We are back with another Blackfish Prospects Report, recapping the week that was in the world of Canucks prospects.
This was a solid week for the prospects when it came to offensive production and it’s one of those weeks where we have a lot of clips to get to.
So, as I always say, let’s not waste any more words — instead, let’s get to the prospects!

CHL Update

We will kick things off with Connor Lockhart, who is now up to 52 points in 41 OHL games this season. Lockhart had a strong weekend in the goal department, ripping twine three times in three games.
He had a pair of goals in Friday’s 6-4 loss to the Guelph Storm.
Sticking in the OHL, 2022 seventh-round pick Kirill Kudryavtsev continues to show off serious offensive production from the back end in his OHL season.
He picked up a pair of assists in a 6-3 win over the Saginaw Spirit on Wednesday and followed that up with an assist in a 5-4 shootout loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs on Saturday.
Kudryavtsev continues to be the power play quarterback on the Soo Greyhounds’ top man-advantage unit and is showing well when it comes to skating the puck up the ice. For a seventh-round pick, you have to like what you see from the Russian. He has eight points in his last seven games. Though his numbers are strong, they don’t blow you away but it will be very interesting to see what he does next season in the OHL. This is a kid with a lot of offensive potential. He should be all over our Blackfish reports next year.
It was a tough weekend for goaltender Ty Young in the WHL. On Friday night, he faced 42 shots and allowed eight goals. He had a nice bounce-back on Saturday for the Prince George Cougars, stopping 30 of 33 shots in a 4-3 overtime win over the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Sweden always gets its own heading

This next goal tiptoes into both the CHL and the Swedish leagues as we are talking about a different CHL on this goal. Instead of the Canadian Hockey League, we are talking about the Champions Hockey League.
Right-shot defenceman Filip Johansson has had a strong performance throughout the CHL this season, as he is tied for the lead of goals from a defenceman in Champions League play this year with four goals in 12 games. Here’s his goal from last Tuesday.
Johansson has four goals and five assists in his 12 CHL games this season, to go along with his four goals and nine assists in 35 SHL games.
He is averaging 20:27 of ice time this season, which is more than three and a half minutes more than he was last year. This free-agent signing feels like a good one for Patrik Allvin and company as Johansson has clearly taken a step in his play from last season.
Elias Pettersson (D-Petey) got back into his SHL team’s lineup this week after spending last weekend in the J20 league. Pettersson played 6:43 on Thursday and 6:07 on Saturday — lining up as the seventh defenceman in both games.
Speaking of SHL ice time, Lucas Forsell slotted onto his SHL team’s top line on Thursday. He was held without a point in his two SHL games this week but the coach is clearly seeing something from him.
We also saw a goal from Jonathan Lekkerimäki this week.
The 18-year-old winger had a nice return to the Allsvenskan league after torching the J20 ranks. Lekkerimäki scored his second goal of the Allsvenskan season on Wednesday in a 6-3 loss to Modo.
The best part of this goal was that Lekkerimäki went to the net. This is one of the things we need to see from him as he continues to develop, and he was rewarded for his efforts.
Though he was held without a point in his second Allsvenskan game of the week, Lekkerimäki posted strong possession numbers with excellent control of scoring chances while on the ice. He had a 58% Corsi in the game and had an expected goals control of 82% in a 3-0 loss to Modo.
He also had some quotes come up in an article that was written by his team. You can see us break that down and more on his season HERE.

Odds and ends

Let’s dive into the NCAA, where Aidan McDonough continues to score at a tremendous pace. He is currently on a five-game goal streak after scoring in each of his two weekend games against Merrimack College.
Here’s goal number one of the weekend.
And goal number two.
It was a big scoring weekend for defenceman Jacob Truscott as well. He had the biggest game of his life with two massive goals against rival Minnesota on Saturday.
He scored his first goal late in the second period to give Michigan a 4-3 lead.
Minnesota came back in the third period but then Truscott made some overtime magic happen for the Wolverines.
This kid might end up going back to Michigan to captain the Wolverines but he has taken a pretty big step in his sophomore season. The Canucks could end up trying to push him to go pro.
Truscott turns 21 in April, so it’s definitely something to keep an eye on.
Linus Karlsson scored a power play goal on Saturday in the AHL.
We quickly want to give a hat tip to 22-year-old AHL defenceman Alex Kannok Leipert. Who is in the Canucks’ system but does not have a contract with the NHL club.
He had two wicked fights on the weekend and made a lot of new fans in Abbotsford.
The final AHL update is on Danila Klimovich, who scored a power play goal late in Saturday’s game.
Our final highlights come from our pal, Danny Gee of Elite Prospects. He crunched the weekend tape on Daimon Gardner, who is now up to 16 points in 16 USHL games.
Check out the video, Danny does a great job of making an easy watch.
This wraps up our Blackfish Prospects Report for the week. We will see you all next week to highlight what happened in the world of Canucks prospects.