Vancouver Canucks prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki named World Juniors MVP

Sweden may have finished this year’s tournament with a silver medal, but that didn’t mean Jonathan Lekkerimäki wouldn’t be recognized for his incredible showing at the World Junior Championship.

Following Sweden’s 6-2 defeat at the hands of the USA in the gold medal game on Friday, Lekkerimäki was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Lekkerimäki finished the tournament with seven goals and 10 points, including a one-time bomb on a Swedish power play late in the second period of the championship game. That marker got Sweden within a goal at 3-2 heading to the final period before the US pulled away. For the tournament, Lekkerimäki finished with 34 shots on goal through seven games. His seven goals tied for the tournament lead and his five power play goals led all players at this year’s event.

In the gold medal contest, Lekkerimäki logged 19:42 of ice time scoring once and sharing the team lead with four shots on goal. The goal Lekkerimäki scored was a thing of beauty, as he showed off his lethal release from “his spot” on the power play.

In addition to being named Tournament MVP, Lekkerimäki was also named to the tournament All Star team along with fellow forwards Cutter Gauthier (USA) and Jiri Kulich (CZE). Theo Lindstein (SWE) and Lane Hutson (USA) made up the All Star defence while Hugo Havelid (SWE) got the nod in goal.

During last year’s tournament, Lekkerimäki looked like a completely different player, and in multiple instances, served as Sweden’s 13th forward. That was completely different this year, as Lekkerimäki’s improvements after a disappointing D+1 year are well documented. Our own prospect guru Dave Hall broke down Lekkerimäki’s transformation in a piece that was published yesterday, and you can read it by clicking here.