Two Canucks prospects make Sweden's World Junior roster

Dec 7 2022, 7:20 pm

The Vancouver Canucks don’t have a deep prospect pool, but they will have at least two players at the IIHF World Junior Championship this year.

Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Elias Pettersson (the other one), are among the 24 players named to Sweden’s roster for the 2023 World Juniors, which begins later this month in Halifax and Moncton.

The Canucks drafted both prospects in July, taking Lekkerimäki 15th overall in the first round, while Pettersson was picked 80th overall in Round 3.

It’s been a difficult season for Lekkerimäki, who had just 1 goal and four assists in 20 games with a second-division Swedish pro league team prior to suffering a concussion. The 5-foot-11 winger is highly skilled and projects to be a goal-scorer. The 18-year-old Swede had three points, all assists, at the 2022 tournament.

Pettersson, 18, shares the same name as the Canucks’ star player. He’s a 6-foot-3 defenceman and has appeared in 22 SHL games this year, notching one assist.

Lekkerimäki and Pettersson may well be the only Canucks prospects at this year’s tournament, as Canucks prospects were shut out of Canada and USA’s preliminary rosters.

Finnish goaltender Aku Koskenvuo, who plays for Harvard in the NCAA, could be selected as well, but he’s hardly a lock to make it.

Vancouver’s lack of players at the World Juniors is mainly the result of Jim Benning’s wheeling and dealing of draft picks during the 2021 offseason. Benning traded away the 10th overall pick in 2021, as well as a 2022 second-round selection in the Oliver Ekman-Larsson/Conor Garland trade. The former Canucks GM also traded away a third-round pick in 2021 for Jason Dickinson.

Vancouver’s top prospect from the 2021 draft, second-round pick Danila Klimovich, isn’t eligible to play in this year’s tournament as his country (Belarus) has been banned by the IIHF, along with Russia, for their part in the war in Ukraine.

The puck drops on this year’s tournament in Halifax and Moncton on Boxing Day. All Group A games, featuring Canada, Sweden, Czechia, Germany, and Austria, will be played at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax. Group B teams, which include USA, Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia, and Latvia, will play games at the Avenir Centre in Moncton.

The gold medal game is set for January 5 in Halifax.

Canada won a tournament-record 19th gold medal last year in Edmonton, defeating Finland in the final. This tournament has been reasonably competitive in recent years, as Canada has won gold just four times in the last 13 tournaments. USA (4), Finland (3), Sweden (1), and Russia (1) have also won gold since 2010.

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