Canucks Army Player Profiles: Derek Dorsett

The season may have already started, but that doesn’t mean we’re done with prospect profiles! Wait, no, don’t leave! This has been a longer than anticipated series thanks to the abundance of Canucks news of late taking precedent, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Besides, why not learn a little more about your Canucks? Today, we touch on Derek Dorsett, who uses his fists to punch his way into your heart.

Dorsett began his career in the SJHL, a Saskatchewan Junior-A league that has developed the likes of Rod Brind’Amour, Curtis Joseph, Glenn Hall, Ron Hextall, Chris Chelios, and former Canucks defenceman Willie Mitchell. Dorsett proved to be a little ball of hate in the league, putting up nearly a point per game while averaging nearly three penalty minutes per outing. It was enough to earn him the attention of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, who carried him for the rest of the season.

From there, he worked on both ends of his game, as a player and as a puncher. He became the most penalized player in the league at the same time as he became a 25 goal scorer, which was enough to encourage the Columbus Blue Jackets to draft him with their last pick in the 2006 Entry Draft. 

After his draft+1 year (where he scored 80 points in 78 regular season and playoff games), he never quite showed the same offensive touch in the pros, but a year spent in the American Hockey League was enough for the Blue Jackets to bring him onto their roster full time. He became a consistent fourth-liner for them, one they could rely on for 15 to 20 points and 10-20 fights. Dorsett’s eagerness to contribute to the play and help the team out beyond protection proved to be more valuable than your traditional five-point goon, so much so that he headed to the New York Rangers as a (minor) piece in the Marian Gaborik blockbuster of 2013.

Jim Benning liked what he saw in Dorsett’s style of play, and felt it his vision of a gritty, yet very serviceable lineup. Without a can’t miss prospect in his grasp at the third round of the 2014 entry draft, the Canucks decided that they would be better suited to trade that pick for him. In his first year, he picked up 25 points; a career high.

Dorsett is at a certain combination of age and role where it wouldn’t be realistic to expect him to change a ton in his game. Expect him to drop the mitts whenever necessary, and to contribute to the bottom two (likely fourth) lines. A reasonable season in terms of productivity would be in the 15-20 point range, a pace he’s maintained since 2010.

Easily the most recent highlight for anybody on this list. It’s far from his best fight (our pals at HockeyFights.com have over a hundred Derek Dorsett fights to comb through), but the fact that he dropped the gloves literally a second into the season was pretty much my favourite thing on earth.

It’s always nice to see your grinders snipe, even if they have the obvious advantage of doing it against the Leafs, who will give you about eighty tries to do so every game.

Chirping with the best of them.