Vancouver Canucks - Prospects

The Vancouver Canucks had 25 players appear in at least 12 games last season. Only one of them, forward Jordan Schroeder, was a draft pick by the team since 2005. A long run of success (10 Stanley Cup Playoff berths in 12 seasons) meant a talented roster was tough to crack. The resulting late first-round picks made it more difficult to find a top-level prospect able to break through. Vancouver enters this training camp proclaiming there are vacancies on its roster for prospects, though maybe not as many as the brass makes it seem.

1. Nicklas Jensen, LW: No. 2 last year, the 29th pick in the 2011 NHL Draft will look to get off this list for good by becoming a full-time NHL player this season. The 6-foot-2, 202-pound native of Denmark started last season with AIK of the Elitserien, the top professional league in Sweden, where he had 17 goals in 50 games. He had two goals and two assists in 20 games for the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League before going scoreless in a two-game NHL debut.

2. Bo Horvat, C: The player who indirectly solved the Canucks' goaltending controversy (for now), Horvat was chosen with the ninth pick of the 2013 NHL Draft, acquired from the New Jersey Devils in the trade for Cory Schneider. He is the Canucks' highest pick since the Sedins were taken second and third in 1999. Horvat (6-foot, 206 pounds) had 61 points (33 goals) in 67 games for the highly successful London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League. The team won 24 straight games, finished 50-13-2-3 and won the league championship.

3. Brendan Gaunce, C: Captain of the Belleville Bulls of the OHL, the 26th pick of the 2012 NHL Draft had 60 points (33 goals) in 60 regular-season games last season, missing almost a month with a separated shoulder. He had 22 playoff points (eight goals), scoring at least one point in 14 of 17 games. At 6-foot-2, 207 pounds, Gaunce was voted the best defensive forward in the OHL's Eastern Conference and is training with Gary Roberts this summer.

4. Frank Corrado, D: The 20-year-old defenseman played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, quite a climb from being the 150th pick in the 2011 NHL Draft. Corrado (6-foot, 190 pounds) made his NHL debut April 22 and played three-regular season games and all four playoff games for the Canucks; he did not have a point and was a minus-2. During the OHL season, he was traded from Sudbury to Kitchener and finished with 45 points (seven goals) and a plus-19 rating in 69 games. In 259 OHL games, he had 15 goals, 95 assists and 310 penalty minutes.

5. Joacim Eriksson, G: The Canucks signed Eriksson as a free agent on June 17, two weeks before they traded Schneider. Eriksson, 23, has played his entire career in Sweden; last season with Skelleftea he had a 1.06 goals-against average and .952 save percentage in 10 playoff games to win the Swedish Elite League championship. That followed a 1.67 GAA and .931 save percentage in the regular season. Eriksson (6-foot-2, 190 pounds) could compete with Eddie Lack for the job backing up Roberto Luongo. Lack, No. 1 on this list last year, turns 26 in January; he missed most of last season with a hip injury that required surgery but is expected to be healthy for training camp. Eriksson was chosen by the Philadelphia Flyers in seventh round (No. 196) in the 2008 NHL Draft but never signed with them.

6. Hunter Shinkaruk, LW: Vancouver drafted Shinkaruk with the 24th pick this year; the forward was the No. 5 rated North American skater in Central Scouting's final rankings after scoring 86 points (37 goals) for Medicine Hat in the Western Hockey League last season. Shinkaruk had 219 points in 193 WHL games, scoring 49 goals in 2011-12. At 5-foot-10, 181 pounds, he turns 19 in October.

7. Patrick McNally, D: The 21-year-old had his sophomore season at Harvard cut short when he was suspended because of a university-wide academic scandal. McNally (6-foot-2, 180 pounds) played seven games, with a goal and two assists. As a freshman, the 115th pick in the 2010 NHL Draft was a finalist for the ECAC Rookie of the Year Award, with 28 points (six goals) in 34 games.

8. Joe Cannata, G: The 23-year-old American took advantage injuries to emerge within the organization. Cannata (6-foot-1, 200 pounds) dressed as Luongo's backup when Schneider was sidelined at the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Cannata, the 173rd pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, also moved up to take Lack's place with the Chicago Wolves. In 14 AHL games, Cannata had a 6-6-0 record, 2.65 goals-against average and .912 save percentage. With Kalamazoo of the ECHL, he was 3-4-0 with a 3.29 GAA and .905 save percentage.

9. Kellan Lain, C/LW: Signed as a free agent in March after three seasons at Lake Superior State, Lain, at 6-foot-6, 222 pounds, is proving to be hard to overlook. Lain had 39 points and 210 penalty minutes in 108 games for Lake Superior, including 111 penalty minutes in 32 games last season. His college coach, Jim Roque, said the 23-year-old could get even bigger.

10. Yann Sauve, D: The 41st pick of the 2008 NHL Draft made his NHL debut with five games in 2011 and hasn't been back since. But the Canucks chose to re-sign the 23-year-old in July and perhaps can find a spot for the 6-foot-3, 220-pound veteran of 174 pro games and 251 in junior. Last season, he had two assists in 17 games with the Wolves, and 19 points (10 goals) in 32 games with the Wings.