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

Coming out of the holiday break, this week leaned more toward observation than fireworks. Abbotsford wrapped up a four-game road trip, the World Juniors came to a close, and the CHL calendar shifted firmly into silly trade-season mode.

Let’s get into it.

The Abbotsford Canucks were in Manitoba over the weekend to close out a four-game post-Christmas road trip. By splitting the series, they clawed their way out of the AHL basement and now sit 30th of 32 teams with a 9-17-3-3 record.

Much of the offensive push came from more established names, but among younger players, Ty Mueller led the way. With one goal and two assists, Mueller snapped a five-game pointless skid and moved into third in team scoring with 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 26 games.

After a strong rookie campaign, it’s been a stop-and-start season for the soon-to-be 23-year-old, interrupted by injuries and extended quiet stretches.

Anri Ravinskis, signed as a free agent out of Finland over the summer, fittingly scored his first AHL goal on his 23rd birthday. Holding the puck with confidence, he wrapped it around as if it were second nature. In reality, with just one goal and two points on the season, offence hasn’t been a calling card of his. That said, he continues to provide energy and pace in a middle-six AHL role. At this stage, that may be the realistic expectation for his overall upside.

Offence has also been elusive for Danila Klimovich, who isn’t far removed from what looked like a full-blown breakout in 2024-25. But signs of life are starting to appear. With one goal and two assists, he’s now put together five points in five games, bringing him to a disappointing 10 points on the season. Firing at a 25-point pace, he’s currently tracking toward his lowest statistical output since his 2021-22 rookie season. And given that he will turn 23 on January 9th, that’s not good enough.

Down in the ECHL, both Canucks goaltending prospects saw action, and both came away with losses. Following the league’s return from a brief labour stoppage, the Kalamazoo Wings dropped all three of their games with three different goaltenders.

Ty Young allowed three goals on 18 shots, while Aku Koskenvuo surrendered five goals on 34 shots. The two had been trending positively before the stoppage, so it’s fair to chalk these outings to lingering turkey legs.

The 2026 World Junior Championship has wrapped up, and two of the three Canucks representatives are heading home with some hardware.

Although his usage was limited, Wilson Björck will return to Colorado College as a gold medallist. After dressing for just one round-robin game, he was inserted into the lineup for both the semifinal and gold medal game. All told, Björck averaged fewer than six minutes per game, recording one shot on net for the tournament. At 19 years old, he has now officially aged out of World Junior eligibility.

Braeden Cootes came up just short of gold as Canada fell to Czechia. The Canadians rebounded with a win over Finland to capture bronze, with Cootes scoring on a blocker-side shot from the slot. He finishes his first World Juniors with two goals and an average of 8:48 minutes per game across seven games as a fourth-line depth player.

At just 18, Cootes is almost certainly part of Canada’s plans again next season. As a 19-year-old, he should be in line for a far more prominent role. Unless, of course, he’s playing full-time in Vancouver and remains home.

Basile Sansonnens was the most heavily utilized of the three Canucks prospects. Switzerland bowed out in the quarterfinals against eventual silver-medalist Czechia, but Sansonnens averaged 17:33 per game and finished the tournament with one goal and one primary assist. His size and mobility were on full display throughout the tournament, and the development he’s gained from competing amongst men is quite evident. From our perspective, he made a tangible jump within the organization’s internal prospect hierarchy.

At this point, nearly every CHL skater tied to the Canucks appears to be on the trade radar.

After Gabriel Chiarot was moved to the Kitchener Rangers last week, more names have surfaced.

In the WHL, reports from Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal suggest that Braeden Cootes could be traded from the Seattle Thunderbirds to the Prince Albert Raiders. It’s important to note that the league has not confirmed this. In fact, Seattle has since moved in the opposite direction, adding high-end pieces such as Vancouver Giants forward Cameron Schmidt, leading some to believe the Thunderbirds may opt to keep Cootes for a playoff push. For now, the situation remains fluid.

If he is to be traded to Prince Albert, he would join a potent team that sits third in league standings (27-5-4-0), while scoring the second most goals (162). They would be primed for a deep run at a Memorial Cup bid.

The same uncertainty surrounds Parker Alcos, who Dhaliwal reports has been dealt from the Edmonton Oil Kings to the Kelowna Rockets, hosts of this year’s Memorial Cup. If confirmed, it would guarantee him a spot at the tournament. With 14 points in 31 games, he’s one shy of a career high, while his plus-29 rating — the first positive season of his WHL career — ranks fifth amongst all WHL defencemen.

In the OHL, Riley Patterson continues to pile up points on a middling Niagara IceDogs club. With another five points (two goals, three assists) in three games, he now sits fourth in league scoring, just three points off the OHL lead.

Patterson was named OHL Player of the Month for December, following a scorching stretch that has him scoring at a 92-point pace. League sources indicate the trade market around his name is currently quiet, but if a contender looks to add offensive punch ahead of the deadline, his name could resurface quickly.

December was less kind to Aleksei Medvedev, who had spectacularly opened the season. He went 3-4-0-0 on the month and saw his save percentage dip below .900 (.897) for the first time in his career.

He did earn a win in his lone start of the new year, though it came a little strangely. Medvedev was pulled after 20 minutes, allowing four goals on eight shots, but still earned the W. Meanwhile, the team’s backup Sebastian Gatto has been excellent of late and is beginning to push the Canucks’ second-rounder for starts.

The CHL trade deadlines are this week, so we will know where everyone lands (or not) by week’s end.

That wraps up this week’s Blackfish Prospect Report. As always, thanks for reading, and we will be back next week with all your Vancouver Canucks prospect news.