A Winning Habit
Fansided

Montreal Canadiens: Hunter Shinkaruk brings more skill but is another hopeful

By Omar L

GLENDALE, AZ - MARCH 28: Hunter Shinkaruk #49 of the Calgary Flames reacts after a goal by teammate TJ Brodie against the Arizona Coyotes during the third period at Gila River Arena on March 28, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. Shinkaruk had an assist on the goal. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ - MARCH 28: Hunter Shinkaruk #49 of the Calgary Flames reacts after a goal by teammate TJ Brodie against the Arizona Coyotes during the third period at Gila River Arena on March 28, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. Shinkaruk had an assist on the goal. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 5
Next
Montreal Canadiens
VANCOUVER, CANADA – OCTOBER 05: (Photo by Derek Leung/Getty Images) /

Buzz Generator

Shinkaruk saw a massive improvement from his first season in major junior. He only put up 14 goals and 28 assists in his 63-game rookie campaign and had those totals shoot up to 49 goals and 42 assists. He was never the biggest guy on the ice, but his passing and scoring abilities made him a threat in all areas of the ice.

The Calgary native also made up for that lack of physical presence by adding a feisty element to his play. Shinkaruk was hard on the forecheck and made a lot of use of his stick making little taps to steal pucks from his opponent and instantly turning them into scoring chances for his team. It would be easy to attribute the scoring to overager Emerson Etem who had 107 points (100 primary) that season. However, Shinkaruk was able to continue his scoring pace the following season with 86 points in 64 games as team captain once Etem graduated to the AHL.

After being selected 24th overall by Vancouver, Shinkaruk turned some heads at Canucks training camp that October. He scored two goals during the preseason but was sent down for another year in Medicine Hat. There was no need to rush the young forward as his skill was present, it was the size and defensive awareness that needed to be improved. But he wasn’t too far off.

Unfortunately, the then 19-year-old ran into some injury troubles. Shinkaruk had to miss three games dealing with a torn labrum in his hip after already putting up 4 goals and 6 assists in his first 7 games. That also didn’t stop him from being named to Team WHL for the Jr Super Series for the second time in a row scoring a single goal.

More issues to his hip and eventually his shoulder led to Shinkaruk being shut down for the rest of the year.

Home/Analysis