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Hunter Shinkaruk Named to AHL All-Star Game
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Jeremy Davis
Jan 7, 2016, 15:27 ESTUpdated:
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Photo Credit: Lindsay A. Mogle / Utica Comets
For the second year in a row, a Canucks prospect will represent the Utica Comets at the AHL All-Star Classic. Last year it was goaltender Jacob Markstrom (who joined AHL veterans Cal O’Reilly and Bobby Sanguinetti). This year it will be 21-year old winger Hunter Shinkaruk, who is currently leading the Comets in both goals and points.
It’s been quite a season for Shinkaruk, drafted 24th overall in 2013. He’s come miles from the player he was in his rookie professional season in which he scored 16 goals and added 15 assists (for 31 points) in 74 regular season games. Gone is the player struggling to keep up with the pace of professional hockey after season ending surgery wiped on the majority of his final year of junior as well as his ability to train the following summer.
In his place is a dynamic scoring winger that does it all. He doesn’t wait for the puck to come to him, he creates opportunities for himself and others. He backchecks, he forechecks and he buries his chances. After coming into this season looking like he was teetering on the brink of irrelevancy, Shinkaruk has forced himself back into the hearts and minds of Canucks fans and management alike.
With 11 goals in his first 15 games this season (including two hat-tricks), Shinkaruk virtually demanded an NHL call up, and was granted one in late November, making his NHL debut against the Montreal Canadiens. It has been the only NHL game he’s played so far this season, but it won’t likely be the last.
Shinkaruk has cooled off considerably of late, with only two goals in his last 12 games (though he’s added seven assists in that period), but his 13 goals and 25 points pace the entire Utica Comets roster. He has been a top line player in all but two games this season (twice he started on the second line while Brendan Gaunce was the first line left winger to start the season). He’s also been the driving force on the Comets’ top power play unit, leading the team with seven power play goals.
Not only is Shinkaruk getting a lot of ice time, he’s making the most of it. His 2.81 estimated points per 60 minutes leads all Comets who have played at least 10 games. He’s solidly in the black for even strength goals-for ratio as well, with 58.8 per cent of all goals scored when he’s on the ice going in the opponent’s net.
The AHL All-Star Skills Competition will take place on January 31st, while the All-Star game itself will go the following day, on February 1st. The AHL is employing a similar-ish format to the one the NHL is trying this season:
Instead of a traditional 60-minute game, the AHL’s All-Stars will be divided into four teams, one representing each of the league’s divisions (Atlantic, North, Central, Pacific). The teams will then play a round-robin tournament featuring six games of nine minutes each; the first half of each game will be played at 4-on-4, and the second half at 3-on-3. The two teams with the best records at the end of the round-robin tournament will face off for the championship, a six-minute game played at 3-on-3.
Shinkaruk will be Utica’s lone representative this season, although former Comets captain Cal O’Reilly will be there representing Rochester.

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