Public McEneny

Thomas Drance
September 13 2012 12:39PM

Signing undrafted free-agents has long been a hallmark of Mike Gillis' tenure as Canucks General Manager. In the past Gillis has added young players like Chris Tanev and Eddie Lack in this manner, and usually the team signs at least one undrafted free agent per season.

So far this summer, they'd yet to dip their toe into the pool, that is until today when the Canucks announced the signing of puck-moving defenseman Evan McEneny to an entry level contract. Here's the official press release from Canucks.nhl.com. Click past the jump for more. 

Evan McEneny played in only two OHL games in 2010-11, before he blew out his ACL. Needless to say, I know next to nothing about him other than that he was invited to Vancouver's Prospect Camp this summer

When Evan "his own worst" McEneny first signed with the Kitchener Rangers, he was described by Rangers scouting as a "strong young man" with "great natural offensive instincts." Those sentiments are echoed by Brock Otten of OHLprospects who raved about McEneny's skill set in late May:

I remain steadfast in my opinion that had he played this year, McEneny would be in consideration for the top two rounds of the draft. He was impressive defensively as a 16 year old rookie, and it was clear through the preseason games and the first two games of the OHL season, that McEneny had added an offensive punch to his game. He's got size, mobility, physicality, and offensive potential from the back end. But he also suffered a season ending knee injury limiting his exposure to two games this year. If I was an NHL team, I'd take a flyer on him with a 7th round pick and hope he recovers well.

So he's a highly regarded puck moving defenseman with upside, who only went undrafted because of an injury? If he wasn't so young I'd describe him as a typical Mike Gillis "buy-low" prospect asset.

A86bea0e3bd68e3e58d373e8535ba7fd
Thomas Drance lives in Toronto, eats spicy food and writes about hockey. He is the managing editor of CanucksArmy.com and an opinionated blowhard to boot. You can follow him on twitter @thomasdrance.
Avatar
Reply #1 Cam Charron September 13 2012, 12:46PM
+1 3 props

This post is just an excuse for Thom to use that headline and photoshop.

Avatar
Reply #2 Jeff September 13 2012, 12:50PM
+1 0 props

You are 100% correct.

Avatar
Reply #4 Kaybee September 13 2012, 01:22PM
+1 0 props

http://www.mccullagh.org/db9/10d-12/sea-anemone-4.jpg

Avatar
Reply #6 Skeeter September 13 2012, 02:34PM
+1 0 props

Thomas, Thomas, Thomas...I'm disappointed in you. The song you're paraphrasing is "My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit, not Blink-182.

Avatar
Reply #8 Deniz September 13 2012, 04:32PM
+1 0 props

"i guess this is growing up" - blink 182

Comments are closed for this article.