bad, not sure why whistle didnt get this game given the performance between those two in the previous games.

 

[Rex Banner]

Shinkaruk looks good. I really want him to succeed.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Witt looks bad, not sure why whistle didnt get this game given the performance between those two in the previous games.

I'd guess they liked what they saw with whistle, wanted another look at Witt.

 

[McHortton]

Sloppy sloppy period. Pretty gross to watch so far.

 

[Orca Smash]

Wish subban was playing, with the exception of possibly hutton our D looks very poor.

 

[Orca Smash]

Sloppy sloppy period. Pretty gross to watch so far.

It is sloppy, but i dont know which is worse, the jets/oilers game looked like a practice, the amount of space and low physicality made it look like they were taking turns generating scoring chances.

 

[Orca Smash]

Well in typical fashion after i say something negative and giving up a bad rebound goal and then being unable to catch a floating puck shot from the corner and dropping it in the crease, witt has made a few good saves now.

 

[thefeebster]

Watching a player like Fox vs. Subban, I can't help wondering how much hockey connections and out right money goes into developing kids now. Fox was something of a long shot who showed a lot of raw skill who won a contract after dominating the WHL. There's a lot of skill there but he just seems to lack the top end development.

Subban was another long shot (even though he really wasn't) who's making a case as this team's best defensive prospect since Tanev and there's virtuallly no question he'll be a NHLer. Subban's skating and puck handling seems light years ahead of the other prospects. I can't help wondering how much of that is because of Subban getting the same training as PK and being able to afford the five figure power skating classes and personal trainers?

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this. But you watch a kid like Fox who is so raw and then see a kid like Subban who's so polished and you wonder why that difference is there?

Fox came out of the OHL and its an odd comment to say/imply that he did not have access to top-end development tools. Fox was drafted by the Knights and they have their own personal trainer, paid for by the club. Horvat still trains with them (Mitch Stewart of TPH). Fox spent much of his teen years on "other activities" and it is well known that he had some commitment issues. He squandered his own opportunities and development for years.

Why are some prospects more polished than others? Why is McDavid so much more polished than Player X? You could ask this question about nearly every player coming out of junior.

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Gardiner - meh. I wasn't his biggest fan in his draft year, really seemed to taper off in the 2nd half, but it was still a bit surprising to see him go undrafted. But it doesn't seem like he has progressed much since then. His skating looks the same, just okay. Doesn't really stand out in any one area. I don't think he deserves a NHL contract. Might be a guy you throw an AHL tryout to after the end of the season.

For invites, I've been more impressed with Abols. I like the way he moves around the ice (I didn't even know he was 6'5", still good but still a bit awkward) and can create chances for himself. He's certainly more promising than some of our prospects currently with a contract.

 

[VanillaCoke]

Fox in the ECHL at 22 feels like a waste. I'd like to see him in Utica for a full season.

 

[McHortton]

Canucks are playing like garbage... Jeez.

 

[VanJack]

I know that posters love to rag on Mike Gillis draft picks...but anytime you can get prospects like Ben Hutton (fifth round) and Jordan Subban (fourth round) along with Cole Cassels (third round), you have to be doing something right.

 

[DL44]

Edm 2-0-1
Van 2-1-0
Cgy 1-1-1
Wpg 1-2-0

Canucks with 2 more wins than most thought. Will be the theme of the season me feels.

The games were more entertaining than i expected.

Watched The Oilers-Jets game last night afterwards... and Ehlers and Petan looked 20 times better than they did vs us... Helped greatly by the fact both teams refused to touch each other and were content to skate up and down the ice...

The cool thing about this 3 gm series was how obvious the game by game progression of Brisbois was. He got like a full tier better each game. It helps when you have such a disastrous debut... could only go up.

Another i liked last night was McEneny.. I don't think I've seen him play before. He impressed me.

Virtanen's speed.. not talking about his breakaway, but throughout the game - when he decides to go, his turns his glide into high gear in 2 strides - his acceleration is something else..

Shinkaruk looked so much better in the flames gm than he did in gm 1... Could be the extra 'stick it to Cgy' effect.

Not enamored with Cederholm, Sautner... They have work to do on their decision making with the puck. Expected much better from a '94 and '95.

That's as specific as i can get.. found it difficult to analyse any deeper with how difficult it was to pick out players (streaming to the the tv wasn't great quality)... trying figure out the flames players was virtually impossible with that black number on red jersey scheme they got.. forget about it... I was completely at the mercy of the commentators to tell me who the flames players were.

The Oilers-Canuck game set up was perfect... Gave the wife children duty, took the ipad laid in the basement on the couch with the ipad on chest.... perfect resolution, full attention... then watched us get destroyed... but i could see it perfectly!


On to the main camp thread!

 

[Balls Mahoney]

Finally got around to watching the Canucks/Flames game from last night. Dat Virtanen goal, me gusta.

 

[Bad News Benning]

I know that posters love to rag on Mike Gillis draft picks...but anytime you can get prospects like Ben Hutton (fifth round) and Jordan Subban (fourth round) along with Cole Cassels (third round), you have to be doing something right.

way too early to be giving props. Certainly they have shown positive growth but none of them have played for the canucks yet so it's early yet. Odds are still stacked against them being good NHLers. Let's see how they handle the AHL before we start getting too excited.