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Blackfish: A big week for Anthony Romani while Riley Patterson won’t stop producing
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Dave Hall
Feb 3, 2026, 13:20 ESTUpdated: Feb 3, 2026, 13:17 EST
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Welcome back to Blackfish: our weekly Vancouver Canucks prospect report.
The Abbotsford Canucks took two steps back this week with three straight losses, digging themselves into a deeper hole at the bottom of the Pacific Division standings. Beyond the AHL, several prospects stepped up with big weeks. Riley Patterson continues to rip up the Ontario League, and Anthony Romani picked up his first NCAA hat-trick. Heck, even Parker Alcos got into the action again.
Let’s dive right in.

Abbotsford Canucks

It’s starting to feel like a one-step-forward, two-steps-back type of season for the Abbotsford Canucks. After stringing together their second three-game winning streak of the year, they followed it up by dropping all three games this past week and were outscored 15–6 in the process.
Coming off a stellar 33-save shutout — the first of his young professional career — Aku Koskenvuo struggled in his lone start. Facing just 16 shots, he lasted 16 minutes before being pulled in favour of Jiri Patera, who went on to handle the remaining two games of the week to boot.
Given the results, it wasn’t a banner stretch for the prospect group. Vilmer Alriksson did manage to find the scoresheet, pouncing on a rebound to score the sixth goal of his rookie season. Unfortunately, he was injured in the following game after being sent into the boards. Alriksson missed the second matchup in Bakersfield and, according to the visiting broadcast, was seen walking with his arm in a sling. It’s just been one of those years.
Beyond that, it was a difficult week for the rest of the group, so we will keep this week’s Abbotsford section short.
Kirill Kudryavtsev continues to sit on the sidelines with an injury. With the All-Star Game quickly approaching, it does sound like he should be back before that date.

ECHL

Down in Kalamazoo, Josh Bloom continued his stint with the Kalamazoo Wings. To his credit, he picked up a heads-up assist to tie a game late, but the overall production remained modest. Bloom finished the week with two assists, four shots, and a minus–4 rating across three games.
After scoring in his ECHL debut last week, we were hoping to see that momentum carry over. While production doesn’t ever tell the full story in hockey, this is the level where Bloom needs to be asserting himself offensively. His contract is up after this season, so he’s playing for his spot right now.
In net, Ty Young made one start and allowed four goals on 37 shots, taking his third loss of the season. Overall, however, Young continues to play solid hockey for a middling Kalamazoo team that struggles to generate offence.

CHL

Riley Patterson continues to steal the show as the most productive skater in the Canucks’ prospect pool. With another three goals and an assist in three games, he continues to sit among the OHL’s elite, holding the fifth-highest point total in the league with 59.
He also went 26-for-39 in the faceoff circle for the week, lifting his season-long win rate to 52.4% through 41 games. We were particularly encouraged to see him contribute on the power play. Unlike many high-end producers, Patterson’s offence has largely come at even strength, which is obviously a great thing to see. With two power play goals, he now has 16 points coming with the man advantage.
Kieren Dervin has returned after missing over a month with an upper-body injury and hasn’t missed a beat. Since coming back, he’s producing at a point-per-game pace, adding three points this week to bring his post-injury total to seven. That included a slick backdoor feed to go along with two goals.
Kingston isn’t a loaded roster, but they currently sit inside a playoff spot. Despite missing significant time, Dervin remains second on the team in scoring with 29 points in 36 games. We’d still like to see more than a 45-point pace from a draft-plus-one player, but given that he’s effectively a near-rookie at this level, it’s respectable. At the very least, he remains an intriguing forward with flashes of offensive creativity and half a season — hopefully including the playoffs — to push for more.
Braeden Cootes continues to roll with the Prince Albert Raiders, producing at a 1.25 point-per-game (1.31 for the year) pace since joining the stacked squad. As noted last week, his minutes are slightly down compared to his time in Seattle, which is expected when moving from the heartbeat of a lineup to one of several dangerous pieces in a deep top-nine.
He’s still playing roughly 18 minutes per night and seeing time on the Raiders’ top power play, so there’s no concern there. He’s up to his usual run-and-gun game and playing well.
The one mild disappointment is his reduced faceoff usage. Typically hovering around 15–18 draws per game, Cootes is now averaging fewer than five. That’s not due to poor efficiency — at 57.7%, he remains one of the league’s more effective full-time faceoff takers — but rather roster deployment and the Raiders’ established defensive-zone options.
Now 9-1-0-0 in their last 10, Prince Albert has surged to the top seed in the Eastern Conference. They are, as the kids say, an absolute wagon.
Parker Alcos reached the 20-point mark for the first time in six seasons and is now on pace to match his output from the 2019–20 Burnaby Winter Club U15 season. That’s right, we are going well beyond his junior days. He even scored a goal this week that could be described as Cootes-esque — a laser off an odd-man rush.
Now up 11 pounds from his listed weight, Alcos is putting together a compelling case for an entry-level contract. The Canucks must sign him this summer or risk losing his rights to re-entry into the NHL Draft. What was already a sizeable frame paired with excellent mobility has continued to mature, and adding strength was one of our biggest takeaways from Development Camp.
For our money, he’s worth a contract as a right-shot option — and it helps that he currently sits fifth among all CHL defencemen at plus–35.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Chiarot has cooled off since being dealt to the Kitchener Rangers. Despite top-six usage, he has just five points in 12 games after posting 25 in 31 with Brampton earlier in the season.
As mentioned before, his value extends beyond raw production, but like Dervin, we’d still like to see more than a 45-point pace from a draft-plus-one forward. The third-line NHL upside remains, but there’s room for more.
Finally, Aleksei Medvedev delivered a strong performance in his lone start, stopping 35 shots and allowing just two goals. Unfortunately, he received no run support, suffering a 3–2 shootout loss. The effort nudged him closer to the .900 mark, though, as he now sits at a .899 save percentage on the season. It’s encouraging to see him slowly building off a mid-season slump following an incredible start to his draft-plus-one season and first as a starting goalie at the OHL level.

NCAA

The NCAA section has been relatively quiet this year for Canucks prospects, but Anthony Romani has officially broken out as an intriguing college player.
This week, he recorded his first NCAA hat trick and first four-point game, doing so against Gavin McKenna and Penn State. With 22 points in 26 games, Romani now sits fourth on Michigan State and has points in eight of his last 12 games.
What makes the stretch more impressive is his usage. Outside of a brief holiday window when teammates were away at the World Juniors, Romani has largely been a 12–15-minute, third-line player. Still, the shot, offensive instincts, and confidence are beginning to show through. There’s enough here to be legitimately excited about his potential as an Abbotsford Canuck in the somewhat near future.
Oh, and his Michigan State Spartans also beat Penn State in a pretty awesome venue in front of 60,000 fans in the elements.
The Beanpot doesn’t really have the same pop as a Canucks fan this season. That said, Aiden Celebrini and Matthew Perkins faced off on Monday night to battle for a spot in the Beanpot final next Monday. It took a shootout, but Celebrini’s BU Terriers got the job done and will face Boston College in the Beanpot final next week.

Rest of the World

It was a big week for Ilya Safonov, who exploded for five goals in three games. He’s now up to 16 on the season, leading Ak Bars Kazan, and is on pace to shatter his previous career high of 21.
Four of those five goals came from his office directly in front of the net. At 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, Safonov lives in the paint, and this week, he was rewarded for it.
That said, his prospect status remains puzzling. Now 24 years old, a sixth-round pick, and still playing exclusively in Russia, the question remains: does he have NHL utility? Could he earn a contract this summer as a faceoff-capable fourth-line centre?
Based on what we saw at Development Camp, we’re not convinced — but for now, he remains an interesting storyline worth tracking.
That will do it for this week’s report. We are preparing our mid-season prospect rankings this week, so be sure to check them out when they drop starting Friday, February 6th.
Until next week, folks!
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