Canucks prospects: Red-hot Jonathan Lekkerimäki leads our power rankings

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Vancouver Canucks fans doing a little comparison shopping these days about the 2022 NHL Draft have to be happy how Jonathan Lekkerimäki is trending. 

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Vancouver took the Swedish winger with the No. 15 overall selection. The 20-year-old is playing with the AHL Abbotsford Canucks, and after missing the team’s first four games of the season, he’s put up four goals and six points in six games.

Maybe more telling about how he s performing is the fact that Lekkerimäki was fourth in the AHL in shots (34) as of Tuesday morning.

Abbotsford (5-4-0-1) visits the Ontario Reign (3-4-0-0) on Wednesday before coming home for Saturday-Sunday doubleheader against the Bakersfield Condors (3-2-2-1).

As of Tuesday’s morning, there were 28 players from the 2022 draft with games played in the NHL. Only nine of them had seen action in 20 or more games, and seven of those were picked ahead of Lekkerimäki.

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Lekkerimäki’s numbers to date this season match up well with the two forwards picked directly ahead of him — the Chicago Blackhawks’ No. 13 choice Frank Nazar (7-3-4-7, 18 shots with AHL Rockford) and Winnipeg Jets’ No. 14 Rutger McGroarty (6-0-1-1, nine shots with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PIttsburgh’s farm club) — and with the two forwards selected directly after him — Buffalo Sabres’ No. 16 Noah Östlund (6-1-0-1, 20 shots with AHL Rochester) and Nashville Predators’ No. 17 Joakim Kemell (9-4-4-8, 26 shots with AHL Milwaukee).

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With all that in mind, here’s our weekly top-10 Canucks prospects power rankings. Last week’s rankings are in parenthesis. All stats are as of Tuesday morning. Keep in mind that players must be born 2000 or later and players with the NHL team aren’t eligible. That means Aatu Räty’s recall from Abbotsford to the big club pulls the centre off the list this week. 

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1. Jonathan Lekkerimäki, RW, Abbotsford (1)

Abbotsford is coming off a four-game week, where they split a pair of decisions with both the Tucson Roadrunners and the San Diego Grills, and Lekkerimäki amassed four goals, five points and 26 shots. He was named second star and then third star in the two Tucson games. 

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2. Arshdeep Bains, LW, Abbotsford (NR)

Bains, 23, heads back to Abbotsford after a seven-game run with the parent club that included the first-ever NHL goal for the undrafted free agent. You’d think he’ll get top line minutes in Abbotsford with Lekkerimäki and will be in the mix for another promotion before too long. Bains had 16 goals and 55 points in 59 regular season games with Abbotsford last season.

3. Tom Willander, D, Boston University Terriers (3)

Boston University (4-3-0) dropped a 5-1 and then a 5-4 decision to visiting Michigan and moved down four spots in the NCAA rankings this week, coming in now at No. 9. Michigan jumped up four spots to No. 7. The 19-year-old sophomore Willander (7-2-4-6), who was Vancouver’s 2023 first-round draft choice, had a single assist. The Terriers have a home-and-home this weekend with No. 17 UMass Lowell (5-1-0).

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4. Elias Pettersson, D, Abbotsford (4)

Pettersson, 20, leads Abbotsford in plus-minus (plus-five) and he’s getting pucks on net, evidenced by his 15 shots. He was a 2022 third rounder. Pettersson (10-0-3-3) picked up an assist in the 6-4 loss to San Diego.

5. Sawyer Mynio, D, Seattle Thunderbirds (5)

Mynio (14-4-12-16) was held off the scoresheet in Seattle’s two losses last weekend, but the 19-year-old, who was a 2023 third rounder, is still tied for fourth in the WHL for scoring by a defenceman. Seattle (5-10-1-1) has dropped five straight. They’re home to Calgary and Victoria this weekend. 

6. Jett Woo, D, Abbotsford (8)

Woo, 24, continues to play in all situations for Abbotsford. Woo (10-0-2-2) has 21 shots this season, which puts him fourth on the team and first among Abbotsford rearguards. Woo was a 2018 second rounder.

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7. Kirill Kudryavtsev, D, Abbotsford (6)

The 2022 seventh rounder scored his first pro goal on a power play in the 3-0 win over Tucson. The 20-year-old Kudryavtsev (9-1-1-2) was also scratched for the second game against San Diego. 

8. Danila Klimovich, RW, Abbotsford (9)

Klimovich recorded an assist in both of the Tucson games and had a combined six shots in the two contests. The 21-year-old didn’t play the San Diego games due to illness, according to a Canucks spokesperson. Klimovich (8-2-3-5) was a 2021 second-round pick. 

9. Melvin Fernström, RW, Örebro (9)

The 18-year-old Fernström, who was a third-round selection last summer, bagged his second goal this season for Örebro’s pro team in a 3-1 win last Thursday over Skellefteå. Fernström has been going back and forth between the Örebro pro team (12-2-1-3) and junior team (8-5-4-9). 

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10. Nikita Tolopilo, G, Abbotsford (7)

Tolopilo played just one period last week, giving up four goals on 11 shots against Tucson in what became a 5-2 loss. Tolopilo (3-2-0, 2.98 goals against average, .880 save percentage), who’s a 24-year-old undrafted free agent signing by Vancouver, has been sharing the Abbotsford net this season with 25-year-old Jiri Patera (2-2-1, 2.83, .897). 

Dropped off the list this week: Aatu Räty, C, Abbotsford (2).

sewen@postmedia.com

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