Welcome back to Blackfish: our weekly Vancouver Canucks prospect report.

We finally had some Canucks hockey to watch this weekend, with Vancouver’s prospects taking on the Seattle Kraken in a two-game showcase.

While the results were mixed, there was no shortage of individual performances to dissect. With events like this, it’s always important to keep expectations realistic. With just one practice to work on systems, players from leagues around the world are brought in to compete together in a one-off pair of games. Play will be sloppy, skill plays will be attempted, and it’s nothing more than a good opportunity to see where a player has come in their development.

But this is Blackfish, so you bet we are going to talk about it.

But first, check out Blackfish’s first live recorded show. Going forward, all episodes will go live at 11:00 am on Mondays.

Off a nice entry and dish from Riley Patterson, the weekend began with Vilmer Alriksson, who showed off his underrated release with a slick toe-drag shot from the bumper spot while operating on the power play. The towering Swede has always possessed a hefty release, and it was encouraging to see him bring that element early in the weekend.

We’ve said it before, but Alriksson appeared to be gaining some legitimate traction in his professional game before a season-ending injury halted that progress last year. The hope is that he can find the time and space to unload that shot more consistently this season and build momentum as a top-six Abbotsford player. He has the shot, he can flash the hands, and has the clear size. Now, it’s about combining all of those tools to become a legitimate threat.

Next up was another impressive release, this time courtesy of Adam Novotný. The young Czech put his game on display throughout the weekend and was our clear standout from the event. Collecting the puck along the half wall, Novotný wasted no time stepping into and ripping a wicked shot up and over the netminder’s shoulder. It was an impressive goal, but as we’ll get into later, the shot was only one part of what made his weekend so encouraging.

Vancouver’s third goal came courtesy of defenceman Sawyer Mynio, who jumped into the play and cleaned up a juicy rebound for his lone tally of the weekend. Once again, Novotný started the play before Ty Mueller picked up the loose change and curled toward the net. With what appeared to be a deliberate shot-pass toward the back side, Mynio was there to clean things up easily.

Unfortunately for the Canucks’ prospects, Seattle’s offence proved too much to handle. Aleksei Medvedev surrendered seven goals on 33 shots in the 7-3 defeat, marking another perplexing outing for the young netminder. Quite frankly, we haven’t seen a ton from Medvedev in quite some time now. Granted, he wasn’t exactly put in an ideal situation. Vancouver dressed four invitee defencemen, and with a group thrown together for a short showcase, some disorganization in the team’s defensive structure was to be expected.

Still, the inconsistency in Medvedev’s game continues to give us some pause. Are we concerned? We continue to plant our stake firmly in the “far too early” camp. Goaltenders are notoriously difficult to project, with many not truly finding their game until their early-to-mid 20s. Medvedev still has a tremendous runway ahead of him, but at some point, however, we’re going to need to start seeing more consistency.

Day Two brought a much stronger showing from Vancouver, both individually and as a group.

After juggling the lines, the Canucks rolled out a top unit of Novotný, Braeden Cootes and Brooks Rogowski — two of whom had been relatively quiet in Game One. That certainly wasn’t the case the second time around.

The trio combined for three goals, with Novotný once again showing off that pinpoint release.

Rogowski threaded the pass and doubled down with two primary assists. The second showed some strong patience before finding Cootes with a cross-ice feed.

For Novotný, however, his most impressive moment of the weekend may not have resulted in a goal for himself. With one of his four assists of the weekend, he did virtually everything to create the play. This clip won’t show the entire play, but after chipping the puck off the boards, Novotný carried it into the offensive zone before battling for possession in the corner. He maintained control, toe-dragged himself out of trouble and eventually found the point to keep the play alive and create another Canucks goal.

It’s clips like that that show exactly why we have such high hopes for him as a professional hockey player. Yes, the one-shot release is dangerous. But Novotný also brings a dog-like work ethic and the ability to compete for 50/50 pucks, which should translate regardless of where he ultimately slots into a lineup. That combination of those two elements — legitimate offensive tools paired with a willingness to fight for every inch of ice — is what made him such an intriguing first-round selection. And this weekend, we got a pretty good taste of both.

Gabe Chiarot was tested out at centre and actually made well of his opportunity. He even posted a Gabe Chiarot-like goal, jamming home a loose puck at the net front.

Another player who stood out to us was Yaroslav Bryzgalov, who brought his clearly above-the-curve playmaking ability. We covered it when the Canucks first drafted him, but Bryzgalov continues to show an impressive ability to see plays develop and create passing lanes that many players probably wouldn’t identify.

No, he didn’t necessarily light up the scoresheet, but his game has legitimate creativity. His footwork remains the large, looming question surrounding his overall potential, and how much he can improve that area will likely dictate his eventual ceiling. But there’s no denying his ability to make plays with the puck on his stick. Add in his size, and he’ll be a fascinating name to follow in Medicine Hat this season before eventually making the jump to Merrimack in 2027-28.

Koskenvuo surrendered a goal on the first shot he faced but settled in immediately afterward, turning aside everything else sent his way while making several impressive stops in the process. Both netminders had a strong showing, and it was a welcome change after the defensive chaos of the opening game.

Although he isn’t technically part of our Blackfish reporting, we have to give some love to Bennett Schimek, who doubled down on the impressive run he enjoyed with Abbotsford late last season. Schimek scored a pretty goal after curling toward the short side and firing home his shot, but it was his overall presence within the lineup that stood out.

At 23, he should look like one of the more polished players at an event like this, and he did. Signed to an AHL contract, Vancouver made a wise move in giving itself a risk-free opportunity to get an extended look at the young forward.

So far, he has continued to show strong hockey sense and an ability to provide a mature presence within a young group. We wouldn’t be shocked to see him eventually earn an NHL contract and become a meaningful member of the Canucks’ prospect system.

Unfortunately, Medvedev isn’t the only Russian netminder experiencing some early struggles. Dmitri Ivchenko has stumbled out of the gate to begin his 2026-27 season, sporting an .800 save percentage through two starts and a relief appearance. Of course, we’re dealing with an incredibly small sample size, so there is absolutely no reason to draw any meaningful conclusions from it.

Still, it’s an unfortunate opening stretch that will leave a dent in his numbers regardless. The important thing for Ivchenko this season remains workload. After serving in a smaller role last year, we’re looking to see how he responds to receiving consistent starts and whether his numbers can hold up over a much larger sample.

Over in Sweden, Samuel Eriksson has also begun showing some early offensive touch. He’s now scored a goal and added a primary assist in six games with Farjestad U20. He’s a defensive defenceman through and through, so we are looking for more of what he’s done in his own end. And we hope to watch some tape over the next week to see how his game looks as he starts the 2026-27 season.

Check back next week!