Tom Willander reflects on first preseason with Vancouver Canucks
Tom Willander couldn’t stop gushing about the crowd in Vancouver.
For a preseason game, no less.
“These fans are crazy, and I love it,” Willander told Daily Hive following the Vancouver Canucks’ final preseason game, a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
“I think it was [Jake] DeBrusk coming on the breakaway [in the third period]. It got so loud in there. Yeah, it was deafening. I love that.”
Willander mentioned that he’s only experienced a crowd like Vancouver’s one other time in his career.
“When we were on home ice and in Sweden for the World Juniors and the final, that was a good crowd too.”
“But, it only happens, you know, every 10 years or so. So, being able to have this on a daily basis is sick.”
Well, we’ve now learned that Willander won’t get to experience Canucks fans at Rogers Arena on a daily basis. At least not yet.
When the Canucks announced their 23-man roster to start the season on Monday, Willander wasn’t on the list. Instead, he’s been assigned to Abbotsford.
That doesn’t come as a surprise. When asked about what it would mean to him to make the Canucks’ NHL roster, even Willander admitted that spending some time in the AHL probably isn’t the worst thing.
“There’s positives and negatives to being up [in the NHL]… but it’d be fun, for sure.”
It doesn’t take a close watch to see why the Canucks believed in his talent when they selected him at 11th overall in the 2023 draft. The 20-year-old’s speed and gap control have both been evident throughout training camp and preseason.
Tom Willander will begin the 2025-26 season in the AHL. (@Canucks/X)
However, this is a player who’s embarking on his first pro journey in hockey. Despite some flashes of puck-carrying brilliance, there were moments where he looked like a raw rookie.
“I feel like the parts of the puzzle are slowly falling into place,” Willander said. “You know, the more experience I get, the more shifts I get, the more comfortable I feel.”
In terms of feeling comfortable, Willander raved about the new style of play that Adam Foote has implemented with the Canucks, which accentuates aggressiveness and pinching by defencemen to join up into the offence.
“I love that,” Willander said. “I think the way he wants us to play, I think it’s great, I think it’s a lot of fun, and I totally agree with that style of play.”
Willander did have one shift in the third period of Friday night’s preseason game, where he and Quinn Hughes got up the ice and were wheeling the puck around the offensive zone.
“He’s so sick,” Willander said. “He makes it so easy for everyone. He’s a one-man army out there. You just have to get open… It’s a lot of fun.”
Willander spent a couple of shifts throughout the preseason playing alongside Hughes, but he also had to go up against NHLers like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. That didn’t seem to faze the rookie.
“If you execute, you make the details right, and you really try to follow the plan that we set up with the way we want to play, then I think [playing in the NHL] is very manageable,” Willander said.
“It’s all coming together slowly but surely.”