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Blackfish: Abby Canucks struggles continue, Aleksei Medvedev is red hot, and more
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Dave Hall
Nov 4, 2025, 15:15 ESTUpdated: Nov 4, 2025, 14:48 EST
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Welcome back to Blackfish: Our weekly Vancouver Canucks Prospect Report.
It’s been a rough ride in Abbotsford, where call-ups, injuries, and a depleted roster have left the club fighting just to stay in games.
But even through an eight-game skid, there are glimmers of promise in the chaos. On the farm, Sawyer Mynio continues to shoulder massive minutes like a seasoned vet.
Meanwhile, down in the CHL, Aleksei Medvedev is turning heads in London with another stellar week that earned him a league-wide honour as the top goaltender.
Let’s check out what happened this week in the world of Vancouver Canucks prospects.

Abbotsford Canucks

There’s really no way to sugarcoat it – the Abbotsford Canucks are in tough.
The combination of injuries, promotions and off-season exits has left this roster barren and struggling to compete against AHL-level opponents.
With four losses over the week, the team has now dropped a league-high eight games in a row. That streak trails back to the team’s opening pair of games.
At this point, it’s hard to truly judge any of the prospects’ games, as the team struggles to stay afloat in most games at the moment. Our advice would be not to bother looking or taking anything out of the player’s plus/minus rating. It’s grim.
But eventually, the reinforcements will return, and the backend will be brought back to AHL level. For now, it’s just a matter of holding down the fort.
And no one has done that better than Sawyer Mynio. At just 20 years old, the Kamloops native has undertaken an extreme spike in utilization as the primary option in all possible situations.
He’s now eclipsed the 25-minute ice time mark in each of his last four games (27 in some). Not only has he played a ton, but he’s held his own while doing so.
In those four games, he’s not only scored his first and second professional goals and first assist, but has shown tremendous growth in his game in nearly all facets. Has it been perfect? Gosh no. He’s been a minus-3 and has been a part of a dreadful penalty kill that allowed six goals on just 10 kills over the weekend.
But Head Coach Manny Malhotra has clearly shown that he has high trust in his young defender and has gone on record to compliment his game and his plus skating ability.
It’s safe to say that even when reinforcements return to the lineup, Sawyer Mynio will likely be here to stay as an AHL defender with a solid role on this team.
Up in Vancouver are Tom Willander and Kirill Kudryavtsev, with the former making his NHL debut. Much like he played in his final few outings in Abbotsford, Willander has looked strong in his games.
Unsurprisingly, his skating has stood out as a clear outlier in his game and one of the sole reasons why he is nearly a lock to play NHL minutes down the line. That skating was a major reason for him collecting his first NHL point, driving down the wing before finding Brock Boeser in the slot.
Additionally, he’s been an advanced metrics darling, leading the team in both xGF% (St. Louis) and CF% (Minnesota), while facing many of the Minnesota Wild’s top forwards. He also posted the team’s second-best xGF% in that Minnesota game.
Time will tell if Willander is just an NHL defender now. For Abbotsford’s sake…they hope not.
As for Kudryavtsev, it’s a shame that he has yet to draw into the lineup (though understandable). Having him in Vancouver just to sit in the press box while Abbotsford struggles mightily is a tough pill to swallow for those who paid money during this six-game homestand.
Up front is where the real issues have taken place in Abbotsford. The goaltending, despite the lofty scores, and the defence have been passable, while the offence has been an incredible struggle.
Vilmer Alriksson potted his first career goal earlier in the week. The goal came off of some nice work down low, before he sent the puck back to the point, before receiving a perfect backdoor feed.
The towering Swede missed the next two games. While no official update has been made (standard issue), we do know that a bug was cycling through the dressing room. At this point, it’s simply an assumption, but there is a good chance his absence was due to that, rather than a healthy scratch.
By all accounts, Malhotra seems impressed by what the young skater has done and can do.
“I think even going back two years, seeing his development over the last two years, and then coming into his own this year,” Malhotra told Abbotsford Canucks play-by-play announcer Brandon Astle. “That’s a big frame to get used to playing with, so I think he’s done a much better job of playing like a big man, using his body to shield pucks and come up with loose pucks.
“His goal was a great example that, to win a puck battle in the corner, go to the net and get rewarded for it. So that’s the type of game that he will continue to focus on.”
Speaking of scratches, it’s been another season of in-and-out for Danila Klimovich. He has yet to score and has just two assists to his name for the season.
Although we caution against stat-watching during this difficult stretch, the now five-year veteran is a player the Canucks must be able to lean on for offence. And he just hasn’t brought it.
That said, he has created a few chances on his own courtesy of his slick hands, but he is trying far too much on the ice and playing as an individual. In a time where the team is in desperate need, he’s going to need to dig in and find a way to lead this team in the scoring department.
The same can be said about Josh Bloom, although it’s more about finding any offence in his case. Bloom was reinstated into the lineup and even saw some chances to pot his first AHL goal this week, but continues to struggle to find that next gear.
So far, we can say the same thing for Anri Ravinskis, who has struggled to find any offence despite being used all over the roster. We love the work ethic and grinding skill set, but are unsure whether we see any offensive upside. It’s early, and this is a challenging time to be judging players. But he may be an AHL middle-six player.
Ty Mueller did find some offence over the weekend, scoring his first goal of the season off a Sawyer Mynio point shot.
He’s faced some early injury issues, but like everyone on the team, he has struggled to find the net this season. He’s still playing good minutes as one of the team’s top centres and has been a faceoff ace. We don’t have the stats from the weekend games yet, but he was winning over 60% of his faceoffs heading in.
Between the pipes, Ty Young split duties with Jiri Patera while Nikita Tolopilo is still out with an injury.
He suffered back-to-back losses (obviously) with 24-save (Calgary) and 33-save (Henderson) performances.
At this point, it’s hard to blame either netminder for any lost game. That said, one common issue that we continue to see – carried over from last year – is his rebound control.
Specifically in the Henderson game, there were several shots that bounced right off him, one of which directly led to a goal.
Obviously, it’s just one goal. But this was a common theme throughout the game and has been something we’ve noticed over many of his games. He’s still playing well, and most of the goals he’s allowed aren’t necessarily a “Ty Young” thing.
Meanwhile, Aku Koskenvuo finally got the news we had been hoping to see. After riding the fourth wheel in Abbotsford, he was reassigned to Kalamazoo, where he was finally given his first opportunity to start in a pro game.
His debut game ended in a 3-2 loss, but he made 27 saves. And with that, his professional career is finally off to the races.
Current injuries: Chase Stillman, Nikita Tolopilo

CHL

Let’s kick off our CHL section with Aleksei Medvedev, who continues to post incredible numbers as the London Knights’ starting goaltender.
The 18-year-old picked up another two wins over the week, allowing just two goals on 67 shots faced. On Sunday, he had his shutout bid spoiled with just 39 seconds en route to a 6-1 victory. He’s now 6-1-1 on the season.
More impressively, he now sports an incredible .930 save percentage (tied) and 1.82 goals against average for the season, both of which sit atop the entire Ontario Hockey League.
His incredible week earned him “OHL Goaltender of the Week” honours.
The sheer athleticism that he displays night in and night out continues to impress us. At least once a game, he makes a save he has no business making, which leaves us in awe of his skill. At this point, it’s hard not to be excited about the team’s potential goaltender of the future.
It’s a shame that we won’t have the pleasure of watching him compete in any national events, because he carries the capability of being a must-see goaltender anywhere he plays.
Over in Niagara, Riley Patterson remains hot, scoring two goals and three points over his pair of games this week.
After a slow stretch, he’s now contributed nine points (six goals, three assists) over his last six games and sits third on the IceDogs in scoring with 16 points. He leads the team in plus/minus with a plus–11 on the season.
With an increase in minutes across the board, he’s on pace to shatter his previous highs and is on pace for 76 points.
Winning roughly 47% of his draws, his faceoff numbers are certainly an area where we are hoping for more. Now back to playing up the middle, it would be nice to see him battle back to above the 50% mark.
The same can be said for Kieren Dervin, who matches Patterson’s 46.9% after 194 draws taken. That being said, we are impressed by Dervin’s ability to lead his team with 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) despite being one of the league’s lowest scoring teams.
He’s proven to be a difference maker on the offensive and has turned some heads in his first official season in the OHL.
Gabe Chiarot returned to play after sitting out two games for his hit last weekend. He returned with a goal, which he jumped into the crease to shovel home. However, it was a poor week for the Brampton Steelhead, who scored just two goals across three games and were shut out on two separate occasions.
For now, it’s nice to see Chiarot enjoy top-line minutes as one of the team’s go-to options, but we don’t expect to see much team success where he is currently playing.
Over in the Western League, Braeden Cootes scored another beautiful goal on Halloween night.
Collecting the puck in his own end, he burst up the ice before driving wide on his flat-footed opponent. Instead of wrapping the puck around, he snuck a shot to the far side to pick up his third goal and seventh point since returning to the league.
In the faceoff circle, he’s winning 56.5% of his draws, which includes going 13/18 against the Saskatoon Blades, where he scored his goal.
In Edmonton, Parker Alcos to truck along, grabbing another pair of secondary assists and was a plus–2 for another positive week. He’s now a plus–12 for the year, which sits fifth among the league and third among defenders.
It’s an encouraging metric, as Alcos has yet to post a plus season in any of his three previous seasons, and this is coming with a much-elevated role on the team.
Sure, the Oil Kings sit second in the league standings and first in goals scored, but it’s still a good thing for his game as a whole.

NCAA

The Colorado College Tigers returned to action after a two-week hiatus, and Wilson Björck remained out of the lineup after suffering an upper-body injury weeks ago.
There is still no timeline for his return, but we will be watching like a hawk, considering his potential to make Team Sweden for this year’s World Junior tournament.

Rest of the world

The Russian centre, Ilya Safonov, collected another goal this week. Setting up in his office, he deflected a point shot for his seventh goal of the season. He now sits second on Ak Bars in goals and third in scoring with 13 points. In the KHL, he’s an absolute unit and has shown he can provide a spark in a variety of ways.
He’s a top penalty-killer and winning nearly 60% of his draws after a whopping 339 attempts for the year. He remains unsigned but remains an interesting option at 24.
Basile Sansonnens continues to truck along as a young defenceman navigating through his first season with Lausanne HC of the Swiss National League. He swaps between the team’s third and second pairings of defenders, averaging 10:31 of ice time. No surprise, he hasn’t hit the scoresheet much in the offensive zone, although he does have a Champions League goal, but has 13 blocked shots as a minus-3 for the season.
But nothing is more invaluable than facing adult professional opponents, and he seems to be faring just fine in his audition.
That will do for this week’s Blackfish report.
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