Expectations for Canucks prospect Aidan McDonough after Young Stars showing

Oftentimes, one of the most critical junctions in an NCAA hockey player’s career is the season after they leave the collegiate level and enter the professional ranks. This is no different for Vancouver Canucks prospect Aidan McDonough. 

The former seventh-round pick was selected as an overaged prospect in the 2019 draft. This would turn out to be one of the organization’s shrewdest scouting finds as the Milton-born winger went on to dominate with Northeastern University, scoring 66 goals across 124 games, brutalizing goaltenders with his powerful shot along the way. 

After signing out of college, McDonough saw action in six NHL games, culminating in his first NHL goal against Calgary last March. 

Now, an offseason later, McDonough, who is turning 24 years old in November, will need to hit the ground running to prove he has the mettle to play in the NHL, and he showed that he could do that at the 2023 Young Stars Classic. 

Success for McDonough at Young Stars

It’s easy to see the appeal of McDonough’s game from a professional standpoint. Goal scorers get paid, and that happens to be his speciality. 

The Massachusetts native was a standout among all players participating at Young Stars in Penticton, wiring three power-play goals, scoring in the shootout, and playing some heavy hockey deeper in the offensive zone. 

A relatively big player at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, McDonough’s secret to stacking power on his shot is leveraging all of that frame into this stick. Arms always pushed in front of his body, the former Northeastern captain pushes an immense amount of power from his upper body through his stick, syncing his weight transfer from his inside foot to his lead leg. 

Through the sheer technology of his stick to snap back to form, he creates a ridiculous amount of power. To top it off, McDonough’s accuracy is often precise, further compounding the issue for goaltenders. 

What makes him particularly interesting is that despite being able to overpower opponents with his mechanics, McDonough flashed a significant amount of nuance across his shooting efforts. 

He understands how to manipulate defenders into helpless blocking positions by loading his shot, only to take a step inside and rifle the puck through an open shooting lane. The winger even uses the threat of his shot to bait defender overreactions and work a puck through a newly opened pass lane.  

For goal scorers to truly translate, being a proficient off-puck player is just as important. While it’s present throughout his NCAA tape, take a look at a couple of examples for the prospect tournament.

McDonough scans pass targets, adjusts immediately to support the new puck carrier, and gets into soft ice to exploit his shot. The NHL is very much a give-and-go, quick puck-touch league, so having these habits is essential to the former seventh-round pick’s translatability.

Another factor that helps the two-time Beanpot winner immensely is that he is frankly a diverse scorer, able to score greasy goals crashing the crease, hammer one-timers off the right-hand circle, and even beat goaltenders with one-on-one handles.

The ability to score is obvious, but will it work at higher levels?

Power-play scoring, expectations, and age

While one could easily see McDonough’s scoring ability and rush to slot him in on an NHL power play unit, that is an unrealistic ask, not only with how the Canucks roster is constructed but where also where McDonough is at with the rest of his game.

A more realistic landing spot for McDonough is the American Hockey League with the Abbotsford Canucks. A place where he can act as a primary shooter on the club’s first power play, improve his off-puck impact in his own zone, and leverage the development power of the organization.

McDonough also stands at a bit of a crossroads when it comes to his production. While he flashes all the ability to score consistently five-on-five, the fact of the matter is that he was a prolific power play converter at the collegiate level. Across his four years at Northeastern University, 29-of-66 goals were with the man advantage — he was always a primary shooting option, even from his freshman year, run-and-gunning with former Canucks prospect Tyler Madden. Will that opportunity be afforded in the NHL when your roster boasts shooters like Elias Pettersson or J.T. Miller? It’s doubtful.

The reality of the situation is at 24 years old, the player that McDonough is today likely will be similar to the player he is at 25, 26, and 27. Age curves are a real thing in professional sports, especially hockey. NCAA scorers often have to make a crucial decision, usually at the stage where McDonough is at, to either stay the course with their playing style or add elements that will keep them on an NHL roster. You can argue that his shooting tool and accompanying habits support the former, but it may be more realistic for McDonough to develop a heavier forechecking game, specialize as a penalty killer, or lean into his size and add a heightened physical element across his minutes.

These are the discussions that are essential for both players and development staff to help build the future of an NHL roster. Where does McDonough fit? How can he help down the line? How is he the most valuable to the organization? All prudent questions that will likely be answered in the season to come.

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