A Look Ahead At The 2018/19 Utica Comets

Psst… don’t look now, but hockey season is starting to creep up on us. We are now into August, which means that training camp and pre-season are right around the corner. What better time than now to take a look at what options could lay ahead for Comets head coach Trent Cull and his staff for the upcoming season?

Previously, near the start of the offseason, I took an early look at what Trent Cull and his staff might do. Now that the majority, if not all of the club’s moves have been completed, it’s time to have another look.

First up, we will take a quick look at the outgoing players from last season’s roster. I won’t be listing every outgoing player here as the list of PTO players alone would take up far too many words, rather, I will be listing the players who were regulars in the lineup, or would have been if not for injuries.

Now that we have had a look at who has moved on, let’s take a look at who Trent Cull and his staff have available to them at the time of this writing.

Darren Archibald, Carter Bancks, Wacey Hamilton, Reid Boucher, Brendan Gaunce, Tyler Motte, Tanner Kero, Michael Carcone, Zack MacEwen, Jonathan Dahlen, Adam Gaudette, Lukas Jasek, Kole Lind, Jonah Gadjovich, Petrus Palmu, Tanner MacMaster, Cam Darcy, Brendan Bradley, Vincent Arseneau, Yan-Pavel Laplante, Reid Gardiner, and Kyle Thomas.

Evan McEneny, Ashton Sautner, Guillaume Brisebois, Jalen Chatfield, Olli Juolevi, Jaime Sifers, Jagger Dirk, Dylan Blujus, and Brandon Anselmini.

Thatcher Demko, Richard Bachman, and Ivan Kulbakov.

As you can see by the players listed above, I am making a few assumptions here. With the additions made in Vancouver, I see Boucher, Archibald, Gaunce, Kero, Motte, Gaudette, and Juolevi starting in Utica.

We also need to take into account that not every player listed above is guaranteed to make it to Utica as some may win jobs with the big club out of camp, while others could be lost to waivers or traded to make room.

The following players will have to clear waivers to get to Utica this season: Archibald, Boucher, Kero, Gaunce, McEneny, Sautner, and Bachman. Tyler Motte will require waivers after playing one more game in the NHL.

This is where the fun starts, folks. The Comets have 22 forwards, nine defencemen, and three goaltenders available to them by my count. A handful of these players, however, will be starting with Kalamazoo of the ECHL as the Comets have gone on record as saying that they don’t want to have to go down the PTO road as many times this season as they did last year.

Trent Cull will have some interesting decisions to make in terms of who plays down the middle this season. We know that both of Carter Bancks and Wacey Hamilton spent time there last season, as did Cam Darcy, but all three players are on AHL deals and it isn’t ideal for the parent Canucks not to have any pivots gaining experience and marinating in the AHL.

Tanner Kero, who was acquired in a deal for Michael Chaput is a centreman, as is Adam Gaudette. It would make sense for both to play in the middle if they end up with the Comets.

Zack MacEwen was a pivot before joining the Comets but has since been moved to the right side. His skating and overall game, however,  improved enough last season to warrant a look back in the middle, in my opinion.

Tyler Motte, Jonathan Dahlen, Tanner MacMaster, Kole Lind, Michael Carcone, Brendan Gaunce, Brendan Bradley, and Yan-Pavel Laplante can all play the middle as well.

It should be noted that Laplante is still recovering from a long-term injury and will not likely be ready for training camp.

Some of the players listed above will obviously be shifted to the wing, but things are pretty crowded up front on both sides of the ice for the Comets.

Darren Archibald, Jonathan Dahlen, Tyler Motte, Brendan Gaunce, Jonah Gadjovich, Tanner MacMaster, and Vincent Arseneau are all players who have primarily been left-wingers.

Reid Boucher, Zack MacEwen, Lukas Jasek, Kole Lind, Michael Carcone, Petrus Palmu, Reid Gardiner, and Kyle Thomas have played the right side for the most part.

There are several players who can play either wing and some can play the middle as well. All of this is to say that Trent Cull will have his hands full when determining who gets the lion’s share of the ice time and who will have to wait their turn from either the press box or from the ECHL.

If we turn our attention to the back end, we quickly see that there are fewer players fighting for open jobs.

Evan McEneny, Ashton Sautner, Guillaume Brisebois, Olli Juolevi, Jagger Dirk, and Brandon Anselmini are all left-shooting defenders. The right side is less crowded as Jalen Chatfield, Jaime Sifers, and Dylan Blujus are the only righties and Chatfield is the only one of the three who is on a two-way deal and able to be called up to Vancouver if needed.

McEneny, Sautner, and Brisebois have all had experience on the right side. In fact, Brisebois spent the bulk of last season playing the right side and that is where I see him starting the 2018/19 season.

In the pipes, we have Thatcher Demko and Richard Bachman who should be getting the bulk of the work, while newcomer Ivan Kulbakov will likely ply his trade with Kalamazoo of the ECHL.

It is also not out of the realm of possibility that Demko could win a job with the Canucks out of camp. If that were to transpire, the Canucks could try to trade Nilsson, and if successful, the team would need to acquire another goalie to either pair with Bachman in Utica or to have on standby in Kalamazoo if Kulbakov is deemed AHL ready.

It was pointed out to me by one of my readers that Canucks new goalie coach Ian Clark will know Kulbakov from their time together in the Columbus organization and that may help the netminder if the above situation plays out.

If the Canucks find no takers for Nilsson, they could waive him to Utica and if he clears, pair him with Bachman. If Nilsson decides that the AHL isn’t for him, then maybe they go the Anton Rodin route and put him on unconditional waivers so he can go back overseas.

So, where does all of this leave us? Will Trent Cull play the kids, or will he lean heavily on his vets? I think that ultimately, it will become a combination of both with some players grabbing the bull by the horns and taking more ice time, while some others may have a tough time getting traction.

Let’s have a look at a couple of options.

While I don’t think this scenario is likely, or a recipe for success, I still think it is fun to have a look at what a very young Comets roster could look like.

Jonathan Dahlen – Adam Gaudette – Kole Lind

Tyler Motte – Tanner Kero – Lukas Jasek

Jonah Gadjovich – Zack MacEwen – Petrus Palmu

Tanner MacMaster – Michael Carcone – Reid Boucher

Olli Juolevi – Jalen Chatfield

Evan McEneny – Guillaume Brisebois

Ashton Sautner – Dylan Blujus

Thatcher Demko

Richard Bachman

In this scenario, Trent Cull is looking to load up on youth and outskate/outscore his opposition. This roster would ensure that the young players whom the team is looking to develop into NHL regulars will get plenty of ice time and opportunity.

It would also be tough for this group to shut down their opponents’ top lines, however, as there are not many on the list who are known for their defensive game. I do think there are players up front who could rise to the occasion in Dahlen, Jasek, MacEwen, Carcone, MacMaster, Gaudette, Palmu, and Lind, however, the team didn’t bring Bancks and Hamilton back just to have them watching games from the press box and being good cheerleaders.

Darren Archibald – Carter Bancks – Wacey Hamilton

Brendan Gaunce – Tanner Kero – Reid Boucher

Tyler Motte – Cam Darcy – Michael Carcone

Jonathan Dahlen – Adam Gaudette – Zack MacEwen

Evan McEneny – Jalen Chatfield

Ashton Sautner – Guillaume Brisebois

Olli Juolevi – Jaime Sifers

Thatcher Demko

Richard Bachman

The above roster takes a more conservative approach as far as working the kids into the lineup. Cull would be leaning heavily on his vets to soak up ice time and would use his young players sparingly on a rotating fourth line. Olli Juolevi would break in on the left side of grizzled veteran, Jaime Sifers.

I can see Cull using a veteran-heavy line like the first one listed above from time to time during the season, depending on the matchup, or maybe Boucher slides into Hamilton’s spot. I can’t, however, really see him muting the kid’s ice time in favour of a vet heavy lineup all that often.

So, where does this leave us? Well, I can see Trent Cull opting to go with a more balanced lineup consisting of a nice blend of youth and experience.

We have to remember that while players like Dahlen, Jasek, Palmu, and Juolevi will be considered rookies for the upcoming season, all four spent last season playing pro hockey against men overseas. Add to that the fact that Kole Lind and Tanner MacMaster also saw some pro action at the end of last season and you can see that many of the kids have more experience than one might expect.

The experience that these younger players have will help the coaching staff feel more comfortable with giving them more rope to earn big minutes.

Jonathan Dahlen – Carter Bancks – Reid Boucher

Brendan Gaunce – Adam Gaudette – Lukas Jasek

Darren Archibald – Zack MacEwen – Kole Lind

Tyler Motte – Tanner Kero – Michael Carcone

Evan McEneny – Jalen Chatfield

Ashton Sautner – Guillaume Brisebois

Olli Juolevi – Jaime Sifers

Thatcher Demko

Richard Bachman

I’m sure many of you are noticing that promising, young players such as Jonah Gadjovich, Petrus Palmu, and Tanner MacMaster are not in this lineup. I would desperately like to include the trio as I feel like all three will be big parts of the team this season, however, I’m not sure where they would fit in to start without call-ups or injuries occurring first. I have also left veteran Wacey Hamilton off of this roster and I’m not 100% sold that Trent Cull would agree with that move.

I think we will see players like Vincent Arseneau, Brendan Bradley, Reid Gardiner, Kyle Thomas, Brandon Anselmini, and Ivan Kulbakov start in the ECHL with the Kalamazoo Wings.

I see Dylan Blujus, Jagger Dirk, Jonah Gadjovich, Petrus Palmu, Tanner MacMaster, Wacey Hamilton, and Cam Darcy fighting it out as black aces, but remaining on the roster.

I really do feel like all three of Palmu, Gadjovich, and MacMaster are very good players, and they will get their minutes this season. I’m just not sure which wingers they will realistically beat out for a job out of camp.

All of the wingers listed above have played for Trent Cull already and have earned at least some level of his trust from last season. Maybe Palmu, Gadjovich, or MacMaster ends up having a huge camp and earns a job, but we can see that the fight for roster spots will definitely be competitive.

This is what it is like to have some depth in the organization, folks. Some good, young players will likely have to sit each night until the inevitable injuries and call-ups start to happen.

One thing is for certain, the Comets will be a younger team than they were last season and Trent Cull and his staff will have plenty of options at their disposal.