Columnist image

| Archive

PENTICTON, B.C. – Friends and countrymen Elias Pettersson and Jonathan Dahlen will likely skate on a line together when the Vancouver Canucks open the 2018 Young Stars tournament here on Friday night.

Utica Comets (AHL) head coach Trent Cull, who will be working the Canucks prospects bench this weekend in a pair of games against the Winnipeg Jets prospects, said it simply made sense to start the two Swedes as a duo.

Cull did not disclose who’ll get the plum assignment of lining up with the pair when the puck drops at 7:30 p.m. PT on Friday night. We’ll likely get a better read on the Canucks lineup after Friday’s morning skate at the South Okanagan Events Centre. The coach did confirm Michael DiPietro will get the start in goal.

Juolevi put to the test

Olli Juolevi is back for his third Young Stars event after being selected fifth overall in the 2016 NHL entry draft. The Finnish defenceman sounded enthusiastic about starting the North American chapter of his professional career after spending last season at home with TPS Turku. The 20-year-old has full medical clearance to compete in game action after undergoing microdiscectomy back surgery in June.

Juolevi’s recovery was put to the test mid-practice Friday when he was stapled to the boards by forward Reid Gardiner midway through practice. Juolevi picked himself up, dusted himself off, but appeared to feel the effects of the collision through the remainder of the on-ice session.

“It’s good to wake you up that way,” he said, laughing. “But we need to compete and that’s part of competing and getting hit and going to the tough spots. I think the best way to test myself it to play hard in every situation and even in practice you have to go 100 per cent.”

Gaudette eager for ‘real game’

On the surface, it would appear that Adam Gaudette has very little to prove at a prospects tournament like this one. Last year’s Hobey Baker Award winner turned professional at the end of his college season and got into the Canucks lineup for the final five games on the 2017-18 schedule last April. While he didn’t figure in the scoring, the 21-year-old from Braintree, Mass., didn’t look out of place, either.

Gaudette’s looking to use his Young  Stars appearance this weekend as a springboard into next week’s main camp in Whistler and hopes that having a few games under his belt in September may put him ahead of others.

“It’s good to get into a game that’s physical and that’s a real game,” Gaudette said. “I’m looking forward to it. All summer you’re playing shinny hockey and pickup hockey and it’s nothing compared to this. This is the first taste of the season right now and there are a lot of young guys that are hungry, so it’s going to be a competitive game and I’m excited for it.”

More to Eggenberger than his name

The best name at camp has to be Nando Eggenberger.

The prospect is hoping to use the weekend to prove there’s a notable game to go along with the memorable name. The quick backstory on Eggenberger is he’s an 18-year-old from Switzerland who slipped through this year’s draft. The Canucks invited him to July’s prospects camp at Rogers Arena, but he suffered a slight knee injury during off-season workouts and was unable to attend. The Canucks then extended an invitation to join them here this weekend and the 6-foot-two 185-pound winger pounced on the opportunity.

“I was injured for three or four weeks, but it’s all good and I’m very excited to be here now,” he said. “I have good speed to my game. I have size and I’m good in the corner and my shot is pretty good. That’s why I’m here, I think.”

Eggenberger is set to play for the Oshawa Generals in the Ontario Hockey League this season and is eligible again for the 2019 NHL Draft in Vancouver.

Ice chips …

* The Canucks have brought a skeleton crew to the South Okanagan with just 23 players on the roster for the two games this weekend. They have 14 forwards, seven defencemen and only two goaltenders. Cull said the organization hadn’t yet determined whether high-profile prospects like Pettersson and Gaudette would suit up for both games.

* Canucks 2018 second-round draft pick Jett Woo will not participate in this weekend’s tournament and won’t be at main camp, either. Woo is nursing a minor lower-body injury sustained at the Hockey Canada Summer Showcase in Kamloops in late July. There‘s no word on when he’ll be ready to start his Western Hockey League season in Moose Jaw. Also on the injury front, 2017 seventh rounder Matt Brassard continues to recover from off-season shoulder surgery and, like Woo, will not be involved in either Canucks camp. Brassard was on hand for the summer development camp in Vancouver, but was unable to take part in on-ice activities. His recovery is on schedule for a return to action with the Oshawa Generals in October.