The all-time precedence for Hunter and Bo

Gone are Frank Corrado and Brendan Gaunce, re-assigned to Utica and Belleville, respectively. Meanwhile, the Canucks' original wave of the future, Jordan Schroeder and Nicklas Jensen, have both been reduced to the press box with a pair of injuries.

So with four of the Canucks' top prospects out of the rookie derby running, the stage was set for yesterday's report regarding Bo Horvat and Hunter Shinkaruk. Despite being the two youngest players among the team's current rookie crop, Bo's London Knights and Hunter's Medicine Hat Tigers were both informed that they'd be without their star players for at least opening night in the NHL.

Shinkaruk's offensive skill has been on full display over the pre-season (feel free to re-live this outrageousness), while Horvat has been a steady presence at centre. In other words, both have come exactly as advertised since their draft. And with one half of this new tandem costing the team one of the best goalies in the league, this is welcome news for Vancouver.

Granted, the Canucks' dearth at centre and Shanahan's most recent misjudgement Zack Kassian's suspension have as much do with this development as the pair's actual play. But credit is due to the 2013 duo for taking advantage of the opportunity.

It is rare in any circumstance that a Canucks prospect cracks the lineup in his draft year -- let alone two. That said, what sort of precedent is there for Canucks rookies cracking the roster immediately following their draft?

Thanks to a rainy afternoon and a storm of Wikipedia-ing, I can elaborate for you exactly the sort of precedence that exists. Down to the last Murray Bannerman.

Vancouver Canucks on Canada's Junior Team – All-time list

To follow up the last blog post, I thought it would be worth seeing the all-time pool from which the Canucks' All-Canadian WJC Team was chosen.  All told, there have been 27 Canucks prospects to have played for Canada at the World Juniors.  (Again, not including players to be drafted by the Canucks after their WJC appearance.)  Among those, four have played in back-to-back years – Brent Tully (1993–94), Chad Allan (1995–96), Brad Ference (1998–99) and Luc Bourdon (2006–07).* 

The first player ever to play for Canada's under-twenties as a Canucks prospect?  None other than West Coast Express architect Marc Crawford (1981).  The Crow played in the World Juniors in the last year that Canada was automatically represented by the CHL's Memorial Cup-winning team.  He is also one of three Canucks prospects to wear the "C" for Canada – the others being Jim Sandlak (1986) and Brent Tully (1994).

In total, three Canucks prospects have cracked the WJC All-Star Team for Canada – Tully (1994), Bourdon (2006) and Cody Hodgson (2008) – while Jim Sandlak stands alone in having won any of the IIHF directorate's awards as Best Forward (1986).

The 1994 and 1998 tournaments marked all-time highs for Canucks representing Canada's juniors with four in each year.  Meanwhile, there have been 20 instances since the first official tournament in 1977 that Canada was without a Canucks representative, including the current four-year spell. Conversely, a Canuck hopeful was present in eight straight Team Canadas from 1992–99.

On that note and without further ado...

-HC

*Brandon Reid played in 2000, before having been drafted, and again in 2001 as a Canucks prospect.