A total of 36 players will take part at the 2017 Vancouver Canucks Development Camp, which began with medicals, meetings and head shots today. The team now travels to Whistler, BC, for a weekend of bonding before hitting the ice July 4 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre at UBC.
Canucks Development Camp primer
By
Tyson Giuriato @TysonGiuriato / Canucks freelance writer
Fans will be able to catch a glimpse of the entire 2017 draft class, as well as eight more players from previous draft years, including Brock Boeser and Olli Juolevi.
As with any year, there will be a few new guys at camp, both part of the organization or here on an invite. We dissected the roster and broke it down for you here:
…Of the 36 players: 21 forwards, 12 defencemen and three goaltenders.
…Sixteen players are draft picks, five were signed as undrafted free agents, and 15 are here on an invite.
…Five different countries will be represented as 24 players call Canada home, six from the United States, three from Sweden, and one each from China and Finland.
…Eleven players played last season in the OHL, nine players spent last season in the NCAA, four in the QMJHL, and two in the WHL.
…This will be the third Development Camp for Boeser, Guillaume Brisebois and Adam Gaudette.
…Alexis D'Aoust and Justin Parizek are attending as invitees, but both players took part in Development Camp last year.
…Invitee Justin Parizek is the oldest player at 25 years old, while Nick Isaacson is the youngest at 17 years old.
…Zack MacEwan, who signed with the Canucks in March, checks in as the tallest in camp at 6-foot-4, while recent draft pick Petrus Palmu stands 10 inches shorter at 5-foot-6.
…Michael Carcone spent the 2016-17 season with the Utica Comets, while Boeser and Griffen Molino saw action with the Canucks at the end of the season.
…Six players attending have won a Memorial Cup: Jalen Chatfield (2017, Windsor), Michael DiPietro (2017, Windsor), Olli Juolevi (2016, London), Aiden Jamieson (2016, London), Aaron Luckuk (2017, Windsor) and Aaron Irving (2014, Edmonton).
…Speaking of Jamieson, he is a former teammate of Juolevi and Bo Horvat in London.
…There are seven BCHL products at camp this year. Two of the seven played in the BCHL last season as Trail Smoke Eaters and former Pacific Coast Hockey Academy goaltender Linden Marshall is one of the three goalies in camp, while Cowichan Valley Capitals forward and Beijing, China native Simon Chen is among the forward group.
…Invitee Steven Iacobellis was a teammate of Canucks defenceman Troy Stecher during the 2010-11 season with the Penticton Vees.
…Aaron Irving was originally drafted by Nashville in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL Draft.
…Nobody at camp scored more often last season than Canucks' second-round pick Jonah Gadjovich, who netted 46 goals with Owen Sound. His Attack teammate and fellow Canucks draft pick, Petrus Palmu, leads the way with 98 points, more than any other camper.
…Invitee R.T. Rice of Invermere, B.C. might have had the most unusual path to get to an NHL camp. After playing a couple seasons of Junior B in the KIJHL, he didn't make a Junior A team until his 19-year-old season when he joined the Estevan Bruins of the SJHL. After two seasons with the Bruins he went to Portage College, was a walk-on last season at the University of Prince Edward Island, and is now attending an NHL Development Camp. He was also featured on Season 1 of the APTN show, Hit the Ice.
