Vancouver Canucks Prospects Coverage: C Jordan Schroeder

Jordan Schroeder was the Vancouver Canucks' first-round pick in 2009, selected nine picks after recent acquisition Zack Kassian.

The 21-year-old Prior Lake, Minnesota native is an offensive talent, led all American college rookies in scoring with 45 point in 35 games at University of Minnesota Golden Golphers. The WCHA awarded him the Rookie of the Year in 2009.

Based on The Hockey News' scouting report, Schroeder's offensive instincts, play-making ability, and soft hands makes him a promising young prospect.

The other career highlight comes from his three-year World Junior Championships success. Here is a quick view of his accomplishments at the U-20 tournament:

Year	Games	Goals	Assists	Points
2007-08	6	1	7	8
2008-09	6	3	8	11
2009-10	7	3	5	8

When the Canucks waited for the 22nd overall pick, they were really surprised to see Schroeder available to them. One of the deficiencies the scouts may see is his lack of size. Standing at 5'8'' and 175lbs, Schroeder is very much undersized for an NHL level forward, never mind a big-league center.

Despite the concern over his lack of size, the Canucks can see the growth and development in Schroeder's game as a professional playing for the Canucks AHL affiliate.

In 2009-10, Schroeder joined the Manitoba Moose for 11 remaining regular season games and scored 9 points. During the playoffs, he added 6 points in 6 games. Pretty impressive for a college player jumping into the pros.

A year later, Schroeder left the University of Minnesota, and played a full season for the Moose. He underwent a learning curve trying to adapt to the men's game, and finished the year with 28 points in 61 games, dding 6 points in 14 playoff games.

Continuing on to this past season, he showed a pretty good improvement from a season ago. Schroeder scored 21 goals, 23 assists for 44 points in 76 games—his first 20-goal campaign as a professional. Canucks GM Mike Gillis briefly mentioned him at the end-of-season press conference, saying he had a good year.

During the summer, Schroeder will be focused on getting stronger, and work on his stick-handling skills to improve his offensive game. His goal is to compete for a spot on the Canucks' final roster, so he has to be able to withstand the physical game NHL defenders are going to enforce on him.

If everything goes according to his offseason plan, Jordan Schroeder may "surprise" the Canucks like Mike Gillis said at the press conference.

This is Joseph Trenton reporting from Vancouver.

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