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Have Vancouver Canucks fans been mispronouncing Willander's name this whole time?

Trevor Beggs
Trevor Beggs
|
Sep 25 2025, 10:55 pm
Have Vancouver Canucks fans been mispronouncing Willander's name this whole time?
@Canucks/X

Remember when Elias Pettersson was trying to teach fans how to say his name?

Well, now we’re trying to learn how to properly say the name of another top Swedish prospect with the Vancouver Canucks.

Most fans and media in Vancouver had been calling the young defenceman “Wuh-lan-der.”

But it now seems the W should sound more like a V.

Like “Vee-lan-der.”

Or is it “Vuh-lan-der?”

On both Canucks preseason broadcasts, Sportsnet 650’s Brendan Batchelor has been pronouncing it as “Vee-lan-der.”

You can hear him say it before Nils Hƶglander’s goal here:

But Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal has heard differently.

“A guy told me last night, he would know, it’s a soft V. Tom ‘Vuh-lan-der,'” Dhaliwal said on Thursday’s edition of Donnie and Dhali on CHEK.

Dhaliwal later mentioned that the guy he had asked was Willander’s agent.

So who did Batch hear it from? Mr. Willander himself.

According to multiple websites, including OptiLingo and Aderalingua, it’s true that the pronunciation of ‘W’ in Swedish sounds like a ‘V.’

With the debate raging on, Willander may have to go on the record to settle this once and for all.

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