Comets refuse to crash to earth
Between injuries and Canucks call-ups, the roster keeps getting thinned. No matter
Ryan Johnson, who’s wondered about his career path a couple of times this season, looked at the Utica Comets’ lineup for Wednesday night’s game and began to count the number of scratches.
He stopped at 15, which at least explained why it was hard to find a seat in the press box. It also explained why just icing a team some nights has presented a monumental challenge to Johnson and his staff in this fun-filled season.
“The week before Christmas, there were two or three mornings in a row where you wake up and go, ‘We need two bodies,’ ” said the Comets’ general manager, who is also the Canucks’ director of player development. “Then Vancouver called and it’s, ‘We’d better get another one.’ A lot of times it’s putting a puzzle together. It isn’t always easy.”
And that’s just remembering everyone’s name. The Comets have dressed 43 players this season while signing 14 hopefuls to in-season pro-tryout contracts. This year they also expanded the footprint of their magnificent old barn, the Adirondack Bank Centre, by 26,000 square feet.
Then again, they had to just to make room for everyone.
“It’s really hard,” Canucks president Trevor Linden said. “They’re finding guys in the (second-tier ECHL) who fit into what they’re doing. To be honest, I’ve never heard of some of them, but R.J. and his staff are making it work.”
Even if they haven’t earned style points along the way.
The Comets, as with their parent club, have endured a trying season with injuries but, with so much of the Canucks’ story about the future, there have also been positive developments in central New York. Principal among those is the play of Thatcher Demko, who has established himself as one of the two or three best goaltending prospects in the game this season.
But there’s another layer with the Comets that paints an encouraging picture for the Canucks. This includes the play of a young and relatively unheralded defence, the starring turns of Reid Boucher and Nikolay Goldobin, the emergence of Zack MacEwen and the re-emergence of Cole Cassels as a player who might fit into the Canucks’ future.
First, Demko. Amid the chaos, goaltending has been the mortar that has held the Comets’ season together, and Demko was named to the AHL’s all-star game.
Johnson said the 22-year-old’s skills are self-evident, but it’s his makeup that might be the most impressive part of the package.
“I’d put him in our leadership group,” Johnson said. “He’s as mentally strong as any player you’ll find. When he allows a goal, he has the right response. You add that to his physical skills and you have something.”
On the season, Demko is 16-7-3 with a .929 save percentage on the Comets, who hold down fourth in the North Division.
“I can’t imagine many players who are as valuable to their team in our league,” Johnson said.
The other constant for the Comets has been the play of its young defencemen, who’ve undergone a baptism by fire this season. Names like Ashton Sautner, Jalen Chatfield and Guillaume Brisebois aren’t as sexy as some of the other Canucks’ prospects, but they’ve put in a full season in a competitive environment and they’ve shown improvement.
Sautner in particular has opened some eyes this season.
“He gets mentioned when Vancouver calls,” Johnson said. “Sometimes it’s like, ‘Who?,’ but he’s been solid for us.”
MacEwen, meanwhile, is a late bloomer for the Canucks, who took a flyer on an over-ager in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Three years ago, he was playing for the Amherst Ramblers in the junior A Maritime Hockey League. Now, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound winger is fourth on the Comets in scoring.
“He’s a big guy and he’s got some slippery skills,” Johnson said.
The offence, of course, is led by Boucher, who sits seventh in the league in scoring, and Goldobin, who has 26 points in 23 games for the Comets. Both are elite offensive players at the AHL level and both, according to Johnson, have been leaders in the locker-room.
“They’re right on the cusp and it would be easy for them to lose their focus with all the movement,” Johnson said. “But they’ve been a huge example for our younger players.”
Cassels has enjoyed a bounceback season after the early part of his pro career was marred by injuries and indifferent play. He’ll never be a scorer, but he’s found a niche with the Comets as a dependable 200-foot player.
“Character kid, and he’s hard to play against,” Johnson said.
The Comets, as it happens, celebrated their 100th straight sellout Wednesday night, and that’s the other part of the franchise’s story. The Canucks’ relationship with the Utica, N.Y., market seemed like an odd marriage when it was consummated five years ago, and it remains an unorthodox arrangement.
Separated by almost 5,000 kilometres, the process of transporting a call-up from Utica to Van City involves a 45-minute car ride to Syracuse, N.Y., a 6 a.m. flight to Toronto and an 8 p.m. flight to Vancouver. At least those involved have had ample opportunity to perfect that drill this season.
But Linden also loves the setup there, loves the accountability of a hockey-first market and its proximity to a half-dozen AHL teams. He’s also an admirer of Robert Esche, the old Coyotes and Flyers goalie who serves as the Comets’ president and directed the upgrades to the team’s facilities.
There are two years left on the Canucks’ deal with Utica.
“There’s a real life at a Comets game,” Linden said. “There’s so much good there. If the only negative is the distance, I don’t know if it makes sense to move.”
Doesn’t sound like that’s about to change.