Welcome back to Blackfish: Our weekly Vancouver Canucks prospects report.

As we do every week, we’ll begin with a reminder to check out our video form of the report, where Tyson Cole, Jacob Fraser and Dave Hall break down the week on the Blackfish Prospect Show.

Let’s dive in.

We’d be remiss not to kick off this week’s report with the biggest talking point in the Canucks’ prospect system: Caleb Malhotra.

The good news? He finally added a few more points to the board. With two assists over the weekend, Malhotra recorded his first NCAA helpers, bringing his season total to three points in six games.

So, let’s address the elephant in the room right away. Three points in six games isn’t exactly the production you’d expect from a third-overall selection.

The even better news, however, is that his overall play hasn’t necessarily reflected those modest totals. In fact, Malhotra appears to be getting more comfortable with each passing game, doing just about everything he can to create offence while fighting through a bit of an early-season scoring drought. It’s important to note that this drought isn’t simply a personal issue; it’s a team issue. With just 19 goals on the year, they have failed to generate the finish we’d typically see from a relatively skilled team such as BU. Eventually, we’d like to believe that the tide will turn.

Defensively, he’s been somewhat of an ace. He’s supported the middle of the ice well, and he’s shown a strong understanding of his responsibilities as a centre. He’s consistently putting himself in good positions, supporting his defencemen and making responsible decisions away from the puck.

Offensively, he’s been experimenting a ton, showing some impressive playmaking vision and regularly setting up his linemates with quality opportunities. Now, it’s about those linemates finishing some of those chances.

That’s not to suggest Malhotra has been perfect himself.

While we do feel he’s been a legitimate driver of play, there will come a time — and that time is approaching quickly — when he’ll need to start finishing more of those opportunities himself. That’s simply the reality of being selected third overall.

But through six games, there really hasn’t been a performance where we’ve walked away thinking, “Boy, he’s got a lot to clean up.” He works hard. He drives play. He hustles back defensively and consistently supports all three zones. When all is said and done, there is a lot to like.

And to illustrate that, let’s take a look at one particular shift from this weekend.

It starts with Malhotra making an attempt to throw a hit. Granted, he misses the initial contact and subsequently gets bowled over himself by an unsuspecting opponent. But he gets right back up, and where does he instantly go? He goes straight below the goal line to support his defenceman, help regain possession, and kick-start another sequence up the ice.

Moments later, Malhotra receives an outlet pass and, thanks to a quick pre-scan and a heads-up decision, wastes absolutely no time finding a linemate streaking in for a breakaway opportunity.

Unfortunately, the chance doesn’t result in a goal. Instead, the puck goes the other way, and suddenly the opposition has a breakaway opportunity of its own. But guess who’s the first player back to break it up? Caleb Malhotra.

It’s a relatively simple sequence, but it tells you plenty about the player.

The immediate defensive support, the awareness to scan before receiving the puck and the quick decision-making to create a scoring chance. And finally, the determination to get back and eliminate a dangerous opportunity at the other end.

These details are what lay a strong foundation to make Malhotra a professional hockey player. And there are plenty more examples just like it. The growing offensive game, meanwhile, will ultimately determine whether he can reach the considerable upside many have projected for him.

If there is one area where we’d really like to see more immediate improvement, however, it’s the faceoff circle. Malhotra is currently winning somewhere in the 30% range, which simply isn’t going to cut it over the long term.

But overall, despite the underwhelming point totals, we’re seeing plenty of encouraging signs from Vancouver’s top prospect.

And then there’s Niklas Aaram-Olsen, who collected his first NCAA point over the weekend after skating a season-high 14:13 of ice time. Unfortunately, he followed that performance with a game in which he played just over 10 minutes.

That fluctuation in deployment provides a pretty good indication of where his game currently stands within Boston University’s lineup. Unlike Malhotra, Aaram-Olsen appears to be going through a much more significant adjustment period.

The Norwegian winger has yet to establish himself in a consistent line combination, and the coaching staff still seems to be figuring out exactly where he fits. That’s not entirely surprising for a player transitioning from European hockey to the North American collegiate game, but it’s certainly something we’ll be monitoring closely.

We plan to highlight Aaram-Olsen on next week’s Blackfish Prospect Show, where we’ll break down some video and take a closer look at what’s working, and what isn’t, during his early NCAA transition.

And finally, there’s Aiden Celebrini, who has quietly become one of Boston University’s most heavily utilized players.

The senior defenceman is now averaging more than 20 minutes per game and has established himself as a go-to option on the Terriers’ backend. He picked up his second assist of the season this week and currently leads the team with 11 blocked shots.

Beyond the numbers, we’ve also noticed some improvements in his mobility. Celebrini looks more comfortable moving around the ice, and his increased responsibilities suggest the coaching staff has plenty of confidence in what he brings to the table.

Sure, we still envision him as more of an AHL-level player once his collegiate career concludes. But the development is noticeable, and considering his character and leadership qualities, we’d love to see him continue that progression within Abbotsford’s system.

Over at Michigan State, Anthony Romani added another goal to bring his season total to five, continuing an impressive sophomore start and scoring at a goal-per-game pace. Add in three assists, and you have a player who ranks (tied) fourth among all sophomore skaters with eight points in five games. He’s shooting at a 21.7% clip at the moment, so there’s likely going to be a regression from that pace (shocker), but the fact that he’s one of MSU’s new go-to forwards and playing in all three situations means there is a good chance that he keeps things up to leapfrog his 28 points in 35 games from last season.

Shifting to the NCHC, Connor Davis picked up yet another beautiful assist, showing that he may be more than just a fifth-round overeager. Collecting the puck at the hash marks, he fends off a hit before finding a man high in the slot for his fourth point in five games.

We chatted about and broke down a few of Davis’ shifts last week on our Blackfish Prospect Show, where we highlighted his hard-working demeanour and underrated offensive sense. We have a feeling he’s going to be a relatively prominent member of this Blackfish report. We like him a lot.

Over in Colorado, Wilson Björck, another noted hard-working forward, picked up his first goal of the 2026-27 season. As we saw from him last season, he continues to see decent deployment, but hasn’t, and likely won’t, put up the big numbers we see from some of the other members of this NCAA crop. That said, we still love to watch the player and place him in the “rooting for him” section of the prospect system.

Switching over to the CHL, Brooks Rogowski and Adam Novotný faced each other in a weekend battle, where Brooks finally pulled the monkey off his back and delivered his first goal of the season. He also added an assist but went minus-3 in the process.

In fact, game two was probably a better individual performance from him despite putting up no points. Although he’s up to eight points on the season, it’s been a slower start to the season, which has come with some moments of frustration on a lacklustre Oshawa squad. We imagine there’s a good chance he’ll be dealt before the deadline to be sent to a perennial Memorial Cup hopeful, where he could truly flourish in a middle-six role as a 6-foot-7 brute.

As for Novotný, he racked up two assists in the bout, leading the Canucks’ prospect system with 18 points and on pace for 100 points. With 57 shots on the season, he currently sits fourth in the league, which is exactly what you like to see from a volume, puck-dominant player like him.

Don’t look now, but Lucien Bernat is quietly on a six-game point streak, putting him at 10 points in 11 games and second in the Canucks’ system. Granted, his first three of this run were simple secondary helpers, but his last three came off his go-to weapon: his shot.

He picked up three goals over the week, all based on his heavy release. He capped off the weekend with a multi-goal performance, which was highlighted by an overtime winning goal with just two seconds left on the ticker. He’s certainly breaking out of his shell, and with a potent release like his, that’s exactly what we are hoping to see a ton more of heading into the Christmas season, where we hope to see him at this year’s World Juniors for Team Slovakia.

Despite an encouraging start to the season, Aleksei Medvedev had a tough week, allowing 10 goals on 60 shots faced. While we aren’t necessarily concerned, the London Knights just may be. Unwilling to let inconsistency get in the way of their season, they acquired a goaltender (Arvin Jaswal) from the Barrie Colts in exchange for a typical junior package. While he won’t be ready to play immediately, this suggests that they will likely turn to him as the starting goaltender.

Could they keep Medvedev? Sure. But considering he’s already been involved in trade rumours, there’s a good chance his time with the powerhouse Knights may be coming to an end sooner rather than later. We will keep an eye on that.

Over in Medicine Hat, Yaroslav Brysgalov scored two goals this weekend, bringing him to five points in nine games.

That will do it for this week’s Blackfish report. As mentioned, we’ll focus a little more on Niklas Aaram-Olsen next week, so be sure to tune back in.

Until then, folks!