Welcome back to Blackfish: our Vancouver Canucks prospect report.

It was a quieter week across the system, with most junior leagues enjoying some well-deserved time off over the holidays. While there weren’t many headline moments, the Abbotsford Canucks put in work on the road, and several prospects made their mark in the round robin portion of the World Juniors! Thankfully, we still have plenty to cover here at CanucksArmy, so let’s get right into it.

After notching their first set of back-to-back wins since opening weekend, the Abbotsford Canucks journeyed south for a California Christmas, posting the equivalent of a lump of coal in games against the Coachella Valley Firebirds and San Diego Gulls.

The Farm team was lucky to pick up a single point out of the four available to them. First, a 3-2 overtime loss to the Firebirds, followed by a 3-0 shutout loss to the Gulls. The pair of losses dropped the club’s season record to a Pacific Division-worst, 8-16-3-3.

From a prospect standpoint, there wasn’t much to write home about. Danila Klimovich picked up an assist while playing third-line minutes. Beyond that, it was a relatively quiet stretch for most of the group.

Most notable was the absence of top-line forward, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who reportedly missed out on the action because of a nagging, undisclosed injury.

On December 26th, the Professional Hockey Players Alliance (Collective Bargaining Unit for all AHL and ECHL players) served a strike notice to the ECHL as a result of the ECHL’s unfair labour practices, and the coercive, unlawful, and coercive conduct amid the bargaining process.

Following a short period of negotiations, the PHPA and ECHL signed a ratified five-year CBA, which carries over through the 2029-30 season. The strike saw the Kalamazoo Wings miss just a single game of action.

The new contract provides players with guaranteed contracts for players who relocated and commit to a city, uninterrupted medical coverage during the off-season for players under contract (consistent with full-time team staff), reasonable limits on player name, image and likeness, wearable-technology medical data, and off-ice time commitments. Finally, a weekly salary cap of $19,500 for the balance of the 2025-26 season, with inflationary increases in subsequent years. The raise equates to an average weekly pre-tax wage of $975 for players, who are only compensated during the hockey season.

While not affected by the collective action taken by their brothers, the ratified agreement came as terrific news for Aku Koskenvuo and Ty Young, who barely lost any playing time due to the work stoppage. The near-immediate resumption of play means more time spent finding their groove.

The World Juniors are now fully underway, with each Canucks prospect participating. Sort of.

For Wilson Björck, the tournament began in the press box. After sitting as a healthy scratch for Sweden’s first pair of games, he drew into the lineup for Game 3 against Team Germany. Unfortunately, his usage was minimal. Skating as the team’s 13th forward, Björck logged just five shifts for 4:35 of ice time.

Sweden has a stacked lineup, so it isn’t surprising that Björck’s usage as the 13th forward is as limited as it has been. Sweden has put itself in an excellent position heading into a New Year’s Eve battle against Team USA. Both teams sit atop Group A with matching undefeated records.

For Canada, Braeden Cootes has seen slightly more usage, though still far less than ideal. Through three games, his ice time has clocked in at 9:21 and 6:39, peaking at 9:17 in Canada’s lopsided 9-1 dismantling of Denmark.

At the end of the day, who are we to question the decisions of a seasoned bench boss like Dale Hunter? Still, rolling three lines feels like an interesting strategy in a blowout when you’re in cruise control toward the knockout stage.

Homer-glasses off, it’s not as though Cootes has blown the roof off with his performance. He has been fine, but hasn’t shown anything spectacular through the first handful of games in the round robin portion of the tournament. He may have improved his chances of more ice time with his beautiful (technically) game-winning goal against Denmark.

Just a few shifts into Game 3, he took a slick feed from Tij Iginla and wasted no time showing off his quick-release snapshot, short side, for his first goal of the tournament.

Like Sweden, Canada also has a marquee New Year’s Eve matchup, taking on Team Finland for the top seed of Group B.

While he was away for the tournament, Cootes was voted (by the players) as the third most likely to win the 2025-26 WHL Player of the Year Award.

Before Cootes had delivered that rocket, it was Basile Sansonnens stealing the show as the Canucks’ tournament sniper. Patrolling Switzerland’s second pair, the shutdown defender surprised everyone when he uncorked a bar-down blast from the blue line for his first World Junior goal.

The goal stands as Basile’s lone point in the tournament. However, he’s one of the few Canuck prospects seeing ample ice time this tournament, averaging 17:57 per game for the Swiss.

Gabriel Chiarot was getting prepared for a game against his fellow Canucks prospect, Riley Patterson, when he got the news that he had been traded. In one of the all-time classic major junior trade hauls, the Chiarot was sent to the Kitchener Rangers for EIGHT draft picks and the rights to a player currently playing in the NCAA.

The Steelheads’ assistant captain departs the team as their leading goal scorer (15) and point-getter (25). He joins a Rangers team that sits in second place in the Western Conference, and one that is on a good trajectory for a strong push in the playoffs.

The goal scored in the game before his trade would turn out to be his final goal in Brampton.

Out west, Parker Alcos’ big minutes in an expanded role finally resulted in his first goal of the season. While the goal is a nice addition to his stat line, it’s more of a footnote in what’s been a quietly effective year on the Edmonton Oil Kings’ blue line. The Oil Kings sit fourth in the WHL, and Alcos’ quiet contributions are a major reason why.

And then there’s Riley Patterson.

Simply put, no one in the OHL is hotter than he is right now. With another three-point performance, Patterson has now racked up 25 points since November 22nd. No player in the league has matched that over that same span.

With 20 goals and 24 assists, Patterson sits fifth leaguewide by points and is just seven away from being the top scorer in the entire OHL. Interestingly, only eight of those 44 total points have come from the man-advantage, making him one of the premier producers at even strength.

He’s doing so as a full-time centreman, where he’s also winning draws at a 50.8% rate.

With the World Juniors pulling much of Michigan State’s roster away, opportunity opened up in a big way for Anthony Romani. While most NCAA programs sat idle through the holidays, Michigan State competed in the Great Lakes Invitational in Grand Rapids. There, Romani played a big role in two games against Ferris State and Michigan Tech.

Having spent most of this freshman season in a third-line role, Romani slid up into the top six and thrived. Across two games, Romani registered two goals, two assists, six shots and finished with a plus-2. While he will likely slide back down the lineup when the World Juniors concludes, Romani has made inroads to a greater role down the line when players like Porter Martone, Ryker Lee, and Charlie Stramel graduate.

How about this tuck?

With medal-round games looming, junior leagues resuming full schedules, we will be back to our full slate of action in short order.

As always, we’ll keep tracking the details that matter. Until next week, folks.