We are back with another edition of the Canucks Weekly Prospect
Report, where I dig into all the latest stats, rumours, gossip, news,
achievements, and even made up stories from around the different junior
hockey leagues. It’s been nearly a month since the last report, as seasons have been winding down not too many players are active. This week, we look into the play of all (non-AHL) Canucks prospects
from the CHL and ECHL who have played in the last month.

Without further ado, continue past the jump to see what went down!

Canadian Hockey League

Name	Position	DOB	Age	Team	GP	G	A	P	PPG	+/-	PIM	NHLe
Cole Cassels	C	1995-05-04	20	Oshawa	21	10	21	31	1.48	5	14	36
Jared McCann	C	1996-05-31	18	Sault Ste. Marie	14	6	10	16	1.14	2	12	28
Jake Virtanen	LW	1996-08-17	18	Calgary	14	5	8	13	0.93	-1	28	20
Jordan Subban	D	1995-03-15	20	Belleville	4	3	0	3	0.75	-6	2	18
Evan McEneny	D	1994-05-22	20	Kingston	4	1	1	2	0.50	-2	0	12
Miles Liberati	D	1995-06-21	19	North Bay	15	0	3	3	0.20	-2	22	5
Ashton Sautner	D	1994-05-27	20	Edmonton	5	0	1	1	0.20	-5	6	4
Anton Cederholm	D	1995-02-21	20	Portland	17	1	1	2	0.12	7	6	3
Kyle Pettit	C	1996-01-18	19	Erie	3	0	0	0	0.00	-3	2	0
MacKenze Stewart	D	1995-08-10	19	Prince Albert	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x

Cole Cassels has received much media attention lately as his Oshawa Generals won the Ontario Hockey League Championship and Cassels had the job of being hard-matched against Connor McDavid (Watch Cassels drive McDavid mad) and he did an excellent job. In the last month Cassels scored 5 goals, 10 assists in 11 games. Rhys Jessop looks back at Cassels’ monster season. Cassels is heading into September’s camp with the intent on making the Canucks but the scouts are still not sure exactly what his NHL upside is. At least we know Rhys is likely saying he’s a 3C at best!
Jared McCann and the Sault Ste Marie Greyhounds were eliminated by the Erie Otters in the Western Conference finals. McCann scored 3 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 games. Kyle Dubas considers McCann’s wrist shot as the best outside of the NHL. Jared McCann’s highlights and his OHL playoff goals.
Calgary was eliminated by Brandon in the WHL Eastern Conference finals sending Jake Virtanen packing (and Jared McCann to Utica where they have yet to receive playing time). Virtanen had 1 goal in his last 2 games and was suspended for 3 games at the end of the season. Virtanen made his professional hockey debut on Monday night as Carter Bancks sat out with an injury. Check out Virtanen’s 14/15 “EPIC” highlights.
Miles Liberati did not earn a point in his last 6 games. North Bay was eliminated by Oshawa in the OHL Western Conference final. Now the Canucks need to make a decision on Miles Liberati if he should be offered an Entry-Level Contract or not.
Kyle Pettit came back from his broken hand in the final round of the OHL playoffs. He managed to play in 3 games but did not earn a point.
The Portland Winterhawks were eventually knocked out by the WHL’s winners the Kelowna Rockets. In his last 6 games Anton Cederholm scored 1 assist.

The Mastercard Memorial Cup starts next weekend and will feature’s Cole Cassels’ Oshawa Generals (58.943% Est. Fenwick Close), the Kelowna Rockets (53.288%), the host Quebec Remparts (49.572%), and the Rimouski Oceanic (56.404%). We will have some prospect coverage of that series on this blog.

As we look towards the draft we are going to have a lot of prospect analysis as the Canucks look to pick 23rd and Trader Jim looks to acquire more picks. We’ve already started our speculating on who the Canucks should draft as well as who they should avoid. Benning’s recent focus seems to be on getting faster. Development Camp will also open on July 3rd.

Some other news in prospect land. Two prospects were signed to an Entry Level Contract (for better or for worse). First was Mackenze Stewart and a few days later was the much heralded Jordan Subban. Rhys gives us analysis of what exists in Jordan Subban. Check out Stewart’s 14/15 highlights and realize the Canucks don’t seem to think he has value as a defencemen as they want to convert him into an enforcer.

Down in the NCAA Thatcher Demko is going through some off-season hip surgey which sounds to be normal for goaltenders. In the mean time here’s his 14/15 highlights while Rhys provides some more analysis on Demko and his previous year. The Canucks were also bridesmaids again as they failed to land NCAA free agent Matt O’Conner. With highly touted D Mike Reilly now on the free agent market, don’t expect the Canucks chances to land him to be very high. Canucks have also signed my boy Joseph LaBate to an ELC while it is rumoured that Patrick McNally is going to do a victory lap at Harvard.

Something that I have been saying all year, as well as has been repeated a few times in various outlets by MSMers, player development is taking a backseat in Utica. Speaker of the Utica Comets, as they are looking to win their second round match up, they have been moved to the Eastern Conference for next year. They will be facing all of the New York teams, plus Toronto and St. John’s. For the Comets this means their practice and development to travel ratio is going to improve even more. More good news out of Utica is that they are in love with Adam Clendening, on and off the ice. You can also watch an interview with Frank Corrado.

ECHL

Ludwig Bloomstrand – Courtesy Sarah Hobday

ECHL	Position	DOB	AGE	Team	GP	G	A	P	PPG	+/-	SOG	S/G	Sh%	PIM
Curtis Valk	C	1993-02-08	22	Kalamzoo Wings	31	11	19	30	0.97	8	78	2.52	14.10%	12
Ludwig Blomstrand	LW	1993-03-08	22	Kalamzoo Wings	53	33	12	45	0.85	-8	159	3.00	20.75%	30
Dane Fox	F	1993-10-13	21	Kalamzoo Wings	70	30	15	41	0.59	-9	200	2.86	15.00%	88
Jeremie Blain	D	1992-03-19	23	Kalamzoo Wings	41	5	24	29	0.71	11	83	2.02	6.02%	38

The Kalamazoo Wings were eliminated in the first round of the Kelly Cup playoffs in five games. Ludwig Blomstrand was sent to Utica, and went home to Sweden upon the arrival of Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann, while Dane Fox is rumoured to have been eliminated.

Ludwig Blomstrand had 2 goals, 1 assists and 20 shots on goal in 5 games.
Kane Lafranchise scored 0 goals and 2 assists with 7 shots on goal in 4 games.
Patrick Kennedy scored 1 goal and 0 assists with 7 shots on goal in 5 games.
Jeremie Blain scored 1 assists and 2 shots on goal in 1 game.
Dane Fox was limited to 1 assist and 12 shots on goal in 3 games.

Our Kwings Insiderrr Sarah Hobday was on the scene to watch some playoff Kalamazoo games and had these notes for us:

My notes/thoughts in game 5 Saturday night in Kalamazoo:
Fox and Blain were scratched for the 2nd straight game. LaFranchise was
also scratched. Being playoffs everyone was tight lipped about if these
were medical scratches or not. Blain only played in game 3 of this
series.
With Fox out Kennedy started on the 1st line with Blomstrand.
Kennedy broke his leg in his 2nd shift of the game. He blocked a hard
slapshot 2:30 into the game. Play did not stop and the K-Wings goalie
had to help push Kennedy to get him to the bench. Reported that Kennedy
broke his leg in the post-game coach interview.
Blomstrand made a big save in the first minute of the 2nd period when the K-Wings goalie was caught out of the net.
Blomstrand is so well conditioned that even if he gets stuck out on a 1
1/2 – 2 minute shift he never looked gassed or have his legs burning.
Great hustle and work by Blomstrand the entire game. Overall very solid
game. Blomstrand got to show off his great speed several times in the
game. Absolute joy to watch.
Blomstrand had
some great scoring chances – hit the posts twice. Again the Fort Wayne
goalie was the best player on the ice and the reason Fort Wayne won.

Name	Position	DOB	Age	Team	GP	Mins	GA	GAA	Record	Svs	Sv%	SO
Joe Cannata	G	1990-01-02	25	Ontario Reign	21	1249	42	2.02	12-6-0-2	535	92.72%	1

Joe Cannata and his Ontario Reign are still playing in the Kelly Cup. Ontario is currently down 0-1 in the ECHL Western Conference against the Allen Americans. The Winnipeg Jets prospect Jussi Olkinuora has been the starter in the series but Joe Cannata has played in 3 games. In those 3 games he is 1-1 and came in for relief. He had performances of 13 of 17 saves, 12 of 13 saves and 13 of 18 saves. Cannata has been on the injured reserve list all playoffs.

Canadian Hockey League

ECHL

Further Reading:

Recent articles from Josh W

Breaking News