NHL Insults Vancouver Canucks Prospects with Wild Under 24 Player Ranking
TSN has released its annual under 24 player rankings, sharing a ranking of the
young cores of teams around the league yesterday and today a top 50 list of individual players.
The Vancouver Canucks landed just one player on the top 50 list according to Steve Dryden, Craig Button and the team at TSN, with Tom Willander barely cracking the list at number 48.
The Canucks actually suffered the biggest drop in overall team rankings,falling from 5th all the way to 23rd, although this can largely be blamed on captain Quinn Hughes aging out of the ranking.
Last year, Hughes was behind only BC's Conor Bedard - who this year was overtaken for the #1 overall ranking by Quinn's younger brother, Jack.
Willander, the top prospect for the team, fell 3 spots from 45 to 48 this year.
TSN also lists Jonathan Lekkerimäki as an "A" grade U24 player, with Arturs Silovs and Elias Pettersson (D) rounding out the team's 'U24 core 4'.
Canucks pipeline drying up?
Overall, TSN feels the U24 core of the Canucks has fallen below Canadian rivals like the Jets and the Leafs, the latter of which jumped 10 spots.
From last year, the Canucks have lost one of their top ranked prospects in Hunter Brzustewicz, who was dealt for Elias Lindholm, and only picked 5 times in 2024 with no picks until the end of the third round.
The team has its first and second rounders in each of the next two years, but if they choose to yet again make trades to improve the roster this year, they'll need their top youngsters to continue the progress they've made.
| POLL | ||
How do you feel about the Canucks' ranking? | ||
