All five Adam Novotny goals from the U20 Five Nations. #Canucks
CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
Blackfish: Novotny shines at Five Nations, plus 5 Canucks prospect questions
Welcome back to Blackfish: our weekly Vancouver Canucks prospect report.
Look at us, we finally made it. It may only be exhibition hockey, but we have actual results to talk about in this week’s instalment.
Preseason action in the CHL kicked off this week, while a handful of prospects were busy overseas taking part in international action at this year’s U20 Five Nations tournament. And don’t forget about Dmitri Ivchenko, who kicked off his pre-season with some strong numbers.
We’ll also continue working through some of the questions we have heading into the 2026-27 season.
Five Nations
Much like the World Junior Summer Showcase does for Canada and the USA, the Five Nations tournament provides European teams with an early opportunity to showcase their talent ahead of the upcoming World Junior Championship.
The event features Switzerland, Czechia, Finland, Slovakia and Sweden, with each team playing four games. The Canucks had two prospects taking part in the action, and one certainly made his presence known.
Fresh off being selected 24th overall by Vancouver, Adam Novotny came in hot, leading the tournament with five goals in four games while adding a secondary assist. His Czech squad steamrolled through the event offensively, scoring 24 goals in just four games.
A few of Novotny’s goals showcased his ability to absolutely rip the puck and beat goaltenders clean from distance.
For Novotny, it’s his B-game and compete level that will ultimately determine how far he goes at the highest level, but his ability to shoot the puck is going to keep him relevant and scoring goals along the way. He’s not only a lock to represent Czechia at this year’s World Juniors, but should be counted on to play a major role within their offensive attack.
Being overseas meant missing the beginning of training camp and preseason action with his junior club, the Peterborough Petes. He should have an opportunity to rejoin them for a few practices and perhaps a pre-season game or two before eventually meeting up with the Canucks for this year’s Prospect Showcase and training camp.
Over with Slovakia, Lucian Bernat also took reps throughout the tournament, although his showing was much quieter.
Playing primarily in a bottom-six role, he found the scoresheet in just one of his four games, collecting a goal and an assist. His goal was your typical bottom-six tally, as he followed the play toward the net and cleaned up some leftover garbage sitting along the goal line.
Lucian Bernat cleaned up some garbage for his lone tally at this year's Five Nation's tournament. He added a secondary assist in the game. #Canucks
Like Novotny, Bernat has missed the first portion of training camp with his OHL club, the Owen Sound Attack, but should have an opportunity to rejoin them before heading to the Canucks’ showcase/training camp.
Unlike Novotny, however, his spot at the World Juniors is far from guaranteed. He’ll be fighting to earn his way onto Slovakia’s roster, most likely competing for a role somewhere within their bottom six.
Russian goaltenders getting early work
Staying overseas, newly drafted goaltending prospect Dmitri Ivchenko has taken reps in MHL preseason action with Omskie Yastreby and, boy, has he continued to put up strong numbers. Through four games, he’s gone 3-0-1 while sporting a .922 save percentage.
Dmitri Ivchenko is 3-0-1 with a .922 save percentage in MHL pre-season action. His numbers have been impressive through a smaller sample size in past years, but the net should be his to show off his stuff on a night-to-night basis in 2026-27. #Canucks
Is it preseason? It sure is. Does it matter? It sure doesn’t.
But coupled with the strong numbers he posted in a relatively small sample as the club’s backup last season — an 11-5-1 record, 1.91 goals-against average and .922 save percentage — we continue to be encouraged by what we’re seeing.
Now considered the go-to netminder, his workload should take a significant jump this season. The hope is that the numbers remain strong as the starts begin to pile up.
Speaking of Russian goaltenders, Alexei Medvedev saw his first taste of preseason action with the London Knights and was perfect through half the game. He stopped all 20 shots he faced through 30 minutes of action, providing a nice start to what will be an important season for the young netminder.
For those of you on Vancouver Island, you’ll have an opportunity to catch him in action this week, as the Victoria Royals host the Knights for the two-game “Clash of Kingdoms” on Friday and Saturday evening. There’s a good chance Medvedev gets the crease in one of those two games as he prepares for a bounce-back season as London’s go-to starter.
Around the CHL
Finally, we wrap up our preseason roundup in Oshawa, where Brooks Rogowski suited up for two games over the week. He picked up points in both, scoring a goal and adding an assist while firing eight shots on net.
He also went 16-for-31 in the faceoff dot across the two games, including an impressive 7-for-11 showing in his preseason debut. Unfortunately, there was no video available from either game, so we weren’t able to get a proper look at him in game action.
With the weekly roundup out of the way, let’s get back to some of the questions we have surrounding our returning Blackfish members heading into the new season.
Last week, we focused heavily on the Abbotsford crop. This time around, we’re turning our attention elsewhere.
The bulk of Vancouver’s prospect pool outside of Abbotsford is now dominated by recently drafted players, but for today, we’ll focus on a handful of names who have already spent some time within the organization.
Can Kieren Dervin take the next step?
We were hoping for a little more from Kieren Dervin during his draft-plus-one season after the Canucks selected him in the third round of the 2025 draft. There were obvious flashes of skill and potential, but they didn’t show up consistently enough to get a true gauge on where his game was headed.
Now, he’ll be tested even further as he makes the jump to the NCAA. The competition is going to get stiffer, but the environment should provide him with every opportunity to develop. With access to state-of-the-art facilities in Ann Arbor and a lighter game schedule, Dervin will have considerably more time dedicated to training, strength and development.
Will that allow him to make the necessary gains to compete against bigger, stronger and more mature competition? That’s what we’ll be watching for.
Can Anthony Romani take advantage of a bigger role?
Can Anthony Romani take advantage of being a sophomore and grab an elevated scoring role with a stacked Michigan State program? After a slower start to his freshman campaign, Romani gradually built a strong case for increased ice time as the season progressed.
Now, we expect him to become a prominent piece of the Spartans’ top-six and power-play units. We already know about the shot. Romani possesses the release to beat goaltenders clean and provide legitimate one-shot scoring ability. Now, it’s about putting together a more complete game and adding secondary elements that can eventually translate to the professional level.
The offence has always been the intriguing part of his profile. This year, we want to see more of it — and more consistently.
Where does Wilson Björck’s offence go?
We’ve spoken highly of Wilson Björck in the past, thanks largely to a motor that simply won’t quit and some intriguing offensive capabilities. The problem? We didn’t necessarily see enough of those offensive capabilities on display last season.
That’s what makes his upcoming year at Colorado College so interesting. The hope is that Björck can work his way into a more prominent offensive role, earn legitimate power-play minutes and begin showing another layer to his game.
The motor is already there. Now, we want to see if the production can follow.
Is Matthew Lansing ready for more?
Will Matthew Lansing receive an even larger role as a sophomore? Considering he spent all of last season planted within the bottom six of a stacked Quinnipiac lineup, the numbers he produced were quite impressive.
More importantly, he showed an ability to shoot the puck and contribute offensively despite playing primarily in a role-player spot. Now, the opportunity should be there for more. Can Lansing climb the lineup during his sophomore campaign and begin establishing himself as a legitimate prospect despite his seventh-round draft pedigree?
For a late-round pick, there was plenty to like in Year 1. Year 2 should tell us much more.
Can Parker Alcos fill out his frame?
After spending the last few seasons in the WHL, right-shot defenceman Parker Alcos will join Lansing at Quinnipiac this fall. We’ve always appreciated two things about Alcos: his skating ability and his 6-foot-4 frame.
The question we’ve asked every year is whether he can begin adding the necessary mass to that frame. Now, with the move to a Division I program and the lighter schedule that comes with it, he’ll have every opportunity to attack that area of his development.
Alcos remains a long-term project as a late-round pick, but a 6-foot-4 right-shot defender who can move the way he does will always be worth keeping tabs on.
If he can begin filling out that frame without sacrificing the mobility that makes him interesting in the first place, there might just be something there.
That will do it for this week’s instalment. Look out for next week, as we will introduce some plans for our Blackfish Prospect Show.
PRESENTED BY VIVID SEATS
Breaking News
- Blackfish: Novotny shines at Five Nations, plus 5 Canucks prospect questions
- Bold Prediction: Canucks deal Thatcher Demko at the 2027 NHL trade deadline
- 12 Canucks thoughts after 12 days without the internet
- Luke Schenn calls it ‘an absolute no-brainer’ to come back and wear the Canucks logo
- Canucks analyst Landon Ferraro joins TSN as Jets colour commentator
Vancouver CanucksTeam Cap Summary
Cap Summary
2026-27
2027-28
Projected Cap Hit
$86,185,833
$62,923,333
Projected Cap Space
$17,814,167
$50,576,666
Current Cap Space
$17,814,167
$50,576,666
Active Players
23/23
13/23
Draft Picks
Round
'26
'27
1
2
1
2
2
2
3
1
1