While at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, Vancouver Canucks General Manager Patrik Allvin met with reporters and gave a significant update on the development of their three Swedish prospects at the tournament - Elias Pettersson, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Tom Willander.
Allvin told reporters that Elias Pettersson will join the American Hockey League's Abbotsford Canucks once his season in the Swedish with Vasteras IK comes to an end.
The Canucks General Manager also added that they expect forward prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki to join the Abbotsford Canucks for the 2024-25 season.
As for defensive prospect Tom Willander, who's having a fairly good season in the NCAA, the expectation is that he will return to Boston University in the fall for a second year.
This is great news for the Vancouver Canucks organization , being able to get two of their top prospects over to North America from Europe in 2024 to continue their development with Allvin and Co. close by.
For now however, the trio of Elias Pettersson, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Tom Willander have their sights set on one thing - a World Junior gold medal. They'll take another step in that journey in the quarter-finals on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. PT/1:30 p.m. ET against Switzerland.
POLL | ||
JANVIER 1 | 831 ANSWERS LATEST | Patrik Allvin provides massive update on Canucks' top prospect: The timeline for their arrival has been set Do you think Elias Pettersson (D) and/or Jonathan Lekkerimaki will make their NHL debut next season? | ||
Yes, both will | 372 | 44.8 % |
Lekkerimaki will | 214 | 25.8 % |
Pettersson will | 125 | 15 % |
See Results | 120 | 14.4 % |
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