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Blackfish: Strong start for Abby Canucks, Dervin’s red hot start, and NCAA firsts for Romani and Björck
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Dave Hall
Oct 15, 2025, 14:25 EDTUpdated: Oct 15, 2025, 14:24 EDT
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Welcome back to Blackfish: our weekly Vancouver Canucks Prospect Report.
The honeymoon phase is over — the hockey season is officially back.
The preseason storylines have settled, the rosters are set, and Canucks prospects across every level are hitting the ice for games that matter. From Abbotsford’s season opener to promising starts across the CHL and NCAA, this week had a little of everything.
Let’s get into it.

Abbotsford Canucks

We’ll start with a farewell of sorts, as this is our official declaration that Elias Pettersson is no longer a prospect.
If it wasn’t already glaringly obvious heading into the season, his performance through training camp and opening two games has proven he’s on to greener pastures.
Any future Blackfish updates on him will likely be obsolete. He’s NHL-ready, full stop.
Back with Abbotsford, the team opened the season with a strong pair of victories in Henderson, improving their record to 6-0-0-0 over their last six outings against their division rivals. It wasn’t a perfect weekend, and much of game one can be attributed to incredible goaltending, but it’s an ideal start for the reigning champions.
On the backend, Kirill Kudryavtsev is making an early statement that he’s ready to hit another gear in his development as well.
The 21-year-old was deployed as Abbotsford’s go-to defender over the weekend, showing tremendous poise and confidence in controlling the game from the back end.
His puck management and movement at the blue line had flashes of Quinn Hughes-like calm, and he continues to build on the seventh-round-pick-to-cornerstone story that’s quickly becoming one of the organization’s best value finds.
Oh, and he just happened to grab a team-leading three points over the weekend with three assists.
While he didn’t register a point in games one and two, Ty Mueller reminded everyone why he’s such an integral part of this team and system.
He continues to do everything right defensively — blocking shots, forechecking hard, and anchoring a penalty kill that remains perfect through the opening weekend.
Part of that penalty-killing unit was Tom Willander, who made his long-awaited professional debut.
The 20-year-old Swede saw minutes in all situations and showed plenty of reasons to be excited. He was composed with the puck, making clever pinches and quick transitions. However, his inexperience showed at times, most notably on Henderson’s late tying goal that spoiled Nikita Tolopilo’s shutout bid.
It’s far too early to judge, but the foundation is clearly there for a player who will be leaned on heavily as he adjusts to the pro pace.
Danila Klimovich picked up two assists in his season debut, carrying over the offensive confidence he built last year.
One of those helpers came on the game-clinching goal, where he and Max Sasson connected for a beautiful backdoor play.
He looked engaged and hungry in the offensive zone, consistently driving play and generating pressure.
Given his inconsistency in the past, we’ll need a few more games to see if this is a continuation or a hot start. Regardless, he played like a player ready to claim a permanent top-six fixture.
Vilmer Alriksson also made his professional debut, skating on Abbotsford’s third line. His size and reach were as advertised — he protected pucks well, fought through checks, and flashed moments of the skill that made him intriguing in junior.
Still, there were moments where he showed he’ll need time to adjust to the pro game’s physicality and pace. Encouragingly, he earned some secondary power-play time, which should give him valuable offensive touches to build off of.
Between the pipes, Nikita Tolopilo set the tone for the season. He stopped 36 of 37 shots in the opener, many of them high-danger chances, and looked composed all night.
The lone goal he surrendered came on a late jam play after he had stopped the initial shot. It’s his crease this year, and game one was a huge statement game to declare himself.

CHL

It was another productive week for the CHL contingent, especially the recent draftees.
Starting in London, Aleksei Medvedev followed up his strong debut with a second straight win, turning aside 13 shots in a comfortable 6-1 victory.
He wasn’t tested heavily, but it makes for a solid two-game run after dropping his season debut 5-4 (overtime) despite playing a strong 27-save game.
The biggest story in the OHL remains Kieren Dervin, who has exploded out of the gate in his draft-plus-one campaign. The Kingston centre added another two goals and three assists this week, bringing his total to nine points (4 G, 5 A) through six games.
He’s earning more ice time nightly, playing in every situation, and showing impressive hockey IQ and finish release.
He’s been one of the early breakout prospects across the league.
Meanwhile, Gabe Chiarot continues to build momentum in Brampton. The gritty winger tallied a goal and two assists this week, maintaining a point-per-game pace and his reputation as a physical, agitating presence.
One of those helpers — a crisp cross-ice feed for a one-timer — showed just how much polish he’s added to his game since draft day.
On the blue line, Parker Alcos continues to impress in Edmonton. Logging top-four minutes, he posted a plus–4 rating this week and now sits tied for fourth among WHL defensemen with a plus–8 through six games.
The big news came from Vancouver, where Braeden Cootes was sent back to the Seattle Thunderbirds to go serve as captain of the WHL squad once again.
Despite being the feel-good story of the pre-season, he looked outmatched at times during his quick NHL stint. He wasn’t bad, per se, just showed his inexperience, which was expected.
Heading back to junior is undoubtedly the best course of action for this development, where he will drop back as a heavily utilized pivot in all situations and push for a spot on Team Canada.
He returns as this organization’s top-ranked prospect with a bullet.

NCAA

It was a weekend of firsts south of the border.
At Michigan State, Anthony Romani wasted no time announcing himself, rifling a perfect top-corner laser from the half-wall for his first NCAA goal in his first officially NCAA game.
It was a classic Romani finish — quick release, pinpoint accuracy, and a reminder of why his shot is one of the more dangerous in the Canucks’ prospect pool.
At Colorado College, Wilson Björck continues to intrigue.
We’re not crowning him an NHLer yet — far from it — but the tools are there.
He’s quick, creative, and fearless in tight spaces. Over the weekend, the Swedish freshman recorded his first NCAA goal and two assists, highlighted by a beautiful top-shelf finish off the rush.
And a slick power-play setup where he froze a defender before firing a deflected pass toward the crease.
He’s still adjusting to the NCAA’s physicality, but the confidence is unmistakable.

Rest of World

It wasn’t in league play, so it won’t count toward his official statistics, but Basile Sansonnens scored his first professional goal. During Champions League play, he threw a puck toward the net off a face-off, beating the netminder clean.

Final thoughts

It’s been a strong opening stretch for the Canucks’ pipeline. Abbotsford looks deep, the CHL kids are already producing, and the NCAA class is finding its footing quickly.
Check back next week, when we will begin our weekly “prospect focus” to review the breakdown of a player.
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