Prospect Info: Tom Willander: 11th Overall 2023 Draft (Rogle BK J20) - Part 02

[Breakers]

Thought it was pretty cool for Celebrini and Hutson to show up last minute un announced to read out the lineups

Team was jacked

Those guys could have been in Mexico already

 

[VanJack]

Tom Wiilander just turned 20 as couple of days ago. And Elias Pettersson II turns 21 in five days.

Is it possible that by March, the Canucks could have a 20-year old and 21-year old patrolling their blueline? If it happens, I feel confident in saying that it's probably never happened before in franchise history.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Tom Wiilander just turned 20 as couple of days ago. And Elias Pettersson II turns 21 in five days.

Is it possible that by March, the Canucks could have a 20-year old and 21-year old patrolling their blueline? If it happens, I feel confident in saying that it's probably never happened before in franchise history.

Purely IMO - D-Petey will go back to Abbotsford once Hughes is back (provided everyone else is healthy).

I think Willander will sign when his season is over and be up with the big club to get some games in, likely as load management for whichever players are banged up and nursing injuries. Of course, that's all dependent on how we are doing in the playoff chase.

I don't think either guy becomes an every day NHL player this spring barring injury. But it's possible for the fall.

 

[strattonius]

Tom Wiilander just turned 20 as couple of days ago. And Elias Pettersson II turns 21 in five days.

Is it possible that by March, the Canucks could have a 20-year old and 21-year old patrolling their blueline? If it happens, I feel confident in saying that it's probably never happened before in franchise history.

Dude, we've all been talking about this the last few days non stop. Just visit the GDT threads. Over the last week and a half our view of the future blueline in Vancouver just got very bright from the emergence of D-Petey.

It's a small sample size but the way he plays isn't a fluke - we're very lucky. I would think as soon as next year both D-Petey and Willander will be regulars. This will blow our CAP situation wide open in a good way.

Hockey is difficult to predict so perhaps one of them stagnates a bit next year. It's possible Willander doesn't break the doors down like most of us are expecting as well. But the shortened version is that with 2 promising blueliners on the up, we are in a very good spot.

 

[Lindgren]

Tom Wiilander just turned 20 as couple of days ago. And Elias Pettersson II turns 21 in five days.

Is it possible that by March, the Canucks could have a 20-year old and 21-year old patrolling their blueline? If it happens, I feel confident in saying that it's probably never happened before in franchise history.

In 71-72 the Canucks had Dale Tallon (20) and Jocelyn Guevremont (20) playing regularly.

 

[bandwagonesque]

Purely IMO - D-Petey will go back to Abbotsford once Hughes is back (provided everyone else is healthy).

I think Willander will sign when his season is over and be up with the big club to get some games in, likely as load management for whichever players are banged up and nursing injuries. Of course, that's all dependent on how we are doing in the playoff chase.

I don't think either guy becomes an every day NHL player this spring barring injury. But it's possible for the fall.

Even if Pettersson keeps playing like this? He checks all the "ready" boxes I have and has played well in a couple of games with a lot of fast neutral zone play.

I could see Forbort getting waived or traded, honestly.

 

[MS]

Tom Wiilander just turned 20 as couple of days ago. And Elias Pettersson II turns 21 in five days.

Is it possible that by March, the Canucks could have a 20-year old and 21-year old patrolling their blueline? If it happens, I feel confident in saying that it's probably never happened before in franchise history.

The 84-85 Canucks had

JJ Daigneault (19)
Michel Petit (20)
Doug Lidster (21)
Garth Butcher (21)

 

[Coffee]

The 84-85 Canucks had

JJ Daigneault (19)
Michel Petit (20)
Doug Lidster (21)
Garth Butcher (21)

Doug Lidster best of the bunch there, MS?

 

[MS]

Doug Lidster best of the bunch there, MS?

Most underrated player in Canuck history, probably.

 

[beachcomber]

The 84-85 Canucks had

JJ Daigneault (19)
Michel Petit (20)
Doug Lidster (21)
Garth Butcher (21)

And it really showed. Dark times.

 

[VanJack]

I'm actually old enough to remember the '80's. In addition to being regularly bleached at home by most NHL teams, they were drawing 7,000-8,000 fans a night at the old Pacific Coliseum.

And whenever the Oilers came to town, it was like watching the Harlem Globetrotters up against the Washington Generals. These were dark times indeed.

And if the Canucks had four d-men under the age of 22, it's not much wonder that the likes of Gretzky, Messier, Kurri and Coffey made them look like an ECHL team.

 

[Bleach Clean]

Jason Bukala, former director of Amateur Scouting for FLA turned analyst, had some insight on WillanderEP25/Lekk on Canucks Talk (IIRC):

- Not ready to jump into the line-up yet. Would like to see him in the AHL next year
- Needs some work against players with speed, and obviously in the offensive zone
- Excellent skating and drive should keep him in call up territory though
- EP25 ahead and Lekkerimaki is the most ready
- Has always been a big fan of EP25

Worth a listen.

 

[F A N]

Jason Bukala, former director of Amateur Scouting for FLA turned analyst, had some insight on WillanderEP25/Lekk on Canucks Talk (IIRC):

- Not ready to jump into the line-up yet. Would like to see him in the AHL next year
- Needs some work against players with speed, and obviously in the offensive zone
- Excellent skating and drive should keep him in call up territory though
- EP25 ahead and Lekkerimaki is the most ready
- Has always been a big fan of EP25

Worth a listen.

I prefer to play it safe so I don't think it hurts to have Willander play in the AHL next season as opposed to the NHL. If we are to assume that DE-Petey is a regular next season, we have to either sign a RD or keep Soucy and have him play RD.

 

[Grub]

Excited to see what he can do with the Canucks. He has a Veteran blueline to learn from now.

Edler & Tanev had lots of mentors and veterans in D when they came up.

 

[racerjoe]

I prefer to play it safe so I don't think it hurts to have Willander play in the AHL next season as opposed to the NHL. If we are to assume that DE-Petey is a regular next season, we have to either sign a RD or keep Soucy and have him play RD.

I think we will have a better idea at the end of the season when he plays a few games. Maybe it will be obvious one way or the other.

I think it is most important to be flexible, and while you don’t want to block him, you don’t want to count on him and have him sink.

 

[Hansen]

Jason Bukala, former director of Amateur Scouting for FLA turned analyst, had some insight on WillanderEP25/Lekk on Canucks Talk (IIRC):

- Not ready to jump into the line-up yet. Would like to see him in the AHL next year
- Needs some work against players with speed, and obviously in the offensive zone
- Excellent skating and drive should keep him in call up territory though
- EP25 ahead and Lekkerimaki is the most ready
- Has always been a big fan of EP25

Worth a listen.

If he thinks Lekkerimaki is the most ready of the three I question his judgement

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

Jason Bukala, former director of Amateur Scouting for FLA turned analyst, had some insight on WillanderEP25/Lekk on Canucks Talk (IIRC):

- Not ready to jump into the line-up yet. Would like to see him in the AHL next year
- Needs some work against players with speed, and obviously in the offensive zone
- Excellent skating and drive should keep him in call up territory though
- EP25 ahead and Lekkerimaki is the most ready
- Has always been a big fan of EP25

Worth a listen.

I like Bukala a lot. Don't agree with every single take but he's clearly thoughtful, insightful, and intelligent and isn't given to stupid hot takes for engagement's sake.

I have a lot less exposure to full games from Willander, I've seen him in WJC and a couple of shift by shift vids from college.

My expectation is that he could probably pretty quickly do well in terms of tilting the ice as a 3rd pairing D man against lower lines, which is useful. But whether that's the best utilization for his long-term development I couldn't say.

Maybe being a top pairing horse in the minors for 40 games next year might imbue him with the confidence to be a 40 point Brock Faber type instead of a 20 point type. Who knows?

 

[VanJack]

Seems pretty obvious that if BU's season ends before the completion of the NHL schedule, and Wilander signs in Vancouver, he'll be awarded some NHL games to blow off the first year of his ELC.

They did the same for the likes of McWard, Hirose and even McDonough and Rathbone.

Just a suspicion on my part, or maybe wishful thinking. But I think once he slots in on the right side of the Canucks blueline, it'll be like Elias Pettersson II. They won't be able to take him out of the lineup.

 

[maroon 6]

Seems pretty obvious that if BU's season ends before the completion of the NHL schedule, and Wilander signs in Vancouver, he'll be awarded some NHL games to blow off the first year of his ELC.

They did the same for the likes of McWard, Hirose and even McDonough and Rathbone.

Just a suspicion on my part, or maybe wishful thinking. But I think once he slots in on the right side of the Canucks blueline, it'll be like Elias Pettersson II. They won't be able to take him out of the lineup.

Only way I see him playing this year is if this team falls out of the playoffs picture.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

I like Bukala a lot. Don't agree with every single take but he's clearly thoughtful, insightful, and intelligent and isn't given to stupid hot takes for engagement's sake.

Honest, give it another 3-4 years and I'd think he'd be an excellent hire. He clearly loves watching the sport and can read plays quite fast as they develop for a younger aged guy. I don't always agree on his reads, but it's only due to different interpretation and not that he's behind, he's actually ahead of me. And by a lot. My $0.02.

 

[F A N]

If he thinks Lekkerimaki is the most ready of the three I question his judgement

Well I think one can make that assessment simply by stat watching. He has 2 goals in 11 NHL games and is scoring at a good pace at the AHL level. Now the 2022 draft is quite a ways behind the 2021 draft but a player like Coronato is a full time NHLer this year. So based on a combination of age, draft pedigree, AHL/NHL performance, and positional needs, Lekkerimaki is the easy call (not saying he's right) as DE-Petey is doing pretty well.

 

[VanJack]

Only way I see him playing this year is if this team falls out of the playoffs picture.

At the start of this season, I would have said the same thing about Elias Pettersson II. But sometimes kids are just so good, they basically force their way into the NHL.

 

[maroon 6]

At the start of this season, I would have said the same thing about Elias Pettersson II. But sometimes kids are just so good, they basically force their way into the NHL.

I think the timing just worked out for D-Petey with Myers suspension and then the Hughes injury. Also his competition were the likes of Juulsen and Desharnais.

Now with the emergence of DPetey and the acquisitions of Pettersson and Mancini it’s gonna be tough. But I hope your right, would love to see him!

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Do others agree with this? From the limited amount I've seen of him, he looks like a highly skilled puck handler that will be able evade the forecheck, combined with his skating, much better than Marcus. Willander looks much closer to what Hughes does than Pettersson.

There is 1 player in the NHL who compares to Hughes in Makar.