𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The Vancouver Canucks are rebuilding, which means it’s all about the future.

In our post-trade deadline ranking of Vancouver’s top 10 prospects, we’ve adjusted for the club’s reality by expanding our definition of “prospect” to include all players in the organization under the age of 23 — including those players currently on the NHL roster, who are no longer Calder eligible.

The Canucks have spent the past few months amassing draft capital, and this list of prospects is likely to look even more robust in future seasons. For now, Vancouver’s system is lacking in both depth and high-end prospects, an indication of the work still to be done in this rebuilding process to get this franchise back on track.

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1. Zeev Buium

Among all the young players in Vancouver’s pipeline, Buium has the best chance of developing into a true top-of-the-lineup difference-maker. The dynamic 20-year-old defender was ranked as the fifth-best prospect in the NHL last summer by colleague Scott Wheeler, and it was for good reason, as he produced a dominant 1.18 points per game across two years in the NCAA, which included a championship title with the University of Denver in 2024.

Buium was expected to be a dark-horse contender for the Calder Trophy this season. His actual performance has been up and down, with a few more growing pains than expected, but his enormous potential remains evident. Buium is an elite skater with the lateral mobility and deception to create new attacking lanes from the point in the offensive zone. He also leverages his quickness as a puck transporter, as he can beautifully wheel pucks out and lead dynamic forays through the neutral zone.

There’s clearly room for him to iron out his defensive game as well, as he’s been in the middle of some big defensive breakdowns (though that’s true of basically every Canucks defenceman) and a couple of costly turnovers that have ended up in the back of Vancouver’s net. These mistakes and learning moments aren’t concerning, though, as he’s exceptionally young (he’s even a year younger than Tom Willander) and playing on a woeful defensive team.

2. Braeden Cootes

Cootes has improved as a point producer in his draft-plus-one campaign in the WHL, and has hit just about every benchmark you would want to see from a first-round forward whose trajectory is trending toward being an NHL-level option in the not-too-distant future.

First off, Cootes, 19, was a standout performer in his first NHL training camp, even breaking camp with the team and getting his first taste of NHL action as an 18-year-old player in the fall. Reassigned to the Seattle Thunderbirds after cameo appearances in a small handful of games, Cootes improved his points per game and assist rate considerably in the WHL this season. He was also named to the Canadian team for the World Juniors, where he was a productive depth option for his country and performed well in a fourth-line role.

Dealt to the Prince Albert Raiders, the top team in the Eastern Conference, Cootes has continued to produce points at an auspicious clip and will have an opportunity to compete deep into the WHL playoffs.

Everything about Cootes’ game, aside from his size, is tracking to be pro-ready as soon as next year. He should be expected to take a real run at making the NHL full-time out of training camp in 2026, and will be the heavy front-runner to serve as Vancouver’s lone U20 player permitted to compete in the AHL during the 2026-27 campaign, a new rule that will go into effect next season as part of the new collective bargaining agreement.

It’s important to note that Cootes’ offensive game is largely built on his aggression as a downhill attacker, but his spiking assist rate this season has been responsible for most of his offensive improvement. A talented goal scorer, Cootes’ production profile has become more multi-dimensional in his draft-plus-one season, which is a very good sign, given that offensive players with dual-threat profiles tend to translate more quickly (and more completely) to the professional level.

All around, Cootes is tracking in precisely the way you’d expect a forward with top-six upside to be in his draft-plus-one campaign.

3. Tom Willander

Willander has adapted decently well to the NHL. During training camp and preseason, he looked raw and as if he’d need significant seasoning in the AHL. Five AHL games are apparently all that he needed, though, as he managed to establish himself as a full-time NHL defender in quick order over the course of this season.

Willander’s smooth four-way skating is his game’s best asset. He can get up and down the ice in a hurry, and while you wouldn’t describe him as a dynamic puckhandler, he hasn’t been shy of carrying pucks up the ice when he spots excess time and space. His skating also allows him to gap up effectively in the neutral zone when defending one-on-one rushes. Though his offensive decision-making isn’t dynamic, Willander’s secondary offensive impact has come along better than expected, as he’s seized occasional opportunities to join the rush as a trailer.

The 21-year-old right-shot defender is very raw defensively — there have been moments where he’s been outmuscled at the net-front, failed to block passes while defending the rush and been slow to pick up his in-zone assignments — but you’d expect a young defender to improve in those areas with more reps and experience. He’s got a reliable motor and should become more effective in battles down low as he gradually adds muscle to his frame.

Willander could develop into a two-way, second-pair transitional defender capable of logging major minutes in all situations, although his overall hockey awareness will have to catch up to his feet for him to reach his ceiling.

4. Liam Öhgren

Acquired as an auxiliary piece of the Quinn Hughes trade, Öhgren has carved out a full-time NHL role with the Canucks this season, and has flashed middle-six upside thanks to his combination of skill, pace and size.

Though Öhgren’s production has been pedestrian, there are some positive signs in his overall underlying profile that hint at some level of offensive upside beyond the boxcar statistics in his age-21 campaign. In particular, Öhgren’s five-on-five shot rate is the highest among all Canucks skaters who have appeared in at least 20 games this season besides Evander Kane and Kiefer Sherwood. It’s also worth noting that Öhgren doesn’t have a single secondary assist on the year at even strength, a statistic that tells us more about Vancouver’s offensive environment than it does about Öhgren’s playmaking ability.

Öhgren, overall, has emerged as a solidly well-rounded young player. His size, grit and pace give him a floor to succeed as a bottom-six option even if his offensive production and impact don’t take a step forward as he enters his statistical prime over the next few years. That upside case for Öhgren to emerge as a complementary top-six power forward, however, absolutely exists. He’ll get every opportunity to grow into that role, too, presumably, on a rebuilding Canucks team over the next few seasons.

5. Jonathan Lekkerimäki

Lekkerimäki, who was the very first draft pick of the Jim Rutherford/Patrik Allvin regime in 2022, is a bit older than Vancouver’s other top under-23 talent. He’ll turn 22 in July and will be entering his draft-plus-five season in the fall, which means the clock is ticking for him to establish himself at the NHL level.

The pint-sized sniper has an exceptional shot, which features both a quick release and top-end power/velocity. He can beat goalies cleanly from medium distances, which is a special trait. He’s also poised and patient with the puck; he doesn’t panic under pressure and sees the ice well. Lekkerimäki is already an elite AHL scorer (30 goals in 54 games over his last two seasons), which is strong production for his age, and the type of statistical profile that usually translates to future NHL success.

However, there is still considerable work for him to do to become an impactful big-league player. Lekkerimäki is a sluggish skater, which hinders his ability to win races to loose pucks, hurts his forechecking, and makes it harder for him to carry the puck up the ice with speed to generate consistent rush offence.

Lekkerimäki has also struggled from a two-way perspective, as the Canucks have been outshot 70-31 with him on the ice at five-on-five. This is part of the reason why he’s had a tough time manufacturing shots and scoring chances.

He couldn’t make meaningful strides in his skating last summer, in part because of Abbotsford’s long Calder Cup playoff run and an infection that caused him to miss games (and lose weight) during the playoffs. Lekkerimäki will enter a critical summer at less than full health following shoulder surgery, which is tricky. You’d hope he’s able to improve his skating explosiveness and power this summer, but that could be difficult as a result of the realities of his rehab. At the moment, Lekkerimäki’s physical limitations appear to be a bottleneck for a player who otherwise has the shot and skill to succeed in the NHL.

6. Elias Pettersson

A bruising young defensive defenseman, Pettersson hasn’t built on his success from the 2024-25 campaign. His precocious two-way game and authoritative, if straightforward puck-moving game have fallen off significantly this year, although it’s difficult to pin that on Pettersson directly, given the way that Vancouver’s defensive environment has atrophied around him this season.

Where Pettersson has remained a standout, however, is in the physical side of the game. This is a player who just understands how to play black and blue physical hockey at the NHL level at a young age, a rare trait in contemporary blueliners under the age of 23. He consistently throws the sort of clean hits that look like they’d cause opponents to sport ice bags postgame, and there’s tremendous value in that.

Pettersson still has an opportunity to carve out a niche as a stay-at-home second-pair calibre defender, although his path to accessing that upside case seems narrower today than it did 12 months ago.

7. Riley Patterson

Patterson is one of the fastest-rising prospects in Vancouver’s system.

He quietly made a strong impression on us at training camp in the fall — his slick puck skills popped during some of the drills, even though his so-so play during the actual drills revealed that he’s going to be a long-term project. Patterson’s production has soared with the Niagara Ice Dogs this year, as he’s tied for sixth among all OHL players with 36 goals in 55 games. That includes a monstrous run in December, which earned him OHL Player of the Month honours. We should take his standout offensive numbers with a grain of salt because a decent chunk of the CHL’s top talent has left for the NCAA, which means the competition level isn’t quite as high as it has been historically, but it’s still impressive production nonetheless.

The 19-year-old right-shot centre boasts a quick, accurate shot. He pairs that with smooth, cerebral hands that allow him to patiently weave in and out of traffic to attack open ice in the slot and manufacture shots and scoring chances from the inner slot. Off the puck, he has a knack for getting open in soft areas and is a clinical, opportunistic finisher when the puck lands on his stick, whether it be with a catch-and-release shot or a one-timer.

Patterson will need to improve his pace to make his offence translate at the pro level. He’s not a very dynamic skater and isn’t the type of centre who will be a prolific puck transporter. He’s got the skill and poise to be dangerous by methodically slowing the game down, but playing against junior defences, he’s benefiting from way more time and space than he would even get at the AHL level, let alone the NHL. Pattersson sometimes tends to glide when he gets close to a shooting area rather than skating hard; he can get away with that in the OHL because the backpressure is mediocre, but at higher levels, that habit will be picked apart until he adjusts.

8. Alexei Medvedev

Goaltenders are inherently fungible, which is reflected in this ranking relative to the skaters in Vancouver’s system with paths to being top-nine forwards or top-four defenders. Do not confuse where Medvedev ranks on this list with us being in any way low on him, or fading his performance at the OHL level this season.

It has been a bit of a challenging season, however, for Medvedev, especially over the past two months.

Entering the season, Medvedev — who spurned offers to join top NCAA programs last summer — was expected to serve as the London Knights’ full-time starter. Of late, however, Sebastian Gatto — an undrafted 20-year-old, who tended the net for the Chilliwack Chiefs in the BCHL last season — has supplanted Medvedev as London’s first choice between the pipes. Since Jan. 1, Gatto has started 17 games, in comparison with 11 for Medvedev.

Where Medvedev has gone 16-14-2 for London with an .891 save percentage this season, Gatto has caught fire, posting a 21-7-2 record with a sterling .921 save percentage. When the OHL playoffs begin, in all likelihood, Medvedev will serve as London’s backup for a second consecutive season.

There isn’t too much cause for concern here. Medvedev is just 18 (in comparison, Gatto is 20), and we know that goaltending performance can be hugely variable. Medvedev remains a top goaltending prospect with future NHL starter upside, but this hasn’t been the sort of OHL season the Canucks would have hoped for from their goaltender of the future.

9. Kirill Kudryavtsev

When you’re a 5-foot-11 defender without any flashy, standout traits like Kudryavstev, the odds of becoming a full-time NHL contributor are stacked against you. There are 178 NHL defencemen who’ve played at least 40 games this season, and only 20 of them (11 percent) are listed under 6-feet tall. Within that subset of 20, a large chunk of them (e.g., Quinn Hughes, Lane Hutson, Shayne Gostisbehere, Rasmus Sandin, etc.) are dynamic offensive contributors, which Kudryavstev isn’t.

With that said, if there’s a short defender who’s smart, efficient and effective enough to beat the odds anyway, it’s probably Kudryavtsev. He had a strong rookie AHL campaign last year, playing a pivotal top-four role on Abbotsford’s Calder Cup-winning blue line. He’s a confident puck mover because of how poised and crafty he is in problem-solving around heavy forechecks, an element we’ve seen bigger, more athletically gifted defenders like Victor Mancini struggle with at the NHL level. Kudryavstev scans and anticipates well defensively, and his size doesn’t appear to be much of a hindrance when defending down low because of how stocky and heavy his frame is. He isn’t a gifted enough skater to consistently make elite-level plays offensively, but his vision is impressive, and his pinpoint accurate passing is underrated.

The Canucks should give Kudryavtsev an NHL look down the stretch at some point. He doesn’t have a high ceiling, but his intelligent, steady two-way play could make him an effective NHL depth option one day.

10. Sawyer Mynio

The 20-year-old defender has managed to become a fixture on the Abbotsford blue line this season, and has performed reasonably well despite the nightmare campaign that the team has endured (largely as a result of a rash of injuries to the NHL club, and the impact that’s had on Abbotsford’s depth).

Mynio has the frame, defensive instincts and athletic tools to profile as a future third-pair penalty killing defender at the NHL level, but he’ll need to add some heft to both his frame and skating burst to get there. Though Mynio was a productive power-play point producer in junior and has produced reasonably well as an AHL rookie, his offensive toolkit and decision-making look limited and are unlikely to be his calling card at the professional level.