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Blackfish: Canucks’ OHL prospects putting on a show, a Tom Willander highlight, and more
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Dave Hall
Oct 21, 2025, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 21, 2025, 12:49 EDT
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Welcome back to Blackfish, our weekly Vancouver Canucks Prospect Report.
We’ve made it to another week in the hockey world, and if you’re a Canucks prospect fan, there was plenty to cheer about.
No, the team’s pipeline may not be stacked with high-octane, blue-chip prospects. And yet, many are having terrific starts to the season — particularly those playing in the Ontario Hockey League — and are worth giving this organization’s scouting team some well-deserved praise.
After the 2025 draft, Todd Harvey, the Canucks’ director of amateur scouting, made two comments that caught our ears. When asked about the lack of production from 2025 sixth-rounder Gabe Chiarot so far during his OHL tenure, he chuckled and said, “Well, you said that about [Ty] Mueller, too.” Later in the interview, when asked about picking Kieren Dervin much higher than most had him ranked, Harvey responded, “That’s okay. He wasn’t ranked by us like that.”
If there’s anything you can say about this regime, it’s that this scouting team has done a savvy job with the small amount of draft capital they’ve had. There are now countless examples of players taken in the mushy middle or late stages of the draft who have developed quickly and become players with promising upside. Are they poised to become elite NHLers? That remains to be seen. But they’re players with potential nonetheless.
Just weeks into the 2025–26 season, many, if not all, of the organization’s picks from the 2025 draft are enjoying promising starts, and at CanucksArmy, we’re grateful for that and applaud this scouting staff.
Meanwhile, in Abbotsford — where several of those mid- to late-round picks are now skating — the Canucks wrapped up a four-game road swing to start the season in Laval, Quebec. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the most productive two-game set for the affiliate, which suffered back-to-back losses, bringing its season record to an even .500 (2-2-0). With most of the team’s core skating with Vancouver, it’s evident that scoring could be an issue for these reigning champions.
And things just got worse with more injuries up top.
Let’s dive in.

Abbotsford Canucks

This weekend brought us the debut of Anri Ravinskis, who worked his way up the lineup to the top line after just one game.
Yes, it’s a testament to his hard work in game one, but also another glaring example of a thinned-out roster.
His game came as advertised as a strong power forward willing to muck it up in the corners. We didn’t necessarily see much offensive pizzazz from his game in such a short sample size, but it was a solid start.
Ty Mueller left the game on Saturday after he took a stick to the face, drawing a double minor on the play. He remained down on the ice for several minutes before leaving the ice with a face full of gauze and not returning.
There has been no update on his status, and hopefully, he’s back by Friday. If not, he’s not only a massive loss as a two-way forward, but a major faceoff ace who’s won 36 of his 57 for 63% in the early season.
Danila Klimovich didn’t leave either game over the weekend, but he was relatively quiet in each match, firing just five shots in total. If you follow us here at CanucksArmy, you know that if he’s feeling it, he’ll eclipse that five-shot mark in just one game.
This comes after being one of the more impressive offensive contributors the week prior. Offence is going to be a struggle for this Canucks team, especially with various top-end forwards enjoying reps in Vancouver, so Klimovich is a forward who must deliver on a nightly basis to add scoring to this team.
Chase Stillman hit the scoresheet over the weekend, but for all the wrong reasons. After partaking in a joust with Laval forward Josiah Didier, he delivered a dangerous drop while his opponent was without a helmet.
To top it off, he delivered one final cheap shot to the face once he was already down on the ice. As a result of the dangerous play, Stillman was given a match penalty and a game misconduct.
Surprisingly, to most, the incident was not met with any disciplinary action, and he suited up the very next day for game two.
But he was forced to answer the bell, dropping the gloves with Laval’s Florian Xhekaj in the first shift of the game.
Although slightly undersized, Sawyer Mynio had himself an impressive weekend. He has been a prominent fixture on the team’s penalty kill, and that’s over players such as Tom Willander, who’s skating in tons of minutes on his own.
He played solid minutes and appeared much more confident in himself, both with and without the puck. We are still waiting for him to ease into his typical offensive game. But as a 20-year-old figuring it all out, it’s baby steps, and so far, the steps have been promising.
There’s no question that scoring is going to be an issue for this Abbotsford team. Yet, one area has been a consistent stream of positivity in all four games, and that’s between the pipes. After riding the bench last weekend, Ty Young was handed his first start of the season. Suffering a 3-0 loss, he did not get much help in the effort. However, he was exceptional in the loss.
On several occasions, he bailed his team out and kept the game as close as possible, and probably should have been given one of the game’s three stars. The same can be said about Nikita Tolopilo, who stopped 30 of 33 shots faced in a 5-2 (two empty net goals) loss. The Belarusian has now put together two strong games and sports a .943 save percentage through two starts.

Player highlight

This week’s highlighted player is Tom Willander, who had himself an encouraging weekend after a mediocre season opener.
Was the weekend perfect? Gosh no. Are we omitting a few of the mistakes made throughout the weekend? Yes.
That being said, for the better part of the two-game set, the 2023 first-rounder may have been the team’s best skater and undoubtedly the best on the backend.
Unlike opening weekend, when he showcased his inexperience, he played a much simpler and more composed game.
First things first, his skating continues to impress. He is explosive and fluid, and is able to cut in on a dime, which he utilized much more in Laval.
As has always been the case, his puck work is still a work in progress, and we feel that he plays much better when he slows things down and sticks to a simple game. Which we felt he did.
Of course, it helps his case that he scored his first professional goal, firing a seeing-eye snapshot while quarterbacking the power play from the point.
But in addition to the goal, he was much more engaged in the offensive side, and kept the play alive with several key offensive zone pinches – all of which were successful.
On the defensive side, he’s shown that he’s capable of withstanding the physical nature of the league, and even when he’s beaten at first glance, he’s sticking with it to fight for and win the puck.
As has always been the case, he uses his stick well and continues to clog up lanes actively.
As mentioned, he’s much more effective when he’s playing a simple game, and he felt much more composed with the puck on his stick. Here is a good example of that, casually luring the F1 in before cutting back and taking time with his eventual outlet.
He didn’t see any time on the penalty kill through the first three games, with Sawyer Mynio taking his role. Yet, with Mynio in the box early in game two, Willander was given a role, and he took that and never looked back. He showed off a nice read, which led to an odd-man rush the other way and the best chance of the entire two-minute sequence.
In a weekend where there wasn’t much to take away, Tom Willander stood out as a promising story. He’s still a work in progress with some loose ends in his game to clean up, but we thought the difference from week one to week two was evident.
While it may just all be cap implications, he was already handed his first promotion to Vancouver.

CHL

Braeden Cootes rejoined his Seattle Thunderbids squad after being reassigned from the Vancouver Canucks.
As expected, he slid right back to his old ways, enjoying top-line minutes and time in all situations. Stat watchers may not be too impressed with just a single assist in his debut weekend, which he produced in game two on Saturday, but he was all over the ice in both games.
In addition to the point, he fired 12 shots on net and was creating chances all weekend long.
His primary assists stood as his 100th point in the Western Hockey League, taking him 133 games to hit that mark.
The Seattle offence isn’t a powerhouse, so it was never expected that he’d return to rack up the points. But once he settles back into his role, he’s quickly shown that he’s going to be a problem. His skating, work rate and soft skills are primed for him to have a big year.
It was another positive – no pun intended – week for Parker Alcos as he added another plus–4 to his ledger and now sits third among all defenders as a plus–11 on the season.
He also added two assists, with one being a cheeky backdoor play where he sold a shot before finding his teammate down low for the backdoor tap-in.
Over in the Ontario league, Canucks prospects are enjoying a stellar start to the season.
Highlighted by Kieren Dervin, who has shot himself out of a cannon as Kingston’s go-to producer to lead the team with 13 points after another four-point week (two goals, two assists).
Those 13 points are good for the seventh highest among all OHL skaters (tied with many).
Both goals – one on the power play and one shorthanded – showcased his soft hands in tight, with his second showing off his speed with the shorthanded tally.
With high school hockey representing the highest level he had played heading into the season, he’s easily been one of the more impressive stories of the young season.
But that shouldn’t take away from Gabe Chiarot and what he’s doing over in Brampton. The feisty forward added another three points (two goals, one assist) himself over the week.
Both goals were courtesy of a sprung break, where he picked his spot and beat his opponent clean.
The goals are nice and a testament to his skill, but our favourite element of his game is his work ethic. He can finish his attempts, but he doesn’t quit on pucks and ensures he completes each check. He’s an energizer battery on the ice.
He brings the whole package, and if he were to make it in the NHL eventually, he seems destined for a third-line energy role. That soft skill may not translate, but the work ethic will.
It’s not every day that you see a breakaway on a 5-on-3 penalty kill.
Riley Patterson added to his goal totals, calling a game in overtime with a quick snapshot that the opposing netminder may want back.
Production has been down in recent games, with just one goal and point over his last four games, but he’s still seeing a ton of ice time in all situations while sporting a 46.9% in the face-off circle.
In goal, Aleksei Medvedev continues to post strong games with the London Knights.
He opened the weekend with an easy-going 6-1 victory, facing just 20 shots for his third consecutive victory. On Sunday, he got the nod again and was much busier between the pipes.
He was faced with 29 shots, suffering a 3-2 overtime loss. He was fantastic in the third period, giving him second-star honours despite the loss.
He’s now 4-1-1 on the year with a .908 save percentage.

NCAA

Wilson Björck suffered an upper-body injury in Colorado’s first game of the weekend and is expected to miss some time. He fired four shots on net before suffering the injury.
Here’s the play that seemed to result in him leaving the game.
While the timeline on the injury is unknown, the Colorado College Tigers don’t play until Halloween night, giving him nearly two weeks to recover and be ready.
It hasn’t been an explosive start at Michigan State for Anthony Romani, as he’s been used in a third-line and power play role. However, he did deliver a nice assist en route to a big team win over BU on Saturday.
Sending over the quick one-touch pass, Ryker Lee (Nashville Predators) made a tremendous move to go upstairs on the opposing netminder. That was Romani’s first assist and second point of the season.

Rest of the world

Ilya Safonov picked up his third goal, scoring with a pretty shot off the rush.
That will do for this week’s report. If you haven’t already, be sure to lock in your tickets to Friday’s home opener and banner-raising game in Abbotsford.
See you next week.
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