At the Canucks Summer Showcase on Thursday night, all eyes were on the Canucks’ top prospects and they didn’t disappoint. Elias Pettersson scored highlight-reel goals, Adam Gaudette played like a man amongst boys, and Olli Juolevi played a calm and efficient game before showing some slick hands in the shootout.
Among those prospects, however, were a bevy of free agents trying to turn some of those eyes in their direction. One of them was Aaron Irving, a 21-year-old defenceman who just finished off his WHL career. While many of the players at camp have years of opportunities to play professional hockey ahead of them, this summer may represent Irving’s only chance to make it.
“I’m playing for my hockey life right now,” he says.
Most of the players at camp know where they will play next year: some will head back to Junior or the NCAA, a few will play professional hockey in the AHL or Europe, and one or two could be playing in the NHL for the Canucks. For Irving, though, this opportunity with the Canucks is all he’s got.
“If I don’t earn a contract, I’ll be playing CIS hockey,” he says, “which is a good plan B, but my ultimate goal is to play in the NHL.”
This isn’t Irving’s first chance with an NHL team. Unlike the other invitees to this year’s development camp, Irving was actually drafted, taken in the 6th round by the Nashville Predators in 2014. For a defenceman like Irving, getting drafted by a system known for churning out quality NHL blueliners must have seemed like an ideal fit.
But last summer, the Predators chose not to sign Irving, casting doubt on his future in hockey. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he used it as motivation.
“It ignited a fire that was dwindling a bit” he says. “It definitely got me going again at the start of the season and gave me a lot of motivation. I’ve still got that in the back of my head.”
He responded by adding a new dimension to his game, leading the Edmonton Oil Kings in scoring over the first half of the season. He had 14 goals and 43 points in 39 games, setting a career high in points with over 30 games left in the season.
“I knew I was going to need to put a bit of weight on my shoulders along with a few of the other veteran guys,” he says.”That’s not the primary part of my game, but I took pride in it. The coaches, Steve Hamilton and Ryan Marsh, played me a lot and they gave me the opportunity, so a lot of the credit goes toward them and their trust.”
Irving caught the attention of the Everett Silvertips, who traded for him halfway through the season. In a lesser role, he added another 15 points in 32 games and finished in the top-10 in scoring among WHL defencemen.
That burst of scoring may have been what caught the eyes of the Canucks and earned him the invite to camp, but for Irving, that’s not the focus of his game.
“It’s nice to get the scouts’ eyes with that and then show them what else I can do,” he says. “It gets my foot in the door, but my hard work, compete, and character are what gets me in.”
His former coach, Steve Hamilton, agrees. “He’s been an exceptional leader for us this year,” he said during the 2016-17 season. “Aaron’s a hell of a hockey player and he brings a lot of the intangibles that you don’t always measure in goals and assists.”
Irving closed development camp with a strong performance in the prospects summer showcase game, scoring on a penalty shot and adding an assist on an Elias Pettersson goal. Like his points in junior, however, Irving sees them as a bonus on top of the other elements of his game.
“Getting two points is a nice cherry on top,” he says. “It just shows that I can play one step higher. I still have to show that I can compete and skate with the fast guys out here.”
As he heads into the summer, he’s focussed on improving his speed and footwork so that he can keep pace with the players at the next level. He knows that next September’s prospect camp with the Canucks may be his last chance to keep his dream of playing in the NHL alive.
