This is the prospects page. You guys are talking about Vancouver D-prospects.
This is a point I have had an issue with for years.
You guys are arguing about the current pool. I'll address that in a moment.
What about the D-prospects that have been assigned to the farm where the prospects are supposed to develop if they are not instantly NHL ready. That group has numbered 3 in 3 different seasons, Hutton, Stecher, and Hughes.
- The Comets came into being in 2013-14.
The team's D were provided by the Gillis administration. The prospects in that group were Henrik Tommernes (1st NA pro season, but 4th season of pro hockey - 3 in the SHL, 23), Peter Andersson (2nd year of his ELC and 22, Yann Sauve (3rd pro season, 23), Frankie Corrado (a rookie but on the 1st of a 2yr ELC as they burnt the first year off in Vancouver at the end of '12-13 season, 20), and Alex Biega (not really a prospect having played 4 yrs at NHL Harvard, and 3 yrs prior in the AHL with Portland and Rochester, 25).
In this Group Biega was a good D-man and Andersson despite having no physicality whatsoever was also decent. Corrado was the real prospect and Vancouver thought so also and Benning would continue with that thought.
Tommernes would be surpassed by others in the Utica lineup in 2014-15 and seek and receive his release.
Sauve was the worst AHL D-man I had ever seen.
- '14-15 was Benning's first season in control and Lorne Henning was in his 2nd season as Utica's GM.
The only D-prospect newcomers to the past season's roster were Andrey Pedan and Adam Clendening, both acquired in trade in season. Adam played 11 regular season games and the playoffs and was traded in the off season to Pittsburgh. Pedan played 43 games and then was concussed and missed the remainder of the season and all of the playoffs. Biega and Corrado were both stellar in the playoff run to the finals.
- '15-16 saw the arrival of Ashton Sautner and Jordan Subban. Sautner was signed to an ELC by Benning as an undrafted free agent. Subban had been drafted in the 4th round in 2013.
As the teams7th/8th D-man, injuries and call-ups would see Sautner play 50 sheltered games, but hold his own.
Subban would be an offensive AHL rookie standout, but his play in his own zone was equally the opposite.
Corrado would be lost to waivers before the season actually began.
Biega would begin a 3-yr run spent mostly in the NHL with Vancouver.
Pedan would play 13 games with the Canucks and get tried at LW. The experimaent was a failure and when he returned to Utica he was never the same effective D-man that left.
- '16-17 would only see Evan McEneny as a new prospect. He had been signed by Benning in 2013 after not getting drafted in 2012 when he only played 2 games before a season ending knee injury. He was reassigned to Jrs for an overage season in 2014-15, spent 2015-16 in ECHL Kalamazoo and missed half the season with another knee injury. He was now an AHL rookie after a long round about way getting there. He played 64 games and really came on offensively in the later part of the season.
Subban would be named to the AHL All Star team by virtue of his offensive prowess, but his D was not much improved.
Pedan was still a basket case and would find himself scratched at times, playing 52 games. He would be traded in the offseason.
Sautner logged 47 games and was still treading water.
- '17-18 saw the arrival of Guillaume Brisebois and Jalen Chatfield. Both rookies paired with veteran defenders looked pretty good. Nothing near top AHL defenders, but got the job done in most instances.
Brisebois occasionally showed an offensive spark, but only logged 18 points (15 were assists) in 68 GP while Chatfield revealed a lack of offensive prowess despite being able to carry the puck and get into offensive positions, 7 points in 60 GP.
Sautner finally became a regular and was decent at it. Again nothing to write home about but a steady job at the AHL level.
McEneny suffered another knee injury in November and thus only played 18 games.
Subban was traded to LA after only 16 GP for Nic Dowd.
- '18-19 saw Olli Juolevi as the only new prospect and only 2nd drafted D-man by Benning to see Utica. Hutton was not a Bennning draft and Stecher was not drafted.. He would only play 18 games before being lost for the season with a knee injury.
McEneny was having a stellar comeback season with 31 points in 58 GP before suffering yet another season ending knee injury.
Sautner was having his best season before suffering several serious facial injuries in November as the result of an illegal high hit and would be lost for nearly 2 months. He would still get a late season call from Vancouver and things were looking brighter for him
Brisebois also had an improved season and also got a late season look in Vancouver.
Chatfield suffered a foot injury, lost half a season and once again proved to have a lack offensive acumen and his defensive game fell off as well.
- '19-20 The Comets are still missing a Benning drafted D-man other than Brisebois and Olli Juolevi. They have 4 rookie D-men on the roster.
Juolevi is still considered a rookie by the AHL since he only had played 18 games at the start of the season. There is improvement, but his turning, skating, and defensive zone decision making are still problems. Better now than 20-25 games ago.
Rafferty is a 24-yr-old rookie professional. It goes without saying that he is have an outstanding offensive season. He has been named to the AHL All Star team for exactly that reason. There are many defensive flaws in his game that he has gotten away with through the luck of the hockey gods. Sometimes a d-man's turnover becomes a goal, somtimes it's stopped by the keeper, sometimes it's rescued by his partner, and sometimes a forward coming back bails him out. Brogan has been front and center for all of that help. He is still weak defending the crease. He doesn't use his physicality very often. He is walked with relative regularity. His positioning in his own zone is often incorrect. This is all correctable, e.g. if his feet are actually good and therefore he can make the turns to avoid being walked; he makes better decisions and doesn't make all the bad passes; he stops throwing blind passes into traffic lanes hoping the man there will be one of his. I think you get the picture. Some guys get these things ironed out and others never do. For him to make it at the next level, the iron needs to get heated up. The forecheck and pressure is much harder and most of the skaters are faster making the need for quicker decision making and quicker and more accurate passing. The blind pass has to become a thing of the past.
Eliot and Teves have miles to skate before an NHL chance can be seen. Eliot has passed Teves by in the past few weeks and it is obvious any time one of them is penciled in. Eliot also has a quality shot.
Sautner has taken not one, but several steps back from where he was at season's end last year and where he is right now. His gaffes just keep increasing in number and the really good plays he makes can't make up for them.
Brisebois is in a similar pattern.
Not having a veteran or at least real good, experienced d-man in house and instead relying upon these 2 guys to be the rocks on defense has failed and they are suffering the consequences of such poor plan making at the management level.
So, the Comets are playing in their 7th season and thus far only 2 Benning drafted defenders from his 6 drafts have been assigned to the farm, Juolevi and Brisebois. The number of D-men, whether in the system when he arrived, drafted by him, signed by him as free agents, traded for by him, or any other conceivable means you can think of has produced one player from Utica to become a regular member of the Vancouver Canucks. We are not talking short call-ups, but a full time regular roster member. That one player was Alex Biega, whom many believe is still a better choice than one, if not both, of Benn and Fantenberg.
This is obviously not a management team that believes in building within the system. They have traded guys from the farm for "NHL ready players". Sometimes they have been ready and other times they have been dismissed when it proved to be incorrect. Jim seems intent upon acquiring players who go directly onto the Vancouver roster and any who don't, don't seem to be considered any longer than a single season.
Thus, I look to see Juolevi, Rafferty, and a forward in the name of Lind either get a shot or end up on the trading block. Most of his AHL asignees are already considered out of the picture. If they don't knock his socks off in their brief stays in Vancouver, they become yesterday's old news. So, these are the only guys I think he's maybe interested in because they are producing and won't cost him anything more than peanuts towards the cap.
Sautner, Brisebois, Chatfield, and maybe even MacEwen now, are off the books. I think Gadjovich and Jasek are also out of the future picture. Lockwood's current year in Michigan may have already relegated him to an AHL career unless he has a rebirth the likes of Gaudette. Madden is the new NCAA gold chip. He has set a precedent with Europeans that if they don't make the NHL, they can go home to develop if they choose to do such. So guys like Tryamkin, Dahlen, and Palmu could be joined by Podkolzin and Hoglander. He cares so little about the farm that he knows they will probably get to play with better players over there because he doesn't put them in Utica in the first place. This season is an anomaly. Baertschi and Goldobin are NHLers in the AHL and the main keys to the Comets success. They are here because he hordes talent until he doesn't need it and they usually walk. Along with Boucher and Bailey they haveformed the heart of the Comets. They better win now because these guys won't be here next season even if the last 2 are exactly the kind of players your young prospects need to watch and play with in order to jump start their development. Boucher and Bailey will have leverage in signing a contract next year with NHL teams that want their farms to be well stocked with experienced guys to aid in the development of their kids and will pay them to do such whether on a 2-way or AHL contract. Besides, Jim can't have a couple guys like that eating up his precious contracts. How else would he have any to give guys like Eliot or Pope?
Most of the names being bantered about above that are Comets now will not become Canucks any more than those who have come before them. Just my opinion based on what I see in the players here and the past history of the Canucks management in dealing with Comets players and those they even decide to make Comets players. I hope I'm wrong. I've said it a million times if I've said it once, we in the Utica fan base wish every player who comes through here makes it into the NHL, but we also know better.
Edit:
Don't say I left out Marky, Demko, or DiPietro. I purposely didn't get into the goal tenders because I was talking about the skaters not the keepers. Much more difficult to walk them right out there before playing any minor league hockey like Boeser, Petey, or Hughes. The goalies have to grow and most take a little or more time and the big club has to have room for them and the roster only has room for 2.
