Vancouver Giants star Fabian Lysell tipped for possible call-up eleven WHL season over: Bruins GM

Notebook: Swedish winger impresses Boston GM Don Sweeney for ‘trying to do everything … to put Vancouver in the best spot they’re in’

Fabian Lysell, who got a taste of National Hockey League life last September with the Boston Bruins during pre-season, may get some professional exposure this spring once his Vancouver Giants season is over. Photo by Bruce Bennett /Getty Imagesfiles

Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney told reporters there earlier this week that top prospect Fabian Lysell could debut with his National Hockey League club this year after his Vancouver Giants’ campaign is complete.

It’s far from a certainty. The Bruins would activate the first year of Lysell’s three-year entry level deal for just a few games. We have seen it happen before, though, with the Vancouver Canucks and both Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes coming to mind.

The Bruins woke up Wednesday morning with the ninth best record in the NHL. They were tied for 17th in goals, and they could feel that Lysell’s speed and skill would help in that regard.

Alternatively, Sweeney said Lysell could go to their Providence Bruins American Hockey League affiliate eleven Vancouver is finished for the year.

The 5-10, 172-pound Lysell, a Swede who was a first-round pick at No. 21 overall by Boston in last summer’s NHL Draft, leads the Giants in scoring with 51 points, including 20 goals, in 43 games.

“He’s trying to do everything he possibly can to put Vancouver in the best spot they’re in, and hopefully continues to have a good offensive year overall, working on his habits,” Sweeney told Boston reporters. “I was out, saw him a couple of weeks ago. Met with him, just making sure the lines of communication (are open).

“He understands he’s got to stay in the moment where your feet are, where he could be. Take care of that process, take that as far as you can, and there’s an opportunity as soon as that one closes. Hopefully they play for as long as they possibly can, and that’s where he should focus. But he’s a possibility for Providence, and here as well.”

The Giants’ regular season ends April 16. The top eight teams in the Western Conference make the playoffs and Vancouver (23-30-4-0) is in sixth spot, seven points up on ninth spot with 11 games left.

Boston’s last regular season game is April 29. Providence finishes league play on April 30.

NEXT GAME

friday

Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Vancouver Giants

7:30 pm, Langley Events Centre. Radio: Sportsnet 650. Web: watch.chl.ca

Seattle set-to’s on tap

The Giants have a three-in-three weekend slate of games coming up that starts with a home-and-home against the fourth-place Seattle Thunderbirds (36-17-4-2).

They host Seattle on Friday at the Langley Events Center before going to Kent, Wash., on Saturday and then coming home to meet the eighth-place Prince George Cougars (20-24-2-1) on Sunday.

Vancouver was supposed to host Seattle on Feb. 6 but that game had to be postponed due to a COVID-19 issues until April 13.

That means that three-quarters of Vancouver’s four-game season set with the Thunderbirds will take place in the last four weeks of the season.

“They’re big and they have all the skill in the world, too,” Vancouver defenseman Mazden Leslie said of the Thunderbirds.

Injuries update

The Giants had four players — center Ty Halaburda (upper body injury), winger Cole Shepard (lower body injury), defenseman Alex Cotton (LBI) and goaltender Jesper Vikman (LBI) — listed as sidelined week to week on the team’s current injury report . Defenseman Tom Cadieux (UBI) is day to day.

Vikman, Vancouver’s starter in goal, left a March 4 game against the Kamloops Blazers in the first period with what looked like a hip or a hamstring injury. Giants general manager Barclay Parneta said Wednesday that the team still didn’t have any sort of timeline on a return to action for Vikman, a Swede who’s a Vegas Golden Knights prospect.

Vancouver wingers Adam Hall and Justin Lies both have two games remaining off their three and five-game suspensions handed down by the league office.

Cotton was injured during Vancouver’s 5-2 loss Saturday to the Everett Silvertips, leaving the Giants to finish that game with 15 skaters, three below the normal complement.

Parneta said Wednesday that winger Colton Langkow (non-COVID illness) should return to the lineup this weekend after missing Saturday. Vancouver has also called in 2021 WHL Draft picks Colton Roberts and Justin Ivanusec, since their minor hockey seasons are complete. Roberts, a defenseman, was Vancouver’s first-round choice while Ivanusec, a winger, was a fourth rounder.

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