Jonathan Lekkerimäki reclaims top spot in Vancouver Canucks prospect hierarchy
The Vancouver Canucks have a new number one prospect according to rankings by The Province - and we might hear that a lot this season.
In the publication's weekly Canuck prospect power rankings, where all ranked prospects must be born in 2000 or later and can't be on the NHL roster, Jonathan Lekkerimäki reclaimed his top spot among the team's youngsters.
In week one the top spot was occupied by Aatu Räty, whose strong training camp forced the Canucks to keep him on the roster to open the season before eventually sending him back to Abbotsford.
While Räty's play was deserving of recognition, his number one ranking was also assisted by Jonathan Lekkerimäki missing the first week of the AHL season with an illness.
Lekkerimäki made his season debut on the weekend, and quickly made his presence known with an assist in a win over the San Diego Gulls.
The two prospects are undeniably the best Vancouver has at the forward position, and they'll each vye for top spot throughout the season while occasionally disappearing from the list altogether due to being the top two forwards in queue for a potential call up.
Currently they're not playing together, but it will be interesting to see if Abbotsford head coach Manny Malhotra decides to put the two on a line down the stretch and see what they can do together.
Following the two Scandinavian forwards are four defensemen, with Boston University's Tom Willander topping out at number three, followed by Elias Pettersson, Sawyer Mynio and Kirill Kudryavtsev.
Nikita Tolopilo, Danila Klimovich, Jett Woo, and Melvin Fernström round out the top ten list within the organization.
The Canucks also have three youngsters who would qualify for the list if not on the NHL roster in Nils Höglander, Arshdeep Bains, and Arturs Silovs.
Source - The Province: Canucks prospects: Jonathan Lekkerimäki takes back top spot from Aatu Räty in power rankings
| POLL | ||
At season's end, who will be considered Vancouver's top prospect? | ||
| Jonathan Lekkerim�ki | 177 | 63.9 % |
| Aatu R�ty | 27 | 9.7 % |
| Tom Willander | 59 | 21.3 % |
| Other | 14 | 5.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
