Welcome to the CanucksArmy Blackfish Prospect Report.
This past week, several of the organization’s top prospects surged in a weekend dismantling. Meanwhile, three prospects will be vying for spots to represent their country at this year’s World Juniors. Finally, a closer look at Tom Willander’s sophomore year at Boston University.
Let’s dive right in.

Abbotsford Canucks

The Abbotsford Canucks returned to the Abbotsford Centre following a fairly successful six-game road swing (4-2-0-0). Hosting a middling Colorado Eagles squad, they flexed their offensive muscles and dismantled their Pacific Division rivals to combine for 11 goals.
Leading the charge in a big way was Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who had struggled to regain his previous form since being reassigned to the farm. He wrapped up the weekend with four goals, six points, nine shots, and a plus-5 while grabbing Sunday’s AHL first star.
The surge propels him up the team scoring charts. He now leads the team in goals (10), points (14), and shots (63). Additionally, he’s now showing incredibly well amongst his rookie class, sitting second in goals, fourth in points-per-game with 14 points in 14 games, and leading the field with his 63 shots.
Aside from appearing to have found his juice again, the sheer versatility with which he’s collecting his points is an encouraging development. As you’ll see, all four goals came off different looks, while none came from his patented perimeter snapshot.
One rebound off of a lucky bounce on the rush, two doorstep finishes and a beautiful breakaway goal in which he made the visiting netminder look silly.
We’ve consistently brought his name up in conversation as a dark horse prospect over the last year, but it’s time we put some major respect on Ty Mueller’s name.
He now sits in a tie for the third spot on the team in scoring with four goals and nine points. He sits second amongst all team forwards in plus/minus as a plus-4 on the year and has put up good numbers in the face-off circle (54%) as the second-line centre for much of the season.
While playing in all situations as a permanent member of the top-six, penalty kill, and powerplay, he is third in scoring in all situations and second in scoring at even strength.
As you’ll see from Cody’s tweet, he holds the team’s third-best scoring differential. With him on the ice, his team outscored his opponents 14-10.
He collected another five assists over the weekend — all four of Lekkerimäki’s goals — while he, Lekkerimäki and Arshdeep Bains combined for 14 points in two games as a trio.
After a pointless return (two games) for Arshdeep Bains the week prior, the Surrey native found a nice home to form the remainder of that second line with Mueller and Lekkerimäki. He picked up a goal and two assists and was a plus-3 for the weekend.
Later in the game, he collected the 100th point of his AHL career.
The Abbotsford Canucks do not play until next weekend, but barring a promotion to Vancouver, it’s a good bet that these three will form a line in their next outing.
He’s not technically on our Blackfish Prospects list, but Linus Karlsson did return to the Abby lineup after an 18-game absence. It took him all of 12 seconds to make his mark, scoring his second goal of the season and adding another one later in the game.
He may not provide huge production at the NHL level, but at the AHL level, he’s a huge needle mover and a big addition to that roster.
Danila Klimoich took a slight hit on his short-term stock over the week. With Lekkerimäki taking reps in Vancouver and struggling in his return, Klimovich enjoyed his moment at the top of the team charts. However, he’s been overthrown and now sits second in most statistical aspects.
He went pointless on Saturday after being demoted to the third line, with Linus Karlsson’s return to the lineup. The club has yet to provide an update on whether his absence was due to an injury or simply a healthy scratch, but he did miss Sunday’s match.
Considering his resurgence in his game this year, however, you have to imagine that an injury or sickness contributed to it.
The two 20-year-old defenders have become a weekly staple to our Blackfish Reports, as they both continue to play incredibly poise hockey.
The Canucks went perfect in their penalty kill (12/12) over the weekend, and Elias Pettersson was a major player in that regard with several blocked shots and shutdowns.
But he also flashed some offensive muscles, grabbing his first multipoint game of his young AHL career with a three-point game in Sunday’s contest.
Kirill Kudryavtsev was less involved in the scoresheet but collected a secondary powerplay assist. He played all of Sunday’s match on the right side.
The two are now sitting quite nicely amongst their U21 defensive class. With 12 points (Kudryavtsev) and 10 points (Pettersson), they sit fourth and sixth, respectively, amongst all U21 AHL defenders in scoring.
Speaking of defenders, Cole McWard received a small bump last week after receiving a promotion to Vancouver.
Of course, thanks to his reliable and steady two-way game, we’ve been chatting his game up for weeks, and it appears that management agreed. While he ultimately did not see any game action, McWard got to soak in the NHL environment for a few days and get some solid vindication that his game is progressing on the right path.
He may not be the flashiest of players, but we won’t be shocked to see his name squeeze into a game or two in Vancouver at some point.
It’s been a less-than-stellar rookie year for Arturs Silovs in Vancouver. Luckily, Thatcher Demko appears to be tracking toward his season debut, which means the Latvian was able to retune his game in Abbotsford over the weekend. With 18 shots, he wasn’t tested often, but he picked up his second (2-0-0-0) victory of the season.
He technically allowed two goals, but one of them came while he wasn’t even tending the net.
While on the bench for a delayed call, Arshdeep Bains fired the puck directly off Elias Pettersson’s chest, which trickled directly into the net.
What’s great about the goal? It happened to be Eagles’ rookie Maros Jedlicka’s first AHL goal as the last player to touch the puck officially. What a way to pick up your first professional goal.
Ty Young started game one of the weekend doubleheader and made 24 stops for his third win of the season. With Silovs back, Young may be on the outside looking in from here despite putting up respectable numbers during his stay. Even if that’s the case, the 20-year-old can hold his head high with a very successful stint behind him. He’s established himself as a promising price to this depth chart’s pipeline.
Speaking of Kalamazoo, Josh Bloom has been dealing with an injury. He has been in and out of the lineup and placed on injured reserves. He returned to the lineup this week, but only played a single game. He went pointless and was a minus-3.

CHL

Sawyer Mynio sustained an upper-body injury earlier in November and hadn’t played a game since November 8th.
That did not stop Team Canada from inviting the new Seattle Thunderbird captain to their World Junior preliminary camp. He’ll attend the three-day camp between December 20 and 23 in preparation for Canada’s opening game on Boxing Day.
Of course, that could only mean that Mynio was close to a return, and he did just that. He slid back into the Thunderbirds lineup, donning the “C” for the first time. He wasted no time in his return, blasting a one-timer for his fifth goal of the season.
He added an assist later in the week for a two-point week.
Mynio wasn’t the only CHL representative to earn a World Junior look. Basile Sansonnens got the nod to attend the Switzerland camp. The 18-year-old defender has been a formidable member of the country’s international team over the years, and even spent some time as captain of the U18 squad.
If selected, he’ll bring his big-bodied presence and will be a heavy contributor to their penalty kill, as he has done with the Rimouski Oceanic this season.
Vilmer Alriksson did not get an invitation to the Swedish National team. It was a massive long shot for him to receive consideration, but we had hunches that there could have been an outside chance. What’s not to like? He’s incredibly large, skates well, and can score goals.
His contributions did slow down this week, cooling off from his previous scorching hot stretch. With just a single assist, he posted a forgettable minus-6 while continuing his spot on Guelph’s top line.
The Storm currently sit second to last in the OHL, so goal differential is a tough ask these days.
Riley Patterson is not attending Canada’s camp but has caught some fire recently. He picked up another goal and three points this week, giving him eight points (four goals, four assists) over his last seven games.
After an up-and-down start, he now sits in a three-way tie for second on the Barrie Colts in scoring and third on the team as a plus-9 on the year.
Parker Alcos picked up a secondary assist over the week to give him four on the season.
Anthony Romani continues to nurse his broken clavicle. With the Christmas break nearing, we’d expect a return sometime in 2025 at the earliest.

NCAA

It was a slow week in College Hockey as teams prepare for their winter break.
The big news came from Boston, where Tom Willander was officially named to Sweden’s World Junior roster.
Unsurprisingly, he will complement Axel Sandin Pellikka as the team’s one-two punch on the backend. Like last year’s tournament, he’ll likely play second fiddle to the offensive defenseman on the powerplay, but should see big minutes in all shutdown circumstances and secondary PP.
Are you curious about how well he’s playing this season beyond the statistics? Check out a deeper dive covering everything about his game so far.
While his shutdown game remains top-notch, what’s most intriguing is his work on the offensive side.
Jackson Kunz scored two goals over the weekend, bringing his season totals to seven goals and one assist.
He lives and breathes in the blue paint.
Meanwhile, Jackson Dorrington scored his second goal of the season courtesy of a top-shelf point shot.

Sweden

It was a quiet week overseas, with nothing particular to report.
Both Melvin Fernström and Lucas Forsell were held pointless. We did get confirmation that Fernström will not be a participant at this year’s World Juniors.
While it’s a shame, we weren’t too surprised by the snub. As an 18-year-old, he had his work cut out for him to make it. That said, we do anticipate him putting up a strong fight to be invited to next year’s tournament.
Hugo Gabrielson did collect a secondary assist, putting him up to 12 points (two goals, ten assists) on the year. He’s just four points shy of creating a career-high in points. In half the games, mind you!
That’s all for this week’s Blackfish Prospect Report. As always, feel free to leave any questions you may have about Canucks’ prospects in the comments below.
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