The Canucks brought 62 players to training camp this year and, while that’s still well short of the 73 players that the Leafs brought to their camp, that is a lot of players. At some point, cuts had to be made, and that point was Tuesday morning.
Just six players were sent home in the first round of cuts, but they included the Canucks’ four picks from the 2017 draft that were at camp: Kole Lind, Jonah Gadjovich, Michael DiPietro, and Matt Brassard.
The other two cuts were 2016 5th round pick Cole Candella and invitee Dylan Plouffe, a late addition to Canucks camp after the Florida Panthers camp that he had been invited to was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma.
There are no real surprises here, which is, in itself, unsurprising. The first round of cuts is always going to be to players that have no chance of making the Canucks. In this case, it was also to players who are ineligible to play for the Utica Comets as well.
All six cuts are from the CHL: Lind returns to Kelowna Rockets, Gadjovich to the Owen Sound Attack, DiPietro to the Windsor Spitfires, Brassard to the Oshawa Generals, Candella to the Hamilton Bulldogs, and Plouffe to the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Giants. I belive that leaves just one player at camp that is expected to play in Major Junior next season: Jakob Stukel.
Lind and Gadjovich played a starring role at the Young Stars tournament. Gadjovich led the Canucks in scoring with 2 goals and 4 points in 3 games, while Lind showcased his value on the power play with one of the best single games of the tournament. Both played a preseason game as well, albeit in the 9-4 shellacking the Canucks received from the Las Vegas Golden Knights.
Overall, it was a good showing at camp for the two second-round picks. Lind will be tasked with once again leading the Rockets in scoring, hopefully with a healthy Dillon Dube helping him at centre.
Gadjovich, on the other hand, will be without fellow Canucks prospect Petrus Palmu with the Attack, and possibly without Nick Suzuki as well, who is a longshot to make the Golden Knights. Most likely Suzuki returns to junior, but if he doesn’t, Gadjovich will be in tough to build off his 46-goal season. Gadjovich is certainly a skilled and promising prospect on his own, but his ability to finish chances depends on having linemates who can help him create those chances.
Both Lind and Gadjovich have a chance to . Gadjovich has an edge due to his physical style and ability to play in front of the net, but a strong start to the season would make it hard for Team Canada to keep Lind off the roster.
DiPietro also has a chance to make Team Canada, but he had a less stellar showing at the Young Stars tournament. He gave up six goals on 28 shots, though it’s tough for a goaltender to thrive in that messy, chaotic environment, particularly an aggressive goaltender like DiPietro.
Still, DiPietro has a strong case for being named one of the goaltenders for Team Canada, even if he’s one of the youngest goaltenders being considered. He’ll get plenty of opportunities to prove himself with the Windsor Spitfires, who should once again be a strong team coming off their Memorial Cup victory last season.
Finally, there are the defencemen: Brassard, Candella, and Plouffe.
While I can’t speak to Plouffe as I barely saw him, I liked what little I saw from Candella at Young Stars, though that may have just been in comparison to some of the questionable defending from the Canucks as a whole. He seemed improved in his reads and puckhandling from last season. Brassard didn’t stand out as either good or bad during Young Stars.
Brassard and Candella both return to the OHL. Candella will hope to improve on his disappointing season last year when he tallied just 20 points in 65 games after putting up the same number of points in just 37 games the year before. Brassard will be looking to build off his 32-point campaign last season that included a mid-season trade.
Ìý
