Why Aren’t The Comets Doing Better?

As this offseason wound down, I, as well as many other Canucks/Comets fans thought that we would be in for somewhat of a dominant season from the Utica Comets. So far this season, that has not been the case. So what has happened to put the Comets in the position that they are in this season?

Let’s start with the parent Vancouver Canucks. I think that as summer wound down, many people thought the Canucks roster might look something like this:

Sven Baertschi – Bo Horvat – Loui Eriksson

Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Markus Granlund

Anton Rodin – Brandon Sutter – Sam Gagner

Brendan Gaunce – Alex Burmistrov – Derek Dorsett

Reid Boucher

Alex Edler – Chris Tanev

Michael DelZotto – Erik Gudbranson

Ben Hutton – Troy Stecher

Andrey Pedan – Alex Biega

Markstrom/Nilsson

Now those lines may not be what everyone had in mind, but many thought that Jake Virtanen and Brock Boeser could start in Utica, while Anton Rodin and Reid Boucher might make the big club. Pedan ended up getting traded, along with a fourth-round pick for Pouliot in what is looking like a pretty solid deal by Jim Benning.

Then came the Vanek signing, and the PTOs for Scottie Upshall, who some thought had a chance of making the team, and Ryan White. The Vanek signing meant that one more of Rodin or Boucher might be sent to Utica. Jonathan Dahlen was supposed to start in Utica as well until he was derailed by a bout of mono. What is it about this organization and mono anyway?

The Current Utica Comets roster looks like this:

Reid Boucher – Cam Darcy – Jayson Megna

Joe LaBate – Brendan Woods – Alexis D’Aoust

Carter Bancks – Tony Cameranesi – Zack MacEwen

Griffen Molino – Cole Cassels – Michael Carcone

Philip Holm – Guillaume Brisebois

Patrick Wiercioch – Jalen Chatfield

Cliff Watson – Dylan Blujus

Demko/Bachman

Forwards Michael Chaput and Nikolay Goldobin are both currently up with the Vancouver Canucks, as is defenseman Ashton Sautner.

The Comets currently have defensemen Dylan Blujus and Cliff Watson, as well as forwards Brady Brassart and Tony Cameranesi playing on PTOs. Defensemen Anton Cederholm and Mackenze Stewart are also currently called up from Kalamazoo of the ECHL.

Right now, the Comets have the following players out with injury:

Darren Archibald, Evan McEneny, Jaime Sifers, Wacey Hamilton, and Yan-Pavel Laplante.

Hamilton, Archibald, and Sifers are all veteran leaders on this team, and that leadership can be missed out on the ice. Additionally, McEneny and Sifers would be top four defensemen on this team when healthy. Sifers and McEneny would both be staples on the penalty-killing unit, while McEneny would be on the power-play as well.

Archibald led the Comets in scoring last season with 23 goals and 24 assists, for 47 points in 76 games. He was looking good to equal his totals from last season before he went down with a broken face this season. In nine games Archibald had two goals and three assists, for five points. Archibald is still considered to be out week-to-week with his injury. The big, bruising forward represents a big part of the identity of this Comets team and he brings an incredible work ethic to the game. This team misses his presence on the ice.

McEneny put up eight goals and 15 assists, good for 23 points last season. He already had seven points in 11 games this season before going down for six months with a knee injury and subsequent surgery.

With injuries on the blueline in Vancouver this season, Wiercioch was called up for a month. Wiercioch, for his part, has put up nine points in 14 games this season since returning. Imagine what his point totals might look like had he been with Utica since the start of the season.

There was also that Jordan Subban fellow who got off to a slow start and has since been traded, but there were hopes he would be good enough in Utica this season to finally earn a call-up.

The team has also been forced into some recalls from Kalamazoo of the ECHL as well as signing a plethora of players to Pro Try-Out contracts. Danny Moynihan, Anton Cederholm, and Mackenze Stewart have all been summoned from Kalamazoo. Forwards, Brendan Woods, Cam Darcy, Brian Ward, Brady Brassart, and Tony Cameranesi have all been signed to PTOs at various stages of the season. Defensemen Joe Faust, Cliff Watson, and Dylan Blujus have all been signed to PTOs to help fill in on the back end. Woods and Darcy have since earned AHL deals from the Comets and both have been doing their part to get the Comets through this season.

That makes 11 players that were not in the plans to start the year in Utica. That accounts for half of a roster. So, what could this team look like, if they were healthy, and if the NHL roster looked the way many thought it might?

Nikolay Goldobin – Michael Chaput – Brock Boeser

Jonathan Dahlen – Jayson Megna – Reid Boucher

Darren Archibald – Carter Bancks – Jake Virtanen

Joe LaBate – Wacey Hamilton – Michael Carcone

*Griffen Molino – *Cole Cassels – *Zack MacEwen

*Yan-Pavel Laplante – *Alexis D’Aoust

Patrick Wiercioch – Jordan Subban

Evan McEneny – Jaime Sifers

Philip Holm – Ashton Sauter

*Guillaume Brisebois – *Jalen Chatfield

Thatcher Demko

Richard Bachman

Do you think that second Comets roster might have a few more points? I would like to think that the second roster would have the Comets a little higher in the standings than the current roster does. With Cam Darcy’s history with Trent Cull, there is a good chance that he would still have signed, which would have likely sent someone like Yan-Pavel Laplante to Kalamazoo.

All of this said, there are some positives to be taken from the roster as it is currently constructed. Young players like Chatfield and Brisebois are getting real minutes, including special teams work, rather than watching from the press box and both rookies have shown that they can handle a sizable workload. Up front, players like MacEwen and D’Aoust are doing the same. Making the most of the time that they have been given, and those are just the first year players.

Cole Cassels and Michael Carcone may not have been afforded the ice-time that they are seeing right now. The two have become two-thirds of a very effective energy line for Trent Cull. Cassels is turning into somewhat of a faceoff specialist for Cull and is a staple on the penalty-killing units. Cole has even managed a few shorthanded scoring chances of late as well.

Carcone is seeing spot duty on the power-play, both on the point and the wing, depending on how Cull wants him deployed. He is also starting to look like some sort of Burrows/Lapierre combination. I’m not sure if he will ever be a point producer, but he sure seems to be good at getting under opponents’ skin and his motor is going non stop.

So, while the Comets may not be where we thought they would be in the standings this season, they are still having a successful season in other ways. Trent Cull and his staff are putting an emphasis on player development, and the players are reacting well to the minutes that they are getting. The fact that this team is playing 500 hockey with four rookies playing prominent roles, to go along with Philip Holm, who is getting his first taste of North American hockey, might be looked upon as somewhat of a success if one chooses to focus on the good things that are happening in Utica rather than worrying about what could have been.

The Comets will be back on the ice on Wednesday, December 20th at 4:00 pm Pacific when the Toronto Marlies roll into town for back to back games this week. CanucksArmy will have your post-game report following the game.