NHL Prospect Roundup: Vancouver Canucks fans, get ready for Aidan McDonough

Steven Ellis
Steven Ellis
NHL Prospect Roundup: Vancouver Canucks fans, get ready for Aidan McDonough

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Welcome to March Madness.

With European playoffs in full swing, and most North American junior leagues in the regular season stretch run, there’s good hockey just about every night if you’re a keen prospect follower. So if your team is in the running for Connor Bedard, you probably aren’t tuning in to watch many NHL games right now.

It’s especially interesting with the NCAA playoffs, too. With teams bowing out early, we’ll start to see some notable NHL prospects sign with their respective clubs quite shortly – and perhaps get into some early game action.

So, let’s start off with a pair of notable college kids you’ll hear about very soon:

NCAA

– With Northeastern’s season coming to a close over the weekend, a few key seniors are set to turn pro in the coming days. That includes forward Aidan McDonough, who led all Huskies in scoring with 20 goals and 38 points in 34 games. The 23-year-old senior was a seventh-round pick by the Vancouver Canucks in 2019 after a solid but not overly spectacular USHL campaign with Cedar Rapids. He continued to show consistent improvement during his four-year college career that saw him don the “C” this season. The 6-foot-2 forward has an NHL-ready shot, great size and is much better defensively than he was even two years ago. Seventh-round picks rarely make it to the big leagues, but it’s looking like McDonough could be a serviceable option for the Canucks, assuming he does indeed ink a deal with them ahead of the summer.

– Speaking of Northeastern, keep an eye on Montreal Canadiens prospect Jayden Struble. The 21-year-old defenseman was a steady 10-14-point producer in his four-year run with the Huskies and never really took that next step offensively. Still, some scouts think he’ll surprise people with his puck smarts if he makes it to the NHL. He’s confident with the puck, plays an aggressive game, and is a great skater, too. The Canadiens have a fascinating defensive pool, and signing Struble would help strengthen that.

AHL

– One of the more notable CHL free agent signings last year, Tye Kartye has looked excellent with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The Seattle Kraken signed the undrafted forward last year and his play is paying off, scoring 23 goals and 44 points in 56 games. Kartye is fourth in scoring among U-22 AHLers, beating out quality prospects like William Eklund (San Jose), Thomas Bordeleau (San Jose) and Tyson Foerster (Philadelphia). That was a huge win for the Kraken, who are simply just trying to build a solid prospect pool out of thin air.

– Now that’s how you do it. An injury kept Bobby McMann out of the Toronto Marlies’ lineup for two weeks, leaving a big hole in the team’s top six. He returned on Sunday and scored a hat-trick while leading everyone with seven shots. It was one of the best games of McMann’s career, and he now has 13 goals in his last 10 games. He’s now up to 21 goals and 29 points in a year that also saw him get an eight-game stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs. That wasn’t overly productive, but the 26-year-old has been a huge revelation for the Marlies this season and has a chance to be a decent depth piece next season.

ECHL

– It’s always tough for a rookie goalie to earn playing time in pro hockey, especially as a sixth-round pick. But Dallas Stars prospect Remi Poirier showed signs of being a good value pick late in his junior career, and now he’s making noise in the ECHL. In 23 games, Poirier has a 19-2-1 record with three shutouts and a .928 save percentage, making him the best goaltender in the league right now, statistically. He also has a 4-2-1 record with the AHL’s Texas Stars, a team that has used a whopping five goalies this season. Dallas’ goalie situation is set with Jake Oettinger, but the 21-year-old Poirier could be a long-term backup option.

WHL

– Denton Mateychuk put up a respectable 13 goals as a draft-eligible defender last year, but he entered Sunday’s contest riding a 37-game goal-less streak. Mateychuk, a Columbus Blue Jackets prospect, scored twice and added two other assists in Moose Jaw’s big 7-3 win over Swift Current to close off the weekend. The talented two-way defenseman is creative, smart and very capable at rushing the puck down the ice. So, despite his struggles to actually put pucks in the net this year, he’s still up to 10 goals and 64 points in 60 games. Not too shabby, I’d say.

– It’s rare for Matthew Savoie not to pop in on the scoresheet. He’s up to 21 points in his past nine games, including six points in three games this week and a five-point effort on Feb. 28. The Winnipeg Ice have one of the more high-end scoring groups, especially with 2023 NHL Draft star Zach Benson, but Savoie has been so vital once again. He’s on pace for 40 goals and 96 points this year, a bump from his outstanding 90-point rookie campaign a year ago. Savoie is one of the Buffalo Sabres‘ top prospects, and he should be one of Canada’s better players at the next World Junior Championship.

QMJHL

– Life can be tough for a QMJHL goaltender, and Carolina Hurricanes draft pick Patrik Hamrla knows that all too well. He had a fantastic 35-save shutout effort on Sunday, but only after getting outscored 14-3 in his three previous starts. The 19-year-old is tied with 20-year-old Olivier Adam for the league lead with five shutouts, which isn’t always easy to do in a high-scoring, low-defense league like the Q. Hamrla can be an absolute game-saver, and the big 6-foot-3 puckstopper should be able to adjust to the North American pro game reasonably smoothly.

OHL

– Still unsigned by the San Jose Sharks, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with Barrie Colts forward Ethan Cardwell. Drafted in the fourth round in 2021, Cardwell recorded his third four-point night of the season on Saturday, a two-goal, two-assist effort in a 5-2 win over Sudbury. He’s now up to 38 goals and 82 points and should surpass the 40-goal, 90-point mark by the end of the regular season. The Colts got an absolute mega boost from defenseman Brandt Clarke, who has 16 goals and 48 points in 27 games since returning home from the World Junior Championship. Cardwell has been a big benefactor of that.

MHL

– It’s been a solid season for 18-year-old Sergei Murashov, a fourth-round pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2022. The midsized goaltender has a 26-9-6 record with a .946 save percentage and a whopping 11 shutouts, five more than anyone else in the Russian junior league. Granted, the competition isn’t always great in the MHL, but he also won his KHL debut with Yaroslavl earlier this year, too. I’d like to see him face tougher competition next year.

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