Canucks prospect Lekkerimaki scores a beauty to take over SHL goals lead

Vancouver Canucks prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki is having quite the start to his 2023-24 season.

Lekkerimäki, who was selected 15th overall by the Canucks in the 2022 draft, has a SHL leading eight goals in just 14 games. While his entire season with Orebro HK has been impressive in the early going, a goal he scored today versus Frölunda HC is what has really got Canucks fans talking.

Jonathan Lekkerimäki scores his 8th goal of the season. A deft handle on the entry allows him to split the defenders — leverages his shot once again. #Canucks
pic.twitter.com/Dt9BMRpuJP

— Daniel Gee (@DanielGScouting) October 28, 2023

Lekkerimäki’s skill is on full display here. He not only makes a phenomenal move against the Frolunda defender in a one-on-one situation, but is able to beat the goalie with what appears to be relative ease. It helps show what allowed him to be a first-round pick just a year ago.

Lekkerimäki is one of just several high-end prospects the Canucks have in their system. He, along with Tom Willander, Aatu Räty, and Elias Pettersson (no, not that Elias Pettersson) are making the future appear to be very bright for the Canucks organization.

While the future is certainly bright in Vancouver, things are also going very well right now. With last night’s 5-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues, the Canucks own a 5-2-0 record to begin the season. That not only has them sitting second in the Pacific Division, but marks their best start to a season since 2005-06.

There have certainly been some difficult times for this franchise in recent years, but it appears that they are on their way back to becoming one of the NHL’s better teams. Seeing prospects like Lekkerimäki developing the way they are should help with that in a big way.

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