Overview
- Vancouver confirmed a group of 13 forwards, eight defencemen and two goaltenders that will practice in Abbotsford on Thursday and Friday before facing Seattle’s prospects on Saturday in Everett at 6 pm PT and Sunday in Seattle at 4 pm PT.
- Top prospects Tom Willander and Jonathan Lekkerimäki are included, with reporting viewing Willander—drafted 11th in 2023 and signed to a three-year entry-level deal in May—as a candidate to make his professional debut this season.
- Lekkerimäki’s North American debut featured 19 goals and 28 points in 36 AHL games, six points in 24 NHL games, and four points during Abbotsford’s Calder Cup run.
- Recent draft picks Braeden Cootes and Aleksei Medledev will make their showcase debuts after Cootes captained the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds and Medledev backstopped the OHL champion London Knights.
- Daily Hive’s analysis identifies seven prospects with a plausible path to the Canucks’ opening-night roster—Elias Pettersson, Aatu Räty, Willander, Arshdeep Bains, Lekkerimäki, Victor Mancini and Cootes—and notes a right-side blue-line opening that could help Willander.