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CA’s top 20 Canucks summer prospect rankings: #15 Anthony Romani

Vancouver Canucks prospect Anthony Romani takes a shot during his team's 2-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at the 2024 Young Stars Classic in Penticton, BC.

Photo credit: © Tav Morisson-CanucksArmy

By Jacob Fraser

Jul 21, 2026, 11:20 EDTUpdated: Jul 21, 2026, 11:23 EDT

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We’re back for another edition of the CanucksArmy collective top 20 Vancouver Canucks summer prospect rankings. Today, we have a skilled late-round pick that has been looking promising since the Vancouver Canucks drafted him.

Anthony Romani

The Canucks took Romani as an overager in the 2024 draft following a 111-point season with the North Bay Battalion in the OHL. At that time, one thing was clear: this kid can score. Romani then made the jump to the NCAA level and joined Michigan State University.

Despite being lower down the lineup playing behind Philadelphia Flyers winger Porter Martone and Minnesota Wild top prospect Charlie Stramel, Romani still managed to finish the season at Michigan State with 14 goals and 14 assists for 28 points in 37 games. This put him fifth in team scoring in his NCAA freshman season.

Typically, what teams are really hoping to get out of their late-round picks is some good organizational depth. Of course, every NHL team wants to find that diamond in the rough who turns into a superstar after being selected late in the draft, but the most realistic expectation for these players is that they become solid AHL pieces.

The steps that Romani has taken since being drafted, as well as between his first eligible draft year in 2023 and the year the Canucks took him in 2024, he’s now become a player that could hold some legit NHL prowess.

When we look at players with potential to play in the NHL, we look for specific traits in their game. We’re looking for things that they do exceptionally well at their current level that can translate into an NHL game.

When it comes to Romani, the first trait that absolutely jumps off the page is his elite shot. Half his points this past season are goals, and it’s because of his high-end release, particularly off the rush. Romani can control the pace of play and find areas all over the ice where he can get his shot off and beat goaltenders.

This goes along with his high-end offensive awareness; with both his shot and IQ paired together, it makes for projectable NHL skills.

That being said, there are still some question marks that surround the rest of his game; he’s a solid playmaker, but much of his play is on the perimeter. He’s not small and has the size to get to the middle of the ice, but doesn’t use it as effectively as you would want from a player with his offensive abilities.

On top of that, Romani is going to need to improve his skating if he’s going to make an impact at the pro-hockey level. Being at Michigan State, he has some of the best facilities to work on that, getting faster and more explosive.

Overall, considering where Romani was drafted by the Canucks, he still should be considered an exciting bet.

His offensive ability is there, but other questions about his overall game still make for a difficult path to playing NHL games. Though, with a likely increased role as he heads into his second season at Michigan State this year, he should have a big opportunity to fill in the gaps of his game before he turns pro.

Projection

Ceiling: Romani’s ceiling is to be a middle-six winger at the NHL level. His playstyle would allow him to be someone used as scoring depth while contributing to a secondary power play unit. To be effective, he would need a puck hound on his line along with players that can be responsible defensively in order to make him effective and less of a liability in his own zone.

Floor: His floor looks at this point to be an AHL contributor, likely in a team’s top six that can produce offensively at five-on-five and on a top power play unit.

ETA: As Romani heads back to the NCAA for a second season, he’ll hopefully get an increased role that will allow him to break out offensively. Even if that is the case, unless his skating drastically improves, he could probably use another season on top of that before turning pro. Once he turns pro, he would likely spend an additional year or two in Abbotsford before making the Vancouver roster, if that’s even in the cards for his future. There shouldn’t be any real urgency to get Romani into professional hockey, so there should be at least a couple more years before we see him in the AHL.