Tom Willander continues to be No. 2 in our Canucks prospect power rankings.
The Swedes carried a 3-0-0 record into a New Year’s Eve matchup with Czechia. Tom Willander, the Boston University Terriers sophomore who was Vancouver’s first-round selection (No. 11 overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft, was third on the Swedes in scoring going into the matchup with five points, including two goals.
The Canucks had acquired that draft choice from the New York Islanders in the Jan. 30, 2023 swap featuring centre Bo Horvat.
Sandin Pellikka, 19, is Sweden’s captain, and he’s in his third world juniors. He’s playing club this season in the Swedish pro league with Skellefteå AIK. The 5-foot-11, 181-pound right-shot rearguard is one of four teenagers seeing regular duty with Skellefteå (average age is 25 years old, according to to Elite Prospects), and he’s second in team scoring, with eight goals and 22 points in 25 games.
Willander, 19, is in his second world juniors. The 6-foot-1, 179-point right-shot blue liner had one goal and three points in seven games last year for the Swedes, the tournament hosts who lost 6-2 to the Americans in the gold medal game. Canucks forward prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki was named the tournament’s most valuable player afterwards for his efforts with the Swedes.
This year’s tournament starts its playoffs on Thursday. The final is Sunday.
With all that in mind, here’s the latest instalment of our Canucks top-10 prospect power rankings. A player’s last ranking is in parenthesis. Players must be born in 2000 or later to be eligible. They also cannot be with the big club.
1. Jonathan Lekkerimäki, RW, Abbotsford Canucks (1)
The Canucks’ 2022 first rounder (No. 15 overall) bagged his second goal in three games in a 4-3 road loss to the Calgary Wranglers on Monday. Abbotsford (14-13-0-1) has dropped three straight and were seventh in the 10-team Pacific Division ahead of league action on Tuesday. Abbotsford is back at it Wednesday in Calgary. Their next home game is Jan. 10, when they host the Henderson Silver Knights. The 20-year-old Lekkerimäki (19-12-4-16) leads Abbotsford in scoring and shots (79) despite missing nine of the team’s games.
2. Tom Willander, D, Boston University Terriers (2)
Willander is one of four Terriers at the world juniors, along with the American trio of Cole Eiserman, Cole Hutson and Brandon Svoboda. A 7-5 loss to Yale on Sunday is expected to be the lone regular season game that BU (9-7-1) miss the quartet. BU’s next game is set for Jan. 10 against Vermont. Willander (16-2-7-9) has 24 shots this season. He had 38 shots last year, when he was 38-4-21-25.
3. Aatu Räty, C, Abbotsford (3)
Räty (12-4-5-9) had an assist Monday. The 22-year-old, who was part of the Horvat trade, didn’t record a point in both of ends of back-to-back 4-2 losses to the visiting Tucson Roadrunners before that, but did have five shots in one of the games.
4. Arshdeep Bains, LW, Abbotsford (4)
The 23-year-old, who signed as a free agent in March 2022, had two assists in the opening loss to Tucson. Bains (12-2-9-11) has been playing on a line with Nils Åman and Linus Karlsson of late. On Monday, Räty and Lekkerimäki had Sammy Blais on their wing.
5. Elias Pettersson, D, Abbotsford (5)
Pettersson (27-1-10-11) remains second on the team in plus-minus (plus-five). That’s the top total among the defencemen. The 20-year-old was a 2022 third rounder.
6. Kirill Kudryavtsev, D, Abbotsford (6)
The 2022 seventh rounder missed the first Tucson game for undisclosed reasons but had single assists in Abbotsford’s two latest contests, giving him points in three straight starts and four of the last five appearances. The 20-year-old Kudryavtsev (24-2-13-15) continues to be the team’s top scoring defenceman.
7. Danila Klimovich, RW, Abbotsford (9)
The 21-year-old had missed three straight Abbotsford games prior to the Tucson series. No reason was given by the club. He scored a goal in each of the meetings with the Roadrunners. Klimovich (23-11-4-15), who was a 2021 second rounder, is second on the team in goals and shots (69).
8. Artūrs Šilovs, G, Abbotsford (7)
Šilovs (2-2-0, 2.27 goals against average, .902 save percentage) stopped 22 shots in Monday’s loss against Calgary. The 23-year-old was a 2019 sixth rounder.
9. Sawyer Mynio, D, Seattle Thunderbirds (8)
The 19-year-old, who was a 2023 third rounder, was a healthy scratch for Team Canada’s first two games of the world juniors and then was added to the lineup after Matthew Schaefer injured his shoulder. Mynio recorded an assist in a 3-0 win over Germany on Sunday, but also played 11:56, which was sixth most among Canada’s seven rearguards. Mynio (18-5-14-19) is still fourth in scoring with Seattle, despite missing time to both injury and world juniors.
10. Vilmer Alriksson, LW, Brampton Steelheads (10-tie)
Alriksson (27-11-13-24), who was recently traded to Brampton from Guelph, has an assist in a 7-3 win over Ottawa Saturday that marked his Steelheads’ debut. The 19-year-old, who was a 2023 fourth rounder, has four points in his past four games. Brampton carried an 15-14-3-0 record and held down eighth spot in the 10-team OHL Eastern Conference going into a Tuesday game with Sudbury. They’re in Kingston Wednesday.
Dropped from the rankings this week: Nikita Tolopilo, G, Abbotsford (10-tie).
@SteveEwen