Quote (Killingyouall @ Sep 13 2022 06:20pm)
https://www.nhl.com/canucks/news/canucks-announce-2022-young-stars-roster/c-335539470Young stars tournament roster announced. Any long shot dark horses in this group?
Will be interesting to see if anyone stands out.
Jett Woo had a lot of fan fare when he was drafted back in 2018 but has really fallen down the depth chart.
Also wondering about Danila Klimovich. He is only 19 so I am wondering if he can find the next level in his game. Seems like he did not get much playing time in Abbotsford.
Klim has a chance for sure, but probably a bottom-6 guy if he turns out. Whenever a prospect swims instead of sinks in the AHL at 18 years old, that's a pretty good sign.
Woo had a monster season the year after he was drafted which gave Canucks fans a boner but hasn't shown too much since. However he has less than 1 season's worth of pro games and it's all been during the COVID era so there may still be something there with a little more seasoning. Not if there's real top-4 NHL upside though.
Rathbone and Lackermankey are our only "real" prospects right now. Rathbone turning out to be something more than a bottom-pairing offensive specialist would be huge for us. It's been a long time since we've had a young player on defense develop in our system and work his way up the lineup and legitimately stay there. Tanev was really the last guy and that was quite a while ago and he wasn't even a highly touted prospect. Guys like Hutton and Stecher looked promising at times but it eventually became clear neither were top-4 options long-term. Not counting Hughes because he was pretty much top-4 ready the day he entered the organization.