3 things to watch in Sunday’s Canucks Young Stars matinee matchup vs. Jets

The Canucks’ Young Stars squad took care of business against the Calgary Flames on Friday night quite handily, winning by a final score of 7-1.

Today, they take on the Winnipeg Jets, who fell 3-1 to the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night. The Jets bring a young lineup with some skilled first round picks including Brad Lambert, Chaz Lucius, and Colby Barlow.

The Canucks and Jets will meet at 2 PM PT from the South Okanagan Events Centre, and of course, we are still on location and will have a full recap of the game up shortly after the final horn. Here are three things to watch in today’s matinee matchup between Winnipeg and Vancouver.

We’re expecting to see the Canucks go a bit younger today than they did on Friday when they dressed 24-year-old Akito Hirose and 23-year-old Filip Johansson. As such, Kirill Kudryavtsev is a name we expect to see in today’s lineup.

Kudryavtsev is one of the Canucks’ more intriguing prospects. Selected 208th overall in the seventh round of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Kudryavtsev put up a very respectable eight goals and 42 assists through 67 games with the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds in his D+1 year.

He didn’t get into the lineup for game one, but we are expected to see him this afternoon, and wouldn’t be surprised to see him quarterbacking at least one of the Canucks’ power play units.

He’s certainly a prospect to follow along with this year in our weekly Blackfish prospect report — which officially returns this Tuesday — as he heads into his third season of junior.

Karel Plasek and Dmitri Zlodeyev spent last season overseas but this year, both of them are going to be fighting for a chance to play in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks. There, they will be coached by Jeremy Colliton, who is behind the bench for the Canucks at this tournament. And in game one, both players made a good first impression on the man they hope will soon be their head coach.

Both players will need to continue to make a good impression on Colliton as they fight for a spot on the baby Nucks’ roster.

With the Canucks rekindling their ECHL club, the Kalamazoo Wings, Plasek and Zlodeyev look like they will be staying in North America this season.

We will have to see how things play out at Vancouver Canucks and Abbotsford Canucks training camp in the coming weeks. Plasek is in the final year of his entry-level contract, and Zlodeyev will require an AHL contract to stay and play in the AHL or ECHL.

Every player has something different that they’re playing for at this tournament, and some players have more pressure on them than others. It’s fair to say that these two guys have more riding on this tournament than most, so keep a close eye on them the rest of the way. The two played together in game one, and even connected on some nifty offensive plays.

We’ll be keeping an eye on them the rest of the way and are very curious to see if they’ll both be in the lineup together this afternoon.

One of the youngest — pun partially intended — players taken in his draft class, Ty Young took some solid strides in Prince George last season while backstopping a below-average Cougars team. His raw numbers weren’t pretty, but Young’s improvement in the crease when it comes to things like movement were certainly noticeable when you watched him play.

He turned 19 years old just six days ago, so yes, he’s still quite young. Nikita Tolopilo showed well in his Canucks debut on Friday, but Tolopilo was the top goaltender of Sweden’s second-tier men’s division last year. He also wasn’t tested much as the Canucks went with an older, more experienced group in front of him. How does Young look backstopping a — for lack of a better term — younger Canucks team?

We’ll find out at 2 PM PT!

Be sure to check back after the final horn for our full post game recap of the game and to keep the discussion going in the comments section below!