LATEST | Canucks' 2022 First-Round Pick currently showing the reason why he was drafted this high

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Felip Gosselin
April 6, 2023 (8:40 PM)

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The Canucks used the 15th overall selection of the 2022 Draft to select the Swede Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Known to be a fast, skilled right winger with a tremendous shot, he had not responded to the expectations so far with a fringe 9 points (3 Goals / 6 Assists) in 29 games in the Hockey Allsvenkan

His season went from bad to worst when an injury was supposed to have him on the sidelines for the remainder of the campaign, but an early recovery made him available in time for his team's playoffs. He's absolutely fire since rejoining the team since his production spiked and he now has 3 goals in 5 games, including this beauty he tallied recently:

Thomas Drance recently drew up the high-end comparables for the Canucks' top prospect and Lekkerimaki's development resembled the Toronto Maple Leaf's star, William Nylander. Obviously, there is no guarantee that Lekkerimaki will even reach the NHL, but to have an analyst put these two names in the same sentence has got to mean something at the end of the day.

''Twelve months ago, Lekkerimäki's best comparables based on his SHL scoring rates as a 17-year-old were players like William Nylander, Lucas Wallmark, and Rasmus Asplund. The only other pedigree player who'd produced at comparable rates in the SHL at the same age (Nylander) went on to NHL stardom in short order.''

Lekkerimaki's draft plus one season surely has been up to the standard he had previously set for himself. If he wants to live up to the hype that surrounded him as the 2022 draft class top sharpshooter, he'll definitely need to keep his most recent performances going.