Jett Woo is not the one Canucks prospect who re-discovered his potential with Jeremy Colliton’s Abbotsford Canucks in 2022-23.
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Jett Woo regrets not making the NHL final season. That is now the yr, he hopes.
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That he’s even able to lament how his 2022-23 season went says every thing about how totally different his potential profession seems to be now in comparison with even a yr in the past, when “busted prospect” was being whispered by observers of the Vancouver Canucks.
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The 2021-22 season had been a battle for the once-promising hard-rock defenceman. That was the 2018 second-round draft choose’s second skilled season and it had been a battle. He was typically a wholesome scratch, and when he did get within the lineup, he typically skated as a ahead.
It appeared he was roster filler, a participant who was suiting up just because there was nobody else.
That was a far cry from the participant the Canucks hoped would become mid-range defensive stalwart.
As a normal rule, second-picks stand an excellent probability of enjoying within the NHL, particularly 5 years out. Seventeen of the 31 gamers picked within the 2018 second spherical have suited up for NHL contests; 22 of 31 gamers picked within the 2017 second spherical.
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Final season, although, he bought himself again on the right track. He wasn’t alone in that regard, as new AHL head coach Jeremy Colliton clearly introduced a breath of recent air to a squad that wanted a brand new voice. Underneath Colliton, Abbotsford made the second spherical of the playoffs however extra importantly, nearly each Canucks prospect who suited up in Abbotsford bought a brand new gleam to their potential.
Earlier this yr Abbotsford Canucks GM Ryan Johnson mentioned that Woo had discovered his identification once more and thought he would possibly even play NHL video games within the 2023-24 season.
For his half, Woo mentioned he was disenchanted he didn’t go well with up in an NHL recreation. It was a objective he’d set for himself coming into the season, even when the season earlier than hadn’t gone fairly as deliberate.
“I attempt to make targets that I do know I could make and targets which are fairly far on the market,” he acknowledged this week after skating along with his teammates on the College of B.C., per week forward of the start of the Canucks’ NHL coaching camp in Victora. “I do know I’m somebody that I try in the direction of issues like that and I feel if I make some excessive targets that makes places me in a great place.”
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Discovering NHL minutes will solely occur if he places his greatest foot ahead, he is aware of. And which means staying centered on what he does greatest.
“I simply bought to be noticeable at camp. I bought to be sensible. Transfer pucks. Be easy. And play onerous on D. Though I bought some factors final yr, I feel the staple of my recreation is enjoying onerous D and being somebody they will depend on in most conditions,” he mentioned. “I grew up all the time enjoying defence-first. I do know I’m somebody that may that may impression the sport enjoying D and making hits and enjoying sensible within the D zone. And I’m somebody that, , guys don’t wish to go up towards in apply and in video games. So I feel simply preserve that up and attempt to make that into the NHL recreation too.”
Woo’s self-assessment echoed what the Canucks then-director of beginner scouting Judd Brackett mentioned after the 2018 draft.
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“He stored fairly calculated when he joined the push,” Bracket mentioned on the time. “His skill to defend is what stands out.”
Being a right-shot defenceman helps considerably. The Canucks have a protracted record of defencemen who can play on the left and who can be preventing for a call-up, however on the best facet, the trail to a call-up is a little bit clearer. If Woo doesn’t make the Canucks to start out the season, he’ll seemingly have only a single rival on the best facet of the Abbotsford blueline for an preliminary call-up, both Noah Juulsen, who impressed the NHL teaching workers late final season, or Matt Irwin, who the Canucks signed as a veteran depth presence this summer time.
For Woo, the time is nearly now.
At 23, he’s undoubtedly discovered his man power he mentioned. And he’s weighing in at only a contact over 200 kilos, a measurement he’s very comfy with.
“I really feel quick. I really feel robust,” he declared.
DOUBLE IT — Woo, who wore 4 final season for Abbotsford however was tentatively assigned 52 had he been known as as much as Vancouver final season, is ready to sport No. 44 this season. “What’s higher that one 4? Two,” he quipped when requested concerning the quantity change.
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