When Adam Gaudette’s Northeastern University was knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Frozen Four on Saturday, it seemed inevitable that he would sign with the Canucks soon after. Sure enough, Gaudette signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Canucks on Monday and could be in the lineup on Thursday when the Canucks face the Edmonton Oilers.
Given his age, Gaudette will burn a year off his contract this season and will start the second year of his contract in the 2018-19 season.
The centre is coming off a stunning junior season in the NCAA, where he led all of college hockey in goals, points, and points per game. His numbers are eye-catching — 30 goals and 60 points in 38 games — and he’s a favourite to win the Hobey Baker Award.
Heading into the season, Canucks Director of Player Development Ryan Johnson had some extremely laudatory things to say about Gaudette.
“He’s been somebody I’ve kind of had in my back pocket for a couple years and now I can’t keep him secret anymore,” said Johnson. “It’s amazing to see his strength and his stride coming together the way we thought it would.”
“Could he have come out this year and competed and done well?” he continued. “Yes. But his intention is to put on some more weight and get stronger and he doesn’t want to come out and just survive or compete, he wants to come out and hit the ground running.”
Gaudette will have an opportunity to do just that, as the Canucks roster has been decimated by injuries. He could step in for Nic Dowd as a fourth-line centre or cut his teeth on the wing, perhaps with Bo Horvat or the Sedins.
One particular skill in Gaudette’s tool kit could make him a good fit for the Canucks’ power play right off the hop. He has an excellent shot, particularly when it comes to one-timers. Most importantly, Gaudette is a right-hand shot, and typically set up on the left side of Northeastern’s top power play unit.
You can probably see where I’m going with this. Since Brock Boeser suffered a season-ending injury, the Canucks have been missing a right-shooting option on the left side of the first unit on the power play. They’ve tried to fill the gap with Sam Gagner and even rotated the left-shooting Bo Horvat to the left side in their last game.
Gaudette provides a more elegant solution. He already has plenty of experience finishing one-timers, rebounds, and backdoor plays on the left side. He had 11 power play goals and led the NCAA with 27 power play points this season.
It’s easy to imagine a future where Gaudette anchors a strong second power play unit behind a first power play unit of Boeser, Bo Horvat, and Elias Pettersson.
All of this planning might be premature, of course, as it remains to be seen just how ready Gaudette is for the professional game. It’s best to keep expectations a little more modest for Gaudette in these final few games and in the coming season. It’s extremely unlikely that he repeats Boeser’s feat of four goals in nine games.
More reasonable expectations might be 15 goals and 25 points next season if he plays the full year with the Canucks, but it would also make sense for Gaudette to get some seasoning in the AHL if he doesn’t earn a spot in training camp and preseason.
There are plenty of reasons to be excited about Gaudette: his well-rounded two-way game seemingly ensures some sort of NHL future, even if he may not ultimately become a top-six forward. While not a guarantee, Gaudette has the makeup of an excellent third-line centre, in the vein of Ryan Kesler’s early years as a Canuck.
As an added bonus, Gaudette is pretty much found money. He was a fifth-round pick in 2015, selected with the pick acquired in the Raphael Diaz trade to the New York Rangers. Diaz was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens for Dale Weise, who was a waiver-wire pickup from the Rangers back in 2011.
Essentially, if you follow the trail back far enough, the Rangers practically gave the Canucks a fifth-round pick for free and possibly solved some of their future woes at centre.
(I don’t think I need to hammer home the point that Gaudette, one of the top prospects in the Canucks’ system, was selected with a late-round pick acquired via trading a depth defenceman)
There are some interesting wrinkles to signing Gaudette now. Gaudette won’t be eligible for arbitration or offer sheets when his initial contract expires. He will, however, be eligible for a potential expansion draft if Seattle joins the NHL in 2020 and would have to be protected.
In addition, Gaudette will not be eligible to play for the Utica Comets in the playoffs if he plays for the Canucks this season.
