Welcome back to Blackfish — CanucksArmy’s weekly Vancouver Canucks Prospect Report.
It was a lighter-than-usual week for the Canucks’ prospects. All Euro leagues take a small, week-long break in November for the Karjala Cup, so there was no action. Meanwhile, the Abbotsford Canucks took part in four mixed-bag matches this week.
Let’s dive right in.

Abbotsford Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks are running a roster carousel, and Arshdeep Bains has jumped on for the ride. The Surrey native was once again sent back down to Abbotsford this week, only this time, it was more than just a paper transaction. He suited up in two games and instantly made up for lost time.
While it’s not always apparent at the NHL level, Bains is an all-star at the AHL level — fast, skilled, and strong on the puck. He picked up a goal and three assists over a two-game stretch, including a three-point night in his season debut.
His goal perfectly represents the type of player we know Bains can be: hard on the puck, crafty, and relentless.
Given his waiver-exemption status and role with the big club, there’s a good chance his ride on the cap carousel is long and goes on for most of the season. But with a chance to play NHL games with his local team, I don’t think he’s complaining.
Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who officially made his NHL debut on Tuesday night, gets his first ride on that carousel. We’ve chatted in exhaustion about him in anticipation of his NHL debut, so check out our deeper dive into what we’ve seen from him so far during his time in Abby (here).
Instead, enjoy the barrage of shots that he’s thrown on net thus far.
Folks, it’s Danila Klimovich’s world right now, and we’re just living in it. Okay, that’s maybe going a bit too far. But it’s amazing what a little opportunity will do. Last year was a complete disaster for the young Belarusian, from injuries and healthy scratches to a total lack of confidence on the ice. There was a clear disconnect between the player and coach, and it showed itself in every possible way.
This year, with Manny Malhotra at the helm, Klimovich is getting the proper ice time and opportunities he deserves, and it’s directly reflecting on the ice. With another two goals and three points on the week, Klimovich has regained the Abbotsford lead in points.
Slotted in on the top power play, he’s rifled off a carbon copy set of goals — all courtesy of that wicked release that we’ve seen in the past — and the confidence just continues to grow.
Skating consistently on the team’s second line with Max Sasson and “insert name here,” Klimovich looks much more confident in his game and much more engaged. While it’s not much, the fact that he’s willing to go to the corners and throw his body around is a good sign and much more than we saw from him last year.
Not only is he second on the team in shots (38), but he’s also throwing his body around, which has led to a hit-per-game average. He’s finally begun contributing in a positive manner for the first time in over a year—all while averaging nearly 16 minutes per game, as opposed to the eight minutes he was stuck with last season.
Speaking of that line, Max Sasson has been heating up after a slower start, grabbing three assists on the week to put him up to seven points (three goals, four assists) on the year—tied for second on the Abbotsford Canucks.
With the absence of all top dogs heading to Vancouver, Sasson enjoyed some time on the top line throughout the week but has found a comfortable home, assisting Klimovich in re-finding his game on the second line. What more is there to say than what we’ve been saying for a year now? Sasson never misses a beat as a strong and dependable pivot for the Abbotsford Canucks.
We’ve done enough blasting about how much we like Ty Mueller’s two-way, responsible game. It’s time to showcase some goals. There aren’t many better pieces of advice than simply going to the net. And that’s exactly what Mueller did to cash in on his career’s first and second AHL goals—both courtesy of his skate.
They may not be the prettiest, but they’re a good showcase of the type of game he’s been playing—hard-nosed and two-way hockey.
He continues to see minutes in all situations for the team, while jumping between the team’s even-strength units.
After a tough start to the season working on a pair with Guillaume Brisebois, Jett Woo finally had a bounce-back week. Playing on a pair with one of Layton Ahac or Akito Hirose, he enjoyed his first week with an even-rated plus/minus and picked up two assists to go with an empty-net goal.
He also picked up his first fighting major, dropping the gloves with Drake Caggiula of the Bakersfield Condors.
Kirill Kudryavtsev picked up two assists over the week.
After sitting on the sidelines all year, waiting for his opportunity to squeeze into the lineup, Christian Felton slid into his first pair of professional games. While he did not hit the scoresheet, he was quite sound defensively and looked comfortable. For our money, we won’t be shocked if he earned himself a permanent role on the right side going forward…
Simply put, Elias Pettersson has been the Abbotsford Canucks’ most consistent defender. While he’s not putting up many points—just three assists on the year—he’s the only (active) defender who carries a positive rating (plus-3) and has just been doing all the little things right. Simple plays, aggressive shutdowns, and minimal mistakes.
In goal, Nikita Tolopilo got back between the pipes after allowing eight goals on just 35 shots the week prior. Unfortunately, there was no redemption story, as he allowed four goals only to get the hook in the first period of his return.
Jiri Patera suffered an injury in relief, forcing Tolopilo back into the pipes, allowing another three goals to suffer the 8-5 loss. With Patera out, Tolopilo got his second game of the week but allowed another three goals on just 21 shots to fall victim to yet another loss.
Suddenly, he’s now lost four straight decisions while sporting a 3.71 goals-against average and .851 save percentage after starting the year with a cool 3-0-0 record.
Enter Arturs Silovs, who was reassigned for a single day to enjoy some playing time down in Abbotsford. Unlike what we’ve seen from him at the NHL level, he collected the win, stopping 23 of 25 shots to pick up his first win in his AHL season debut. Unfortunately for the Abby Canucks, he’s back up in Vancouver, and it’s back to looking toward Nikita Tolopilo for answers.
Ty Young has just two ECHL games of experience under his belt but has been called up for reinforcements to Abbotsford due to the Patera injury. In fact, he skipped the American league and was called up to Vancouver just a day later. Of course, the promotion was simply logistics, and he returned to Abbotsford the following day. Yet, for a kid with just two games of pro experience in his name, he’s likely not complaining about the extra zeroes on his paycheck.
The Canucks will see a back-to-back over the weekend, so there’s a good chance that we will see Young make his AHL debut in one of the two.

CHL

Vilmer Alriksson highlighted this week’s Canadian Hockey League section, posting a goal, three assists across three games, and ten shots on target. Up to four goals and nine points on the year, the big Swede has been shooting a ton while playing on the Guelph Storm’s top line. With 43 shots, he sits fourth on his team.
Riley Patterson matched that, grabbing two goals and two assists himself. Like Alriksson, he continues to play throughout the lineup, enjoying top-line minutes in some games and third-line in others.
He’s currently scoring just under a point per game, with 12 points, spread evenly between six goals and six assists.
It was a relatively quiet week for the remaining CHL representatives. Sawyer Mynio collected a secondary assist in just one game of action—a 4-3 overtime loss to the Calgary Hitmen. Today, he sits ninth among all WHL defenders with 44 shots through just 15 games. He also sits with the fifth-highest point total among that field, with four goals and 17 points.
Parker Alcos picked up an assist during one of his two games of the week, putting him up to three assists for the year. It hasn’t been the prettiest of draft-plus-one seasons for the 18-year-old, currently sitting second to last on the Oil Kings with a minus-9 in just 15 games.
Basile Sansonnens did suit up in three games for his Rimouski Oceanic but continues to play his shutdown role on the team’s top pairing.
Of course, Anthony Romani continues to sit out with a broken clavicle bone.

Sweden

All Swedish players received the week off due to the annual Karjala Cup. As a result, all league play was suspended for the week. Check back next week.

NCAA

Starting us off in the NCAA is Aku Koskenvuo, who took home the ECAC Goaltender of the Week award.
He notched wins in back-to-back games over the weekend, stopping 48 of 51 shots while picking up his third career NCAA shutout.
We saw him shut the door as Harvard’s best player on several occasions last year, and so far, he’s on that exact same path this season. It’s early, but he’s sporting a 2-1-0 record with a 1.64 GAA and a .931 save percentage.
Over in Boston, Tom Willander picked up another primary assist to put him up to five assists and seven points on the year.
In game one of the week (Friday), he suffered just his second NCAA game as minus-2 (or worse) over his entire 47-game career. Well, he backed it up with a plus-3 the next night to collect the assist and erase any negative blemish from the previous night. He currently sits second on his team in blocked shots (17) and tops as a plus-5.
Jackson Kunz collected another two goals, giving him four on the year. Aiden Celebrini picked up his first point (assist) of the year, while Daimon Gardner and Matthew Perkins each also picked up an assist.
That’s all for this week’s folks!
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