Jett Woo wants his game to match his starlike name
Canucks defensive prospect won’t give up his heavy game
Vancouver Canucks prospect Jett Woo was watching Shea Weber as a young kid when he began to visualize exactly the type of defenceman he wanted to be some day.
“There was one play I remember where someone was skating down toward Weber and he suddenly cut to go to the other side,” Woo said. “I’m sure some people thought that player was maybe trying for a different angle for his shot. But I took it as this: He did not want to go down Shea Weber’s side of the ice.
“That’s a part of my game I’ve wanted to have as a kid.” So far, so good.
It’s been lost in Vancouver because of all the attention focused on Woo’s loose connection to Jet Li, but he has been an absolute masher in the Western Hockey League. He was easily one of the top 10 most physical players in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and probably top five.
There is a hit of his from October on Riley McKay that still resonates with anyone who has seen it. McKay was lugging the puck out of his own end as Woo accelerated from the blue-line and splattered him like a water balloon. Oh, and the pancaked McKay played at 210 pounds last season.
Among the better open-ice hitters in the Canadian Hockey League, Woo is sixfoot, 205 pounds and built like a stack of skids. Only 17 years old, he believes that style of play can continue in the pros.
“For sure because it’s been a part of my game since I was a kid,” said Woo. “I don’t see it leaving my style any time soon. I am hoping I’m going to bring that to the next level.”
Woo was one of three Moose Jaw Warriors invited to Hockey Canada’s upcoming World Junior Summer Showcase. Tim Hunter, their head coach, is set to be Canada’s coach at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship hosted by Vancouver.
“It means a lot to me,” Woo said. “To get drafted and to get this opportunity are a couple of things I’ve been working toward for a long time.”
Bent on continuing to play with that physical edge, you can understand why at the draft he answered Weber when asked which NHL player he models his game after. And like Weber, Woo has an opportunity to be much more than a defensive defenceman who can hit.
In his first 17 games last season, he had 17 points. He was playing on Moose Jaw’s top power-play unit and he was producing. In game No. 18, he got hit from behind while retrieving a puck and his shoulder was the only body part that hit the boards. He separated his AC joint and he then missed the next 6½ weeks.
“When I came back, all our guys were healthy and I kind of had to earn my ice time back,” Woo said. “I was on the third defensive pairing and had no power-play time.
“There was a bit of penalty killing, but I was really trying to earn my way back. How I saw it is that I was doing everything I needed to do to help the team and help the coach.
“I’m proud of myself and how I handled that situation.”
Woo did all the right things. So much so, Hunter is already talking about him starting this season on his top power-play unit.
Woo isn’t taking it for granted.
“It’s good to hear, but nothing is set in stone,” Woo said. “Things can change and we saw that last year.”