This week I took it upon myself to try and look at some options on the CHL and NCAA UFA markets to see if there were any options that the Canucks should target. What I thought was missing in the pieces was a look at them in totality – so I figured, it’s Saturday, let’s just take a look at the week that was.

In case you missed them, here are the six links:

5 High-Profile NCAA UFA that the Canucks may target

5 low-profile NCAA UFA defenceman the Canucks should target

5 UFA Goalie prospects the Canucks should target

When looking at the forwards and defenceman, it became abundantly clear that the NCAA UFA route is the best option. The players are more developed and generally project better into becoming NHL players. But the level of competition for those players services appear to be much higher.

What it did reveal to me was that teams are better off to ‘swing for the fences’ with their later picks in the draft and then try to supplement their depth through the CHL UFA market. For example, go for players like Spencer Watson, or Axel Holmstrom, or Tate Olson with your final picks rather than safe picks that are big. You can then add those players through UFA or trades, but may have added a home run pick.

I obviously suggested some targets in the pieces but if I had to choose one player from each grouping, I would specifically target:

NCAA F Drake Caggiula

NCAA D Ethan Prow

NCAA F Hampus Gustafsson

CHL D Jason Fram

CHL F Gabriel Paquin-Boudreau

CHL G Landon Bow

The NCAA forwards and defenceman both projected very well when compared to their counterparts. Ethan Prow is currently a finalist for the Hobey Baker award, so his ‘lesser-known’ status is likely gone now. Jason Fram was attractive due to being a local kid and having all the right tools, thus is a worthwhile gamble. 

For Paquin-Boudreau – there is an obvious reason why the San Jose Sharks felt he was worth a 2nd round pick in 2013. He has talent, but lost his season last year due to injuries. Out of that grouping, he is the most worthy of the dice roll.

For Landon Bow – he is big, plays a great technical game and has seen improvement year over year. 

Other players that stuck out to me were NCAA D Jordan Gross, NCAA F Ahti Oksanen and NCAA G Kasimir Kaskisuo.

I will be fascinated to see if and where all these players sign and how their first professional year will go next season. I obviously missed some names that could’ve been profiled, but there was only so many posts we could do about this market.

Hopefully, Jim Benning will be true to his word, and will be active in all the UFA markets to help build some more depth in their prospect pool. He has built a solid stable of players, but to the rapid graduation of some players, I have some concern about the pool next year and the following year.