Canucks prospects tracker: The World Juniors come calling for a couple of Swedes

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It’s the latest edition of the weekly tracker, where we tally up the efforts of the Vancouver Canucks’ highest-profile prospects:

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Two Canucks prospects have been selected to play at the IIHF World Junior Championship later this month in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Whether they both actually suit up remains to be seen.

In a virtual Kulning call by the Tre Kronor on Wednesday, forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki and defenceman Elias Pettersson were summoned to the squad as Sweden looks to improve on the bronze medal they won at the same tournament this past summer.

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“The USA and Canada are big favourites, and the teams to beat,” head coach Magnus Havelid told the media, through a translation. “Our dream and great driving force is to challenge for the gold. We will do everything we can to succeed.”

The Swedes have seven players returning from the summer, including four 2022 NHL first-round picks.

Havelid likes his team’s offensive ability but may be without two young guns, with Lekkerimaki, 18, and Noah Ostlund, 18, still on the shelf with injuries. Lekkerimaki, the Canucks’ 15th-overall pick this past summer, has been out of the Djurgardens IF lineup since suffering a concussion in a Nov. 26 game against Vasteras playing in Sweden’s second-tier men’s league.

Ostlund, meanwhile, hasn’t played since Nov. 22. Both players have struggled this season, with Lekkerimaki (20 GP, 1G, 4A) producing less than his linemate Ostlund (19 GP, 2G, 9A). As a team, Djurgardens have disappointed this season, with promotion to the Swedish Hockey League a must for what is Sweden’s most storied hockey franchise.

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Head coach Joakin Fagervall was just axed a couple of weeks ago, with general manager KG Stoppel telling Sportbladet: “we felt we needed to do something and it was done.”

His replacement is former NHLer Johan Garpenlov, a Swede who played 10 seasons in the league for four different teams.

Should Lekkerimaki play, the tournament could provide a forum for the 5-foot-11, 172-pound right-shot winger to get his game back on track. The high-flying winger has looked out of sorts this season, trying to do too much on the ice and not playing to his strengths — namely shooting the puck and handling it more responsibly.

While Lekkerimaki has made the Tre Kronor on past pedigree, fellow Canucks prospect Pettersson is there because of recent performance.

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The 2022 third-rounder with the familiar name just scored his first SHL goal on Thursday, taking a pass in the high slot and one-timing the puck past a diving HV71 goaltender to seal a 7-4 win for his Orebro team.

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Pettersson played a season-high 15:23 in the win and had three shots on goal and a plus-1 rating. The 6-foot-3, 196-pound left-shot D-man followed it up with 14 1/2 minutes and an even rating in a 3-0 win over IK Oskarshamn on Saturday.

Pettersson has now played in five straight SHL games in which he’s skated for at least 13 minutes — a major increase from the handful of shifts he was given earlier in the season while bouncing between the SHL and the J20 Nationell.

The Vasteras product’s inclusion in Sweden’s WJC team comes as no surprise, as Pettersson has shone bright when donning the blue-and-gold in recent months. He has three goals, one assist and a gaudy plus-15 rating playing for the Tre Kronor this past year.

Pettersson told the media this past week that he’s excited to get the opportunity.

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“You (watch) it since you were little and now you get to join and play one so it will be great fun,” he said, through a translation.

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Sweden’s WJC camp begins on Wednesday and their first game of the tournament is on Boxing Day against Austria.

Pettersson also showed well this past summer at Vancouver’s development camp at UBC.

“My skating is my biggest strength and so is my size,” he told Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma in July. “If you’re going to make it to the NHL, you need to work on everything and this is a really good camp. I’m going to develop as much as I can.”

Pettersson is under contract through 2024-25, which is the option year.

He has one goal, one assist and a minus-1 rating in 24 SHL games this season. He has four goals, nine assists and a plus-1 rating in 12 J20 Nationell games.

Danila Klimovich

He’s the missing link for Canucks fans at this year’s World Juniors — and what a tournament it could have been for the 19-year-old Belarusian.

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Danila Klimovich won’t be taking part in the festivities, due to the IIHF banning Belarus and Russia from participating for their countries’ roles in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

The Canucks’ 2021 second-round pick is playing the best hockey of his professional career of late, scoring another goal and adding an assist in a 7-0 win for Abbotsford over the Manitoba Moose on Friday in the Fraser Valley.

When Klimovich scores, it’s usually a beauty — and this one was no exception. With Chase Wouters leading a 2-on-1 in the Moose zone, the talented 6-foot-2, 205-pound right-shot winger took a pass in the slot, faked a shot then went around the goaltender to score a goalscorer’s goal, making the score 4-0.

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Klimovich, playing on the fourth line, was physically involved from the early going, laying a big hit in the corner then feeding a pass into the slot for a chance.

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The Pinsk product’s two points extended his streak to five games, the longest of his professional career. He was named the game’s third star. Forward Lane Pederson was given first-star honours, with two goals in the game. Pederson has 14 goals in 17 games since coming over from Carolina in the Ethan Bear trade.

Speedy forward Will Lockwood (2016, Rd. 3) also continues to impress, notching his ninth and 10th goals of the season.

Klimovich had his points-streak snapped the next night, in a 2-1 loss to the same Moose.

He has three goals, six assists and a plus-2 rating in 17 games this season as one of 12 U20 players in the AHL.

The Canucks are 12-8-1-1 and sit in fifth place in the 10-team Pacific Division.

Elsewhere: The wheels are falling off for Aidan McDonough‘s Northeastern Huskies, who have dropped out of the NCAA rankings after losing five of their last six games. McDonough (2019, Rd. 7) didn’t score this past week and the 23-year-old power forward has 10 goals and 12 assists in 16 games.

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