Young Guns
Prospects aiming to play a big role in the Canucks’ future get an opportunity next week to showcase their present skills
It already seems like Connor McDavid’s tournament. Ninety other players will be in Penticton just to provide a stage.
At least Vancouver Canucks prospect Jake Virtanen has a plan to get noticed.
“I told him he better keep his head up,” Virtanen said this week. “He just laughed.”
Next weekend’s Young Stars Classic Tournament has always been a good idea — the Canucks and three other National Hockey League teams taking their best prospects to the Okanagan to play each other ahead of main training camps the following week. But the appearance of McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers’ first-overall pick considered the best prospect in a generation, makes this year’s tournament a must-see event.
His first game as a professional is expected to be Friday night against the Canucks’ kids at the South Okanagan Events Centre. The Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets are also in the four-day tournament.
Virtanen, who has a chance to make the Canucks this fall as a 19-year-old power forward, wasn’t kidding about trying to hit McDavid. But there will be no malice to it.
“I’ve gotten to know him quite a bit through world juniors and stuff and he’s actually a really good guy and a great player,” Virtanen explained. “There will be a lot of great players there, McDavid and a lot of high-end guys. It will be fun to just compare yourself to some of those guys, see where you are and test yourself against those guys.
“I’ve gone all summer, training hard. But Penticton is kind of the first step toward making the Canucks. It’s only the first step, but I’m ready for it.”
The sixth pick of the 2014 draft, Virtanen will be playing in a Vancouver Canucks jersey for the first time. Rehab from shoulder surgery kept the winger from Abbotsford out of the rookie tournament and NHL pre-season a year ago, although Virtanen made his pro debut last spring for the Canucks’ farm team in Utica, N. Y., after his junior season ended with the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen.
This tournament will also be the first exposure to professional hockey — they hope — for top Canucks prospects Jared McCann and Cole Cassels, who missed the Young Stars event last year because of mononucleosis. Each is recovering from injury, McCann from a sprained shoulder sustained with Team Canada at the World Junior Showcase a month ago and Cassels from an abdominal injury he endured most of last season before completing his outstanding campaign with the Memorial Cup-champion Oshawa Generals.
The two centres haven’t yet been cleared to play in Penticton, but Canucks general manager Jim Benning said both are expected on Vancouver’s prospects team.
“Last year, I missed out on it and that sucked,” McCann, a 19-year-old first-round pick from London, Ont., said after skating with several would-be Canuck teammates this week in Vancouver. “It wasn’t fun. I was out quite a while and missed some of the season, too. It sucked. I’m a competitive person. It’s my dream to play in the NHL and I know how hard I have to work to get there. I’m excited to play (in this tournament). It will be my first time.”
Minor-league winger Brendan Gaunce has been there before. At age 21 and with a rookie season in the American Hockey League behind him, the 2012 firstrounder from Markham, Ont., is among the most experienced Canuck prospects.
Eclipsed at centre by subsequent first- round Canuck picks Bo Horvat and McCann, Gaunce’s likelihood of making the NHL increased with his switch to left wing last season under AHL coach Travis Green.
“It was a little different for sure because it is a different game playing on the wing,” Gaunce said after skating with Virtanen and McCann at Britannia Arena. “But to be versatile is a big thing in today’s game. It’s definitely a positive.
“I learned a ton. (Professional hockey) is a lot different than junior, for sure. Just the schedule and the way guys practise and the way guys play, it’s totally different. You can feel that it’s guys’ jobs now instead of being like just a hobby.
“You’re not trying to make the team over someone else. You’re just trying to show what you can do and separate yourself. There’s definitely a chance for me to play in the NHL this year and I’m going to try to make my dream come true.”
Every player in the tournament shares the same dream. It’s the degree of difficulty that varies from, say, McDavid to undrafted 24-year-old goalie Clay Witt, who signed with the Canucks’ farm team last week after finishing his college career at Northeastern University.
Vancouver’s 24- player roster for Penticton also includes 2015 third-rounder Guillaume Brisebois, the Quebec defenceman drafted with the pick Benning acquired in the Eddie Lack trade, offensive blue- liners Jordan Subban and Ben Hutton, 2013 first-rounder Hunter Shinkaruk, converted defenceman Mackenze Stewart, Russian draft pick Dmitry Zhukenov and former McDavid junior teammate Kyle Pettit.
None of these prospects have the same chance to play in the NHL this season as Virtanen, who shed about 15 pounds over the summer and could play for the Canucks as a 19-year-old the way Horvat did last season.
Horvat and Virtanen are at the leading edge of Vancouver’s youth movement and the Canucks could badly use the excitement that having Virtanen on the team would bring.
“For me, just obviously getting stronger and losing a lot of body fat was important,” the 6-foot-1, 212-pound Virtanen said. “I’ve put in a lot of hard work this summer and I think so far it has paid off.
“It’s obviously in the back of my mind that I could be on the Canucks this year as a rookie. It’s pretty cool. But you just have to take things day by day and not look ahead too far.”
Benning said he wants to see progress among his prospects. They should be comfortable playing among peers in Penticton, he said, and gain confidence ahead of the Canucks’ main training camp Sept. 17-20 in Prince George. If they keep improving, they’ll get pre-season games with the Canucks and a chance to make the team.
“We just want them to feel comfortable and do the things that we drafted them for,” Benning said. “Compete hard on a shift-to-shift basis.”
That includes Virtanen, who doesn’t actually have to run over McDavid to get management’s attention.
“We’ve talked to Jake,” Benning said. “There’s no pressure on him to do something he’s not capable of doing. He has the physical skills — we all know that. And he’s worked hard to get himself into the physical shape to play against men. If he’s ready and he can help our team win, then we’ll figure out a way for him to get into the lineup.”
The NHL lineup.