{"id":423617,"date":"2026-01-21T12:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/423617\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:49:10","slug":"lekkerimaki-returns-cootes-off-to-a-hot-start-with-prince-albert-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/423617\/","title":{"rendered":"Lekkerim\u00e4ki returns, Cootes off to a hot start with Prince Albert, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blackfish: Lekkerim\u00e4ki returns, Cootes off to a hot start with Prince Albert, and more<\/p>\n

With the chaos of the CHL Trade Deadline and the World Juniors now in the rearview mirror, this week brought a more stable rhythm across the Canucks\u2019 prospect system. Junior leagues are back in full swing as teams gear up for their second-half pushes, while the Abbotsford Canucks continue to hang near the bottom of the American League standings.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s a silver lining to the 2025\u201326 season, it\u2019s that the Vancouver Canucks remain well-positioned to land a high draft pick \u2014 a reality that only strengthens the long-term focus within our Blackfish reports. That picture became even clearer this week, as the organization added further draft capital by acquiring San Jose\u2019s<\/a> 2026 and 2027 second-round picks in the Kiefer Sherwood trade.<\/p>\n

From there, it was business as usual across the system. Here\u2019s how the week played out.<\/p>\n

Abbotsford Canucks\"\"<\/p>\n

The Abbotsford Canucks played three games over the week, finishing the stretch 1-2-0-0. They opened the week in San Diego with a 5\u20133 win, but the offence dried up quickly thereafter, as the club failed to score a single goal over the following two games.<\/p>\n

After missing the first game with illness, Jonathan Lekkerim\u00e4ki returned to the lineup<\/a> for the pair of shutout losses. Typically, he provides an immediate offensive spark, but even he struggled to find any rhythm this time around, registering just three shots across the two games.<\/p>\n

With trades happening up in Vancouver, speculation has naturally turned toward whether the Swede could be in line for a recall. We\u2019ve already argued our stance in previous reports, and given how much time he has missed due to injury and illness, further seasoning in the AHL still makes sense. That view was echoed by General Manager Patrik Allvin, who alluded to exactly that in a post-game interview following the Kiefer Sherwood deal, suggesting Lekkerim\u00e4ki is likely to spend more time in Abbotsford for now. Don\u2019t be surprised to see him in Vancouver at some point this season, but for now, it\u2019s about finding his game in Abbotsford.<\/p>\n

Also limited to three shots on the week was Danila Klimovich, another forward the Canucks need to generate volume to be successful. Klimovich picked up a primary assist, bringing his total to 11 points in 30 games, but it was another week when we were left wanting more, a theme this season.<\/p>\n

Young defenders Sawyer Mynio and Kirill Kudryavtsev continue to sit out of the lineup with injury.<\/p>\n

Making his first AHL start since December 7, Aku Koskenvuo held his own in a 3\u20130 loss to Coachella Valley. He turned aside 24 shots, keeping Abbotsford within striking distance against one of the conference\u2019s top teams. However, as was often the case during his first stint in Abbotsford, he received virtually no offensive support.<\/p>\n

Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL)<\/p>\n

Despite opening the week with another strong effort \u2014 a 29-save victory \u2014 Ty Young came back down to earth on Friday. The goaltender allowed five goals on just eight shots before being pulled from the game.<\/p>\n

Young entered the week riding excellent numbers, but unfortunately, a performance like that has a way of sending numbers into a tailspin. He now holds a 6-2-0-0 record with a .910 save percentage through eight games in Kalamazoo.<\/p>\n

CHL\"\"Braeden Cootes<\/a> hasn\u2019t missed a beat since joining the Prince Albert Raiders, contributing four points in three games over the week. One of his assists came in classic Cootes fashion \u2014 pressuring a puck carrier into a turnover before quickly finding a teammate in the slot. His goal came via the empty net, and he finished the week plus-5 while firing nine shots on goal.<\/p>\n

Braeden Cootes provides the pressure to force the turnover in the corner. He turns to find Riley Boychuk for his second primary assist of the game.<\/p>\n

That’s back-to-back multipoint efforts in Prince Albert for Cootes. #Canucks<\/a><\/p>\n

Although he has been listed on the third line throughout the week, his minutes remain healthy thanks to the team rolling lines well. He\u2019s also a key piece of Prince Albert\u2019s revamped top power-play unit, operating from the half wall. With 29 points in 22 games, Cootes is on pace to shatter his career high of 63 points in far fewer games.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s officially a career year for Parker Alcos, who has flourished since being traded to the Kelowna Rockets. With an empty-net goal and a beautiful cross-ice assist, Alcos recorded his second multipoint game of the season, pushing him to four goals and 17 points to surpass his previous high of 15.<\/p>\n

At just 19 years old, the 6-foot-4 defenceman has made meaningful strides across multiple facets of his game. He\u2019s building a solid defensive foundation with strong skating and an active stick, and lately, he\u2019s begun to find his offensive legs as well. He needs to be signed by this summer, so it\u2019ll be interesting to see if the Canucks feel the same and provide him with one of their 50 contacts.<\/p>\n

After missing over a month with an upper-body injury, Kieren Dervin returned to the Kingston Frontenacs lineup and immediately resumed duties as the team\u2019s top-line centre. He recorded two assists in two games, including a perfectly weighted cross-ice feed. While his play cooled leading into the injury, he\u2019s shown flashes of offensive intrigue throughout the season. As a Penn State commit, the real test will be how that game translates to the NCAA level next year.<\/p>\n

Jack Dever… DAWG\ud83d\ude24<\/p>\n

Dever goes to the net and finishes a sweet feed from Kieren Dervin, and we have a tie game in Brantford\ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n

@OHLHockey<\/a> | @FloHockey<\/a> <\/p>\n

JACK DEVER HAS HIS FIRST AS A FRONT\ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n

It’s a 2-2 hockey game in Brantford!! <\/p>\n

Although offence hasn\u2019t followed consistently, Gabriel Chiarot continues to see top-six deployment with the Kitchener Rangers. He did, however, score his 17th goal of the season over the weekend. Beating a defender to a bouncing stretch pass, Chiarot gained body position and snapped a shot home off the rush for his second goal since joining the Rangers.<\/p>\n

ALLEY-OOP LOB TO CHERRY WITH THE SWEET FINISH \ud83d\ude2e\u200d\ud83d\udca8 <\/p>\n

CHERRY FOR THE LEAD \ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n

0:06 2nd Period | 5-4 Rangers <\/p>\n

#RTown | #BattleBuilt <\/p>\n

In Niagara, Riley Patterson missed three games due to an upper-body injury listed as day-to-day. It\u2019s remarkable what missing just a few games can do to a scoring race, as Patterson has slipped to sixth league-wide with 52 points in 37 games.<\/p>\n

Aleksei Medvedev earned another win, improving to 14-10-1 on the season. Once again, however, it came with a sub-.900 performance, as he stopped 25 of 29 shots. He has now allowed four or more goals in six of his last seven starts, winning just three of those games.<\/p>\n

NCAA\"\"<\/p>\n

With another goal and assist, Anthony Romani continued his strong stretch, now recording points in six of his last seven games. His goal came via a slot deflection, bringing him to nine goals and 17 points in 22 games. Although his deployment briefly increased during the holiday schedule, he has since returned to a third-line role at Michigan State. The important part is that he\u2019s finding rhythm and a way to contribute at this level.<\/p>\n

Anthony Romani scores on a deflection late in the second period! <\/p>\n

Matt Lahey sent a shot in from the point and Romani got his stick on it<\/p>\n

It took 18 games, but Daimon Gardner finally scored his first goal of the season, pouncing on a loose rebound in the slot. Gardner hasn\u2019t shown much offensive promise throughout his NCAA career, which is why his name hasn\u2019t appeared often in this column.<\/p>\n

The same largely applies to Matthew Perkins, who picked up an assist this week but continues to provide limited production overall.<\/p>\n

Rest of the World\"\"<\/p>\n

As is often the case, there isn\u2019t much to report on Basile Sansonnens from a boxscore perspective, as his value lies in steady, shutdown play. That said, his usage jumped notably this week. Sansonnens was promoted to his club\u2019s top pairing, skating alongside former Canuck Erik Br\u00e4nnstr\u00f6m. In both games, he eclipsed the 19-minute mark for the first time in his Swiss men\u2019s league career.<\/p>\n

That wraps up another week in the Canucks\u2019 prospect pool.\u00a0We\u2019ll see how things build from here as schedules tighten up and junior hockey pushes toward the back half of the season. As always, we\u2019ll keep tracking it. Until next week, folks.<\/p>\n

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\nENTER NOW |\u00a0pac.bluecross.ca\/canucks<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blackfish: Lekkerim\u00e4ki returns, Cootes off to a hot start with Prince Albert, and more With the chaos of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-423617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}