SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Zack MacEwen scored his first NHL goal Tuesday for the Vancouver Canucks and that has many people feeling very good for the 23-year-old Stratford native.
It is great to see anyone get their first goal but the route that MacEwen has taken to the NHL makes his accomplishment a little extra special. The six-foot-four, 211-pound forward was never drafted to major junior, or the NHL.
MacEwen played 96 games for the Maritime Junior Hockey League's Amherst Ramblers in the 2013-14 and the 2014-15 seasons, where he had a combined 38 goals and 28 assists. In his second season in Amherst, the Moncton Wildcats thought enough of his play to give him a nine-game look in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League before signing him to play the 2015-16 season.
After a year in Moncton, he was traded to Gatineau and in those two seasons in the Q, MacEwen flourished with a combined 41 goals and 73 assists. The Vancouver Canucks took notice and signed MacEwen to a contract.
Dedication, determination and, most of all, hard work has gotten MacEwen to the Big Show and his story should be an inspiration to many, especially those who have gone undrafted like MacEwen. He obviously never gave up on his dream and now is an NHLer.
He makes an NHL salary of $847,500 per season on a contract that expires at season's end when he becomes a restricted free agent. It is great to see another Islander make the NHL and hopefully his success continues and he signs a new contract and has a great NHL career.
Junior hockey
The Brooks Bandits are the defending Canadian junior A hockey champions and look like they have a very good chance of defending that title.
They are once again the top-ranked junior A team in the country, a position they have held for most of this season.
They have a record of 29-1-1 and that is very impressive when one considers they have 13 rookies in their lineup and only five returnees from last year's championship team. They have been a dominant team over the last eight years in the Alberta Junior Hockey League, where they have won five of the last eight league championships.
Local fans will remember them as the team that beat the Summerside Western Capitals 3-1 in Summerside in the 2013 national final. They have had plenty of success since and also made the 2017 Canadian championship final, losing 3-2 in overtime to the Cobourg Cougars.
Three national championship finals in seven years and winning two of them puts them in a class by themselves. Considering the turnover of players in junior, it makes their accomplishment even more impressive.
They had a record of 57-3 last year and combined with this year are 86-4-1 in their last 91 regular-season games. If they win the Canadian championship this year, they will become only the third team to win back-to-back titles since Tier 2 junior hockey changed to a tournament format in 1985.
The Vernon Lakers from British Columbia repeated as national champions in 1990 and 1991 while the Vernon Vipers did the same in 2009 and 2010.
Brooks, Alta., is a town of about 14,500 people and is 186 kilometres southeast of Calgary.
Maybe the seventh-ranked team in the nation, the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals, will meet the Bandits in this year's Canadian final and get a chance to avenge that 2013 loss. The national championship is now once again called the Centennial Cup and will be played in Portage la Prairie, Man., in May.
NHL
Connor McDavid is considered to be the best player in hockey and is the highest paid at $12.5 million per season. Nathan MacKinnon is considered by many as the next best player in hockey and makes $6.3 million, which is a little better than half of what McDavid makes.
MacKinnon may be the best bargain contract in the NHL and his team, the Colorado Avalanche, has him signed through to the end of the 2022-23 season.
Colorado has one of the NHL's best young teams and currently sit in second place in the Western Conference with a 18-8-2 record. They are on the threshold of being a legitimate Stanley Cup contender and winning the Cup is what MacKinnon has his sights set on.
He knows he is a bargain but does not let it concern him. This week he told Forbes Magazine he would take less than his value on his next contract if it meant the Avalanche had a better chance of winning. He would sooner the Avalanche have the salary cap space to build a winner than get paid his fair market value. That is refreshing to hear and it is too bad more players do not feel the same.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have four players who make more than MacKinnon and their over-$40-million combined salaries is almost half of the total salary cap of $82 million per team. The Leafs are so hog-tied by the salaries of Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander they have no room to even get a decent back-up goalie. Not one of those four Leafs has the talent of MacKinnon and, obviously, the desire to win like MacKinnon.
I don't mean to pick on Toronto, but they are an easy target after overpaying the four players mentioned to create their current cap crunch.
The 24-year-old MacKinnon says when he signed the $44-million contract in July 2016 he was just so excited he could make that much money at such a young age of 20. The Cole Harbor, N.S., native has been one of my favourite players and I like him even more after reading what he had to say this week.
Have a great week.
Related links:
• MacEwen tallies first NHL goal in Canucks win
• Vancouver Canucks prospect Zack MacEwen looking forward to next steps
• MacEwen has gone from minor midget, junior A to signing NHL contract
Joe MacIntyre is a local life insurance broker. His column appears every Saturday. Comments and suggestions can be sent to [email protected].
