TSN’s Craig Button Ranks 4 Canucks Prospects Among the Top 50 Outside the NHL

Photo Credit: Reinhold Matay, USA Today Sports

Craig Button of TSN released today his list of the top 50 NHL affiliated players currently outside of the NHL, and the Canucks were well represented. All together, they had four players listed in the top 50 (all four are in fact listed in the top 40), which is up from just two last year. Button also provided top five lists for each Canadian team.

Read on to see who made the cut and how highly they were placed.

Unsurprisingly, Brock Boeser was the highest prospect listed, slotting in at eighth place, which is seven spots higher than the highest Canucks prospect was ranked last year (Demko, 15th).

Speaking of Thatcher Demko, he’s tumbled down to 33rd this year as he continues to struggle in the American League. Demko, who was ranked the second best goalie behind only Washington’s Ilya Samsonov last year, is now ranked sixth among netminders, after Samsonov (11th), Calgary’s Tyler Parsons (12th), the Rangers’ Igor Shestyorkin (21st), the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin (24th) and Pittsburgh’s Tristan Jarry (30th).

In between Boeser and Demko is Olli Juolevi, who was ranked 18th. Juolevi is fifth among defencemen on the list, following Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot (3rd), Boston’s Charlie McAvoy (9th), Philadelphia’s Phillipe Myers (10th) and Montreal’s Mikhail Sergachev (14th).

The final ranked prospect is Adam Gaudette, who’s been having an absolutely fantastic season with Northeastern University, and is currently rocking a seven-game goal streak. Gaudette was ranked 40th by Button, which is fantastic for a fifth rounder – he’s ahead of several first round picks like Tage Thompson, Jack Roslovic, Filip Chlapik, and Zach Senyshyn.

Another impressive fact is this: the Canucks are tied with Ottawa for the most prospects on the top 50 list. Despite the fact that most agree that the Canucks’ prospect pool as a whole is a little middling, it’s hard to deny that the top end is leaning towards the higher end.

As mentioned, Button also ranked the top five prospects from each Canadian team. Given that they had four prospects on the top 50 list, there was considerably less mystery to the team’s top five list. After Boeser, Juolevi, Demko and Gaudette, Button pegged Jordan Subban as the fifth best prospect in the Canucks system. There no surprise there, given the offensive output that he’s shown in his season and a half as a professional hockey player.

One interesting note is the sheer difference in Button’s Vancouver list from year to year. Of the five players he listed last year, none have graduated to the NHL, though one was traded away. Of the four that remained, only two (Boeser and Demko) stayed on the list, while one new draft pick (Juolevi) was included and two off of 2016’s list (Tate Olson and Guillaume Brisebois) disappeared entirely, replaced by Gaudette and Subban, who were already in the system.

The purpose of pointing that out is this: even though Craig Button is among the most trusted voices when it comes to hockey prospects, there is still a lot of volatility when it comes to rankings like these. Who knows where these prospects will be next season, or which others might jump up and make an impression.

I’ll say this though – the prospects that make the top 50 list, and not just the individual team lists, are likely a whole lot more stable in their projections. That’s good news for the Canucks, with four names on the big list.