This week’s edition of Anaheim Ducks Prospects continues to focus on Sasha Pastujov’s impressive start to his junior career, what’s happening down in American Hockey League (AHL) with the San Diego Gulls, and a myriad of other prospect updates.
Pastujov Continues Torrid Scoring Pace
Entering this week with 17 points in 10 games, Pastujov has been on a scoring tear in his first Ontario Hockey League (OHL) season. Though he had his eight-game point streak snapped on Sunday, he bounced back with an assist on Tuesday and a goal last night. He now has 19 points in 12 games, which has him in a tie for third in the OHL in points. He is also tied for second in the league with 11 goals.
Doubts about Pastujov’s skating––which is what caused him to drop to the Ducks in the third round in the first place––have been quelled by the young winger’s meteoric scoring pace thus far into the season. He will continue to work with skating coach Barb Underhill to improve his skating mechanics and become a more polished skater.
It’s only a matter of time before teams begin kicking themselves for missing out on such a talented scorer because of how poor his skating originally appeared to be.
Gulls Fall to Tucson, Beat Bakersfield in SO
The Gulls have only played two games since the last Ducks Prospects update. They split the back-end of their weekend matchup against the Tucson Roadrunners before taking down the Bakersfield Condors in a shootout last night.
The Gulls got goals from Brendan Guhle, Mason McTavish, Danny O’Regan and Hunter Drew versus the Roadrunners but could not recover from a slow start. Goaltender Olle Eriksson Ek stopped 21 of 27 shots faced in the loss. McTavish became the youngest Gulls player to score a goal, his being an impressive one-timer from the end boards, almost near the goal line.
It was a week of firsts, with 2019 first-round pick Brayden Tracey scoring his first career professional goal against the Condors. He received an outlet pass from defenseman Trevor Carrick and then utilized a series of dekes to keep his man on his back and beat the Condors’ goaltender.
Carrick would later score the Gulls’ second goal of the game before Bakersfield evened the score shortly after. Jacob Perreault would score the only goal of the shootout, sending the home fans happy with a win. Eriksson Ek stopped 30 of 32 shots and secured his first win of the season.
Thrun Impressing at Harvard
2019 fourth-round pick Henry Thrun is off to a hot start in his second collegiate season. The defenseman had eight points in just two games for Harvard last week. This performance was good enough to earn him ECAC Player of the Week. Thrun is coming off a season where he played for the Dubuque Fighting Saints after Harvard’s collegiate season was canceled due to the pandemic. He had 22 points in 24 games and was also on the USA U-20 World Juniors team.
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With two more years of eligibility, it’s unlikely that Thrun will decide to go pro at the end of this season. Free agency and trades along with Thrun’s continued progression could sway him otherwise when all is said and done, but another year playing college hockey would probably be best for him.
Quick Hits
- Tyson Hinds had two assists in three games this week for Rimouski Océanic. He has five points in nine games.
- Blake McLaughlin had an assist and a goal while Jackson LaCombe had an assist for the University of Minnesota this week. Jack Perbix was scoreless.
- Olen Zellweger registered an assist in two games this week for the Everett Silvertips. The newly-appointed alternate captain has seven points in seven games.
- Ethan Bowen had a goal and an assist in three games this week for the Chilliwack Chiefs. The Chiefs’ alternate captain now has 11 points in nine games.
- Sam Colangelo had an assist in Northeastern University’s 3-2 win over the University of Maine last Saturday. He has four points in eight games, but is currently sidelined with an injury.
- Joshua Lopina has five points in five games for the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, but is currently sidelined with an injury.
- Artyom Galimov had an assist for Ak Bars Kazan on Monday and now has 11 points in 26 games.
- Skellefteå extended Albin Sundsvik’s contract through the 2022-23 season, which means the Ducks now have four seasons before they have to make a decision on whether to offer him a contract.
- Trevor Janicke had two assists in three games this week for the University of Notre Dame. He now has seven points in nine games.
That’s all for this week’s edition of Ducks Prospects. If you’d like to see these in smaller chunks via multiple posts per week instead of one big massive post, please let me know.