Gabe Chiarot’s season was a study in adjustment, and the Canucks’ summer prospect rankings have him at No. 17 for it.
The 19-year-old winger, listed at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, spent the year bouncing between roles in the OHL and still found ways to stay useful. He opened with the Brampton Steelheads in a top-line spot, then moved to the Kitchener Rangers in a mid-season trade and settled into a middle-six job.
The production shifted with the usage: in 31 games with Brampton, Chiarot put up 15 goals and 10 assists for 25 points. In 31 games with Kitchener, he added five goals and six assists for 11 points.
When the games tightened up, though, Chiarot climbed back up the lineup. Kitchener used him on the top line with Sam O’Reilly and Dylan Edwards in the playoffs, and he responded with five goals and six assists for 11 points in 18 postseason games. That run helped the Rangers win the Memorial Cup, and Chiarot chipped in a goal and an assist in four games there.
His game is built around the heavy stuff. Chiarot profiles as a bottom-six power forward who leans on his physicality, works the walls, hounds pucks on the forecheck and digs in around the crease. He’s not being sold as a player who drives offense, and he knows it.
“I like to say I’m a physical power forward, you know, go to the areas where other guys don’t want to go to; in the corners, front of the net. I try to display my skills sometimes, but, you know, that doesn’t always happen. Just the little things that, you know, people don’t really recognize all the time, and get those greasy goals, you know, how a power forward would play.”
That style was enough for the old regime to give a sixth-round pick an NHL contract out of his first training camp, and that says plenty about how the organization views him. The offensive ceiling may be limited, but the effort, edge and energy give him a real path to pro hockey, whether that ends up being a bottom-six NHL role or steady AHL work.
The projection is straightforward. If his puck skills and offensive game keep moving forward, he could grow into a physical, penalty-killing depth piece in the NHL. If not, the experience he picked up handling different roles on a deeper team still gives him a usable floor as a middle-six AHL player.
As for the timeline, it points toward Abbotsford. After the Rangers’ Memorial Cup run, several of Kitchener’s older players are expected to turn pro, and Chiarot is likely among them.
Since he already signed an NHL contract last season, he can’t take the NCAA route if he moves on. CanucksArmy expects him to be with the Abbotsford Canucks for at least the next two seasons before he enters the conversation for games in Vancouver.
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