Get to Know a Prospect: Penticton Invitees
By Josh W
8 years agoLast week, the Canucks released their roster for the Penticton Young Stars tournament. The Jerk covered the news quite extensively, but now that some time has passed, we can dissect who has and hasn’t been invited to the tournament.
You’ll immediately notice that Vancouver’s NCAA prospects aren’t on the roster. Of course, this is because their chosen route prevents them from participating in professional events, but it’s still a shame to not see the likes of Thatcher Demko, Brock Boeser and Mike Williamson in the lineup.
Nikita Tryamkin’s absence can likely be explained by the KHL season already being underway.Curtis Valk was not invited, likely due to him being in the process of recovering from injury as he is still recovering from his injury that caused him to miss Prospect Camp. Dane Fox was invited, but Ludwig Blomstrand hasn’t as he has fallen out of favour with Canucks management. Mike Zalewski was invited despite not being re-signed to an NHL contract (but signed to an AHL SPC). Even the Comets’ newly-siigned goalie Clay Witt was invited.
With all of that said, who are the new faces?
Rodrigo Abols
Abols is the player that I’m most excited for, and the one I’d most like Canucks to sign. A natural centre, Abols is 6’5, and while he’s a bit lanky at 185 pounds, is just nineteen years old.
He has the size to be an NHLer, and he has been playing in leagues well above his age for years. Abols got his first taste of the KHL in 2014/15, picking up a goal and four assists with his hometown Dynamo Riga in fourteen games. He’s spent the bulk of the past two seasons in the MHL, and played in the Latvian senior league as a 16 year old, putting up 23 points in 14 games after putting up 38 points in 22 games as a 15 year old in the Latvian U18 league. He also has significant International experience already, playing at the World Championships, WJC U20 and U18s for Latvia.
Abols was drafted 50th overall (1st round) in the CHL Import Draft by the Portland Winterhawks and will be joining them for the upcoming season.
Reid Gardiner
Moving on to the WHL, we have another nineteen-year-old in Reid Gardiner. He’s not quite as big, coming in at 5’11 and 185 lbs, which, given his production, might lead to an uphill battle to secure a role with the team.
In four years with the Prince Albert Raiders, Gardiner is yet to put up a pace of a point per game. In his draft year, he put up just 44 points in 70 games – not exactly top prospect numbers. Things haven’t gone as expected for him since being drafted eighth overall in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft.
CHLStats.com estimates that Gardiner’s time with the Raiders involved him playing first line minutes. With all of this said, he led Prince Albert in even strength points per game, along with being the team leader in Individual Points Percentage, combining with other offensive statistics that place him atop his roster. So, there’s always the possibility that being the biggest fish in a small pond lead to him not growing at the rate that he should’ve been.
Our good friend of the blog Cody Nickolet and WHL scout shared his analysis from his blog Dub-From-Above:
Reid Gardiner is a sturdy goal-scoring forward for the Prince Albert Raiders…has a wide base to his skating stride, which generates solid power and subsequent speed even though it’s not the most efficient stride…isn’t a great accelerator for his size as his toes point out a bit, but would definitely classify him as both a quick and fast skater overall…his skating has shown solid progression since last year…is the owner of a fantastic shot…wrist shot release is absolutely high-end and he can beat goalies from distance…shot is also both heavy and accurate…understands offensive spacing…seems to understand defenders hip and shoulder angles on the rush and uses that to gain a step…that part of his game is aided by his low centre of gravity as he can use that step to drive wide…reads the play well, also knowing when to pull up to create a gap for himself…carries the puck with confidence and has a decent bag of tricks when it comes to beating a defender 1 on 1…seems to be a player that is both a threat off the cycle and off the rush…has a bit of grit to his game away from the puck, although it was rather hit and miss in my viewings this season…will hit and throw his weight around at times…is strong on the backcheck and reads the play fairly well defensively…his overall commitment away from the puck is also rather inconsistent based on my viewings…was used primarily as a winger this season and moved around the top 6 of their lineup fairly regularly…was also a regular on special teams including spending a bit of time on the point on the powerplay in some viewings…also had viewings where he wasn’t being used on the half-wall, which is where I would have had him stationed…I think he projects far better as a winger at the next level, despite being listed as both that an as a centre in many places…I rated him as a mid-round pick last year but wasn’t overly surprised to see him go undrafted due to his only ok skating, fairly average size and complete lack of production in the second half of the year…he attended development camp with the Minnesota Wild after going undrafted in 2014…was selected in the 1st round, 8th overall, by the Prince Albert Raiders in the 2011 WHL Bantam Draft…overall I don’t see Gardiner as being a draftable player this year, even though I do appreciate his fairly solid progression since last year…while I appreciate his shot and improved speed in particular, I just like too many other players at this point to rank him within my top 7 rounds…I do feel that he’s a good enough scorer to have pro potential down the line and he’s certainly a good enough player to make a living in the game whether it be in the AHL or Europe…
His PCS numbers suggest a player with above average potential to become an NHL regular; his PCS% comes in at 13.23%. Darren Helm is a player that has performed most similarly to him, and with an NHL PCS pts/82 of 37.5, there’s a chance that he could develop into a serviceable bottom sixer in the right situation.
Jonathon Martin
Martin is another product of the WHL, and he has the fancy spelling of his first name to match. Capable of playing both centre and right wing, his 6’1, 212lb frame is one that immediately catches the eye of scouts. With that said, he hasn’t put up the numbers to match the body, leaving him to roll the dice on making the jump.
Likely to return to the Kootenay Ice as an over-ager, Martin’s history implies that he’ll likely be playing bottom six minutes. His most recent season was his best; even still, he picked up just twenty-four points in fifty-six games. None of his CHLStats numbers imply that he was more than a middling talent on his team.
Again from Cody Nikolet over at Dub From Above from 2013:
Martin is a big and rugged forward for the Ice. Likes to throw his weight around and play an agitators role. Provided muscle and size on the Ice top 6 all season. Skating can still improve. Seems to play with his head on a swivel and is very aware of his positioning. Might go undrafted, but I like him as a darkhorse to have some future pro potential.
PCS reveals a player that is unlikely to make it to the NHL. The crunched numbers give him a 5.23% chance of making it to the NHL, and if he does, he’s expected to pick up approximately 23 points over a full season. This puts him into fourth line territory similar to Gino Odjick, Eric Boulton, and Shawn Thornton, who are his historical comparables if he ends up making it.
Jackson Whistle
Beyond being a guy that everybody had as a third or fourth stringer on their EA Sports Ultimate Team’s a few years back, Whistle has been a regular in the pre-season process for the Canucks. He was invited to the 2014 development camp and Young Stars Tournament, and to this summer’s prospect development camp.
Whistle is 20 years old and will be entering his last season in the WHL. He is expected to be the starting goaltender for the Kelowna Rockets, with whom he played 55 games last season. Whistle is exactly six feet tall, which is a bit shorter than the new wave of legitimate goaltending prospects, and weights 176 lbs.
If you’re going to bet on a goalie prospect who isn’t directly tied to the organization yet, you could do worse than Whistle. Similar to skaters, goalies who perform better than their peers typically have a better chance of developing into NHL talent. Whistle has been doing that with save percentages at least 1% higher than the WHL average in each of the past three seasons; all much better than his 0.873 rookie year with the Vancouver Giants. As a counter-point, Kelowna has been an excellent team and may be inflating his numbers, not to mention that his first few years involved smaller samples; he’s played more games in the past two seasons, but at the same time, his save percentage has dropped.
Last year, when Whistle was invited to Pencticton, Nickolet also wrote about Whistle:
Whistle has had a bit of an interesting WHL career so far, appearing in 21 regular season games in each of his first three years. The last two years have been with Kelowna, spending time as the backup behind the very good Jordon Cooke. Whistle has been patient and now looks to be Kelowna’s starter as a 19 year old this coming season. I don’t have a great book on him, just due to my lack of live views of the Rockets, and Whistle in particular, over the past few seasons. I do know that he’s got good size at 6’1 and plays a much more composed style than his predecessor in Cooke. His numbers were fantastic heading into his first NHL Draft in 2013, having posted a 1.96 GAA and .931 save percentage with 15 wins and only 3 losses in 2012-13. His numbers took a bit of a step back this past season, but it’s safe to say he’s a worthy invite and should be one that garners more pro interest down the line.
Like Abols, I wouldn’t mind if the Canucks offered an entry level contract to Whistle; it never hurts to have a few young goaltenders under contract though Curtis Valk should still be in consideration.
Recent articles from Josh W
