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Blackfish: Introducing the 2025-26 Canucks prospect roster, World Junior Summer Showcase recap
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Dave Hall
Aug 5, 2025, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 5, 2025, 10:30 EDT
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Welcome back to the Blackfish Prospect Report.
After a brief summer hiatus, we’re officially returned and ready to bring you weekly updates on all things Vancouver Canucks prospects.
If you’re new here, welcome aboard! Each week, we track goals, assists, injuries, trades, and performance trends from the Canucks’ pipeline. We also spotlight a featured prospect, offering breakdowns of their strengths, areas for improvement, and where they stand in their development journey.
If it’s a Canucks prospect, we’ve got you covered here at CanucksArmy.
For returning readers and long-time supporters, we’re always looking to improve, so feel free to share your suggestions as we embark on another exciting season of coverage.
With August now upon us, the 2025–26 Blackfish roster is beginning to take shape. While there’s still time for a surprise move or two — perhaps a trade for that elusive second-line centre in Vancouver — the offseason dust is settling, and the hockey world is heating up once again.
In today’s edition, we’ll set the stage by introducing this year’s Blackfish roster: who’s back, who’s new, who’s moved on, and who’s officially graduated from prospect status.
And yes, there’s already some actual hockey to discuss, with the World Junior Summer Showcase officially in the books.
Hockey is back. Let’s get to it.

Subtractions

Arturs Silovs, G
After six years of development and building a strong reputation as one of the fanbase’s favourite prospects, Arturs Silovs is officially off our Blackfish roster.
Following a stellar Calder Cup run that earned MVP honours, Silovs found himself in goaltending purgatory. With Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen locked in with contracts at the NHL level, there was little room left for the Latvian to grow within the organization.
With his waiver eligibility set to expire ahead of the 2025–26 season, the Canucks faced the real risk of losing him for nothing. For obvious reasons, that option was a non-starter for this regime.
So when the opportunity came to grab a fourth-round pick — higher than most fringe goalies traded this offseason — and a 22-year-old prospect in return, Vancouver jumped, sending their developing netminder to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Cole McWard, RD
After struggling to crack the Abbotsford lineup for most of their championship run, Cole McWard heads to the New York Islanders for a fresh start and opportunity to finally crack an NHL spot.
While never elite in one particular area, McWard always projected as a potential depth defender who could eventually fill a 6–8 role within the organization. But with the rise of Tom Willander and the addition of Victor Mancini, the Canucks clearly had other plans.
Ty Glover, F & Tristen Nielsen, F
Ty Glover and Tristen Nielsen were also victims of musical chairs, both left without contracts for the 2025–26 season. Nielsen, a former Vancouver Giant, was always a fan favourite thanks to his soft hands and pest-like attitude. Despite being undersized, he brought a physical edge to his game and had a knack for exciting plays that brought fans out of their seats. He now heads to a huge rival of the Abby Canucks in Colorado, where he signed a one-year deal.
As for Glover, he was little more than a fringe AHL skater. However, when in the lineup, he might’ve been the fastest player on the ice.
Jackson Kunz, F
Jackson Kunz remains affiliated with the organization after signing a one-year AHL deal with Abbotsford. But with no NHL contract and nearly 23 years old, he drops from our radar here at CanucksArmy.
Lucas Forsell, F & Hugo Gabrielson
For the first time in what feels like forever, the Canucks enter the season without a single Swedish-based prospect. That’s due to both Lucas Forsell and Hugo Gabrielson failing to sign contracts before their rights expired earlier this summer.
Despite being a seventh-rounder, Forsell was a player we always liked. His stats never popped, but he brought a heavy forechecking game and flashed some exciting sequences over the years.
Although he enjoyed a slightly better season in 2024-25, he never truly hit the mark as a prospect worth keeping tabs on.

Graduates

Here at CanucksArmy, we consider a prospect to be anyone under the age of 25. That means a few Abbotsford regulars have officially graduated from our coverage this season, including Max Sasson and Jett Woo.
Sasson has been a Blackfish mainstay since he arrived, and while he may still pop up in a highlight or two, don’t expect weekly updates. Same goes for Woo.

Additions

The primary wave of additions to our Blackfish Report comes from the NHL Draft. In a somewhat surprising move, the Canucks held onto most of their picks, injecting six new names into the pipeline.
We’ll break down where each player is set to play this season in next week’s instalment, but for now, here’s the 2025 draft class:
Braeden Cootes (15th overall) headlines the group. A versatile and mature centreman, Cootes brings plenty of NHL upside and will be a fixture in our weekly updates.
Aleksei Medvedev, a Russian-born netminder who plays in North America, was taken in the second round. While his selection raised some eyebrows at the time, there’s real intrigue in his profile. He could end up being a diamond in the rough prospect to make a huge impact on this organization.
Kieren Dervin came in the third round. He’s tabbed as a two-way centre who works hard and boasts a little more offensive upside than he gets credit for. He’ll head to college in 2026–27, but we’ll be tracking his development closely until then.
No prospect from this year’s class brings a more fascinating profile than Wilson Björck. Drafted as a 19-year-old overager, he had a massive year in the J20 Nationell alongside his younger brother to finish 1–2 in league scoring en route to a championship. After a strong World Junior Summer Showcase, he’s a near-lock to represent Sweden at the World Juniors.
Gabe Chiarot and Matthew Lansing round out the draft class and will both join the Blackfish Report this season.
In addition to the draft crop, the Canucks added two prospects via trade.
As mentioned, Arturs Silovs was sent to Pittsburgh, with 22-year-old Chase Stillman coming back the other way. A former first-round pick of the New Jersey Devils, Stillman hasn’t lived up to the lofty expectations. However, that may have been more a product of draft hype than his actual ceiling. That said, he did post 24 points (14G, 10A) as an AHL rookie just one season ago, so there’s still hope he finds his groove.
In a surprise move just moments following the draft, the Canucks also acquired Ilya Safonov from the Chicago Blackhawks.
The 24-year-old Russian has spent seven seasons with Ak Bars Kazan in the KHL and is one of just two Canucks prospects playing outside of North America this season. Without an NHL contract, he’s currently listed on Ak Bars’ 2025-26 roster. So as of today, that’s where he’ll play with pre-season kicking off shortly in Russia.
Lastly, Anri Ravinskis was brought in as a free-agent signing from the Finnish circuit. At 22, the 6-foot-3, 201-pound winger brings a compelling mix of size, speed, and tenacity. He plays fast and physical and could be a real spark plug in Abbotsford this year.
With that, here is your 2025–26 Blackfish Prospect Report roster barring any more moves before the season:
Forwards
  • Arshdeep Bains
  • Danila Klimovich
  • Ty Mueller
  • Jonathan Lekkerimäki
  • Josh Bloom
  • Vilmer Alriksson
  • Aatu Räty
  • Braeden Cootes
  • Riley Patterson
  • Anthony Romani
  • Wilson Björck
  • Kieren Dervin
  • Ilya Safonov
  • Anri Ravinskis
  • Chase Stillman
  • Matthew Perkins
  • Matthew Lansing
  • Daimon Gardner
  • Gabe Chiarot
Defencemen
  • Tom Willander
  • Kirill Kudryavtsev
  • Elias Pettersson
  • Victor Mancini
  • Sawyer Mynio
  • Parker Alcos
  • Basile Sanssonens
  • Aiden Celebrini
Goaltenders
  • Nikita Tolopilo
  • Aku Koskenvuo
  • Ty Young
  • Aleksei Medvedev

World Junior Summer Showcase

It may be the dog days of summer, but we’ve got some hockey updates courtesy of the World Junior Summer Showcase.
It’s always nice to have some puck in the queue, but it’s important to remember that this tournament doesn’t necessarily mean much (good or bad). Teams use it as a measuring stick ahead of final roster decisions for the upcoming World Juniors, so lines get shuffled, players come and go, and consistency can be hard to find.
The Canucks’ two representatives, Wilson Björck and Braeden Cootes, were great examples of that dynamic. Björck emerged as one of the tournament’s standouts, while Cootes struggled to find ice time and only saw two games due to a “light” injury.
The Swede, fresh off a red-hot 2024–25 season, racked up six points to finish second at the event. He also finished second with five assists. Beyond the box score, he stood out as one of Sweden’s top playmakers, bringing his usual blend of energy, pace, and edge to the ice.
Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis, who was on-site covering the action, had some glowing words for the Canucks’ 2025 fifth-rounder:
“You can only take so much out of a week-long summer hockey tournament, but the Canucks must be thrilled with Björck’s play. He has been Sweden’s best playmaker, and he looked great today with an assist. He thrives near the net, but he also makes great, high-quality passes under pressure better than most others on the Swedish attack. Björck has not only been one of Sweden’s best players this week, but he’s been one of the best players in the tournament, period.”
With his strong showing, Björck now looks like a near-lock to crack Sweden’s roster for the 2025 World Juniors in Minnesota.
On the other side of the coin, Braeden Cootes spent the early part of the tournament on Canada’s fourth line. Once the team’s returning players — many of whom are locks for this year’s WJC — were sent home, Cootes was scratched for the final two games due to a “light” injury.
It wasn’t an ideal tournament for the 18-year-old, but it was always going to be an uphill battle for one of the youngest players at camp. With Canada expected to ice an experienced, top-heavy roster, breaking through was never going to be easy.
If he doesn’t make the team this time around, look for him to be a serious candidate for the 2027 tournament.
That will do it for the first installment of our 2025-26 Blackfish Prospect report. As mentioned above, if you have any suggestions for information or ideas that you’d like to see added to the report, please feel free to voice your opinion in the comment section below.
Enjoy the season, folks.
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