Welcome to Canucks on the Farm, a regular column covering all things Abbotsford Canucks. Throughout the 2023-24 season, we will be focusing on the players that make up the farm team of the Vancouver Canucks and keeping you up to date with everything that is happening in Abbotsford.
The Abbotsford Canucks should be an exciting team this season with returning players Vasily Podkolzin, Arshdeep Bains, Linus Karlsson, Danila Klimovich, and Aatu Raty leading the charge. They might even get Nils Aman and former 35-goal man Sheldon Dries back from Vancouver (if he passes through waivers). But in this first edition, rookies are in the spotlight as fans will get to see at least five prospects wear the Johnny Canuck for the first time when the Canucks kick off the season in Laval on Oct. 13.
Josh Bloom
Acquired in the trade that sent Riley Stillman to the Buffalo Sabres, Josh Bloom will be turning pro this season and could be a major part of Abbotsford’s forward group. Likely slotting into the top-six and on the power play, the former third-round pick from 2021 could play alongside a center like Raty or Dries and have a productive rookie campaign in the AHL.
Bloom is coming off a career in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) that saw him score 68 goals and 146 points in 189 games split between the Saginaw Spirit and the North Bay Battalion. He was captain of the Spirit for 19 games last season before getting traded to the Battalion, and wore the “A” in 2021-22, so leadership is also part of the package he brings to the ice.
Related: Canucks’ Hoglander Has an Opportunity to Breakout in 2023-24
Bloom signed his entry-level contract (ELC) with the Sabres in 2022 and is already showing potential of becoming an effective winger in the NHL. Despite missing an entire season in his draft year due to the pandemic, his development hasn’t been stunted. With 62 goals and 132 points in the two seasons since he was drafted, he has blossomed (pun intended) into a legitimate top prospect and could end up being one of the steals of the 2021 Draft.
Aidan McDonough
Aidan McDonough made his debut last season with the big club and scored his first NHL goal in only his second game. Now, he will turn his attention to Abbotsford and possibly become one of the best wingers the league has to offer. He has a minuscule chance of making Vancouver’s opening night roster, but the logjam of wingers at Rogers Arena will likely send him up the freeway to Abbotsford Center. That fact will only excite the locals as his lethal shot on the power play has already made headlines at the Young Stars tournament and throughout his career at Northeastern in the NCAA.
McDonough led the festivities in Penticton with three goals and was clearly one of the best forwards on the ice. Expect him to take up his normal spot on the power play at the right faceoff dot and blast his signature one-timer or snipe-show of a wrist shot all season long. Like Bloom, he is also coming off a season where he wore the ‘C’ for his team as he finished his NCAA career with 66 goals and 124 points in 124 games. Don’t be surprised to see McDonough’s name on the scoresheet a lot this season – especially when it comes to power play goals.
Cole McWard/Akito Hirose
Judging by training camp and the preseason so far, it appears either Cole McWard or Akito Hirose will be making Vancouver’s opening night roster. So Abbotsford fans will see one of them patrolling the blue line in their home opener on Oct. 20. Both McWard and Hirose were headliners in Penticton and have continued to impress in the preseason. McWard in particular has been a surprise and might have the leg up on Hirose at this point. He has been paired with Quinn Hughes regularly in the preseason and hasn’t looked out of place; except for the game on Saturday (Sept. 30) when he took three minor penalties. He also garnered praise from head coach Rick Tocchet and was compared to John Marino of the New Jersey Devils.
“I really like McWard a lot. I think he’s got a bright future for the Canucks…There’s a lot of good stories out there — I’m not saying it’s gonna happen for him — but look at John Marino in Pittsburgh. He came from nowhere and had a great year” (from ‘Vancouver Canucks preseason stock watch: Who’s rising, who’s falling after training camp?’, The Athletic, 9/27/23).
If McWard makes it down to the AHL, he should be a staple in the top-four and could be a good partner for Christian Wolanin on the top pairing.
As for Hirose, his calm and cool game appears to be NHL-ready, but could get the Troy Stecher treatment and be sent down to the AHL. Stecher, if fans remember, was a standout in the preseason after signing with the Canucks, but was dispatched to the Utica Comets. He only lasted four games down there, though, and the rest is history as he hasn’t seen the AHL since. That might be in the cards for Hirose (or even McWard for that matter). Regardless, Abby fans will get to see one of them donning the Johnny Canuck at some point this season.
Dmitri Zlodeyev
Dmitri Zlodeyev will be joining Abbotsford’s training camp in Chilliwack with eyes on signing a contract (American Hockey League or ELC) and making his pro debut this season. Drafted by the old regime in 2020, he has played his entire career in Russia so far shuttling between the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), VHL, and MHL. He finished last season in the VHL with Khimik Voskresensk where he scored seven goals and 13 points in 33 games and three goals in the playoffs en route to a VHL championship.
Projected by TSN’s Craig Button to be an “elite offensive no. 1 center” before he was selected in the sixth round by the Canucks, Zlodeyev hasn’t exactly lit any league on fire in his first three seasons since then. Primarily playing in the MHL (Russia’s junior league), he had a career-high of 17 goals and 34 points in 18 games, and never scored a goal in the KHL. That’s not exactly a stat line of a future elite no. 1 center.
Having said that, Zlodeyev’s ceiling is still a very good two-way third-line center who has the skill set to jump into the top-six. His high-end faceoff abilities have been showcased in the MHL, as have his creativity and hands around the net. He is also very good defensively and competes hard every shift he’s on the ice. It will be interesting to see if he sticks in the AHL because due to the rumoured termination of his KHL contract, he doesn’t have anywhere else to play.
Filip Johansson
Finally, we have Filip Johansson, who way back in 2018 was a first-round pick of the Minnesota Wild. They decided not to sign him, and the Canucks swooped in and inked him to an ELC in June of last year. He is coming off a season where he scored five goals and 21 points in 51 games for Frolunda in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) and two goals and five points in the playoffs. Known for his cannon from the point, the hope is that one day he can become the Sami Salo of the power play that the Canucks haven’t had since he left in free agency back in 2012.
Johansson made his pro debut in the 2023 AHL Playoffs against the Calgary Wranglers and will now be relied on to quarterback one of the power play units in Abbotsford this season. Wolanin will likely take up his usual spot on the first unit, but head coach Jeremy Colliton might opt to use two defencemen as opposed to four forwards considering Johansson is a right-shot and Wolanin is a left.
Lots of Excitement For a 3rd Season of AHL Hockey in Abbotsford
Fans in Abbotsford have been treated to a good AHL team over the last two seasons. They will now have five more rookies to cheer on, and maybe even six if 6-foot-6 goaltender Nikita Tolopilo sticks with the team over Zach Sawchenko, or the club decides to carry three goaltenders. However, with the Canucks’ recent affiliation with the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings, they might want to keep all of their goaltenders active rather than having them sit in the press box. Regardless, it should be another exciting season filled with plenty of storylines to follow.
As for when that excitement will begin, the Canucks start their third campaign on the road in Laval on Oct. 13 before coming home for a four-game homestand on Oct. 20 that will have them facing the Wranglers and Colorado Eagles twice. Before that, they will have training camp in Chilliwack beginning on Oct. 4 and running through Oct. 7.
