Vancouver Canucks have a lot riding on Willander’s development

Posted on

The Vancouver Canucks desperately need to upgrade their defence, and they’ll probably need to swing a trade to make it happen.

But what if they could develop a blueliner instead?

Novel concept, outside of Quinn Hughes, for this organization. Not only is the Canucks captain the only homegrown defenceman to play NHL minutes for Vancouver this season, he’s the only one drafted in the past two decades to make a significant impact on the organization.

Since Luc Bourdon was selected in 2005, just nine defencemen drafted by the Canucks in the last 20 years have gone on to play NHL games. Most of them failed to reach the 100-game mark, including Frank Corrado (76 games), Nikita Tryamkin (79), Guillaume Brisebois (27), Olli Juolevi (41), and Jack Rathbone (28).

Other than Hughes, just one became a top-four defenceman, but Gustav Forsling (drafted by the Canucks in the fifth round in 2014) blossomed in Florida, not Vancouver.

Ben Hutton (514) and Kevin Connauton (360) are the other two NHL defencemen drafted, for those of you wondering.

That leads us to Tom Willander, the 11th overall draft pick from 2023. The Canucks were accused by some of reaching for Willander, a 6-foot-1 right-shot defenceman, and they even considered moving down in the draft order. Zach Benson, a talented but undersized winger from Chilliwack, was taken two picks later and made the Buffalo Sabres as an 18-year-old.

The Canucks were accused of reaching for Juolevi once upon a time as well. But imagine what Vancouver’s defence would have looked like had he panned out.

That’s the situation the Canucks are in with Willander now. They desperately need him to develop into the player Patrik Allvin thinks he can be, preferably sooner rather than later.

With all due respect to Sawyer Mynio, the other Elias Pettersson, and Kirill Kudryavtsev, Willander represents Vancouver’s best hope to become a force on the back end.

The good news is Willander has had a strong start to the World Juniors, scoring five points in his first three games for Team Sweden. The 19-year-old is currently in his second season at Boston University, where he has nine points in 16 NCAA games.

Willander is on Sweden’s top-unit power play, but he isn’t an offensive dynamo like Hughes, and the Canucks don’t need him to be. But if he can become a reliable top-four defenceman who plays in all situations, that will help Vancouver get to the next level.

“He’s been very strong as expected,” said Cam Robinson, content director and director of film scouting for Elite Prospects, in a recent interview with Sekeres and Price. “A lot of the time you just don’t notice him too much, which is exactly how he wants it to be. Nobody beats him off the rush, he makes quick plays, he retrieves, he gets it out… I think Willander is going to be a very solid player for Vancouver.”

So when will Willander arrive?

Robinson says he expects Willander to turn pro at the end of this season. That could make him an option for the Canucks, in Vancouver but more likely Abbotsford, by April.

Willander turns 20 in February, and it’s not unusual to see 20-year-old defencemen in the NHL. In fact, 12 blueliners who were 20 when the season started in October have played NHL games in 2024-25. Few are playing a top-four role though, with Lane Hutson (Montreal) and Pavel Mintyukov (Anaheim) being the exceptions.

There’s obviously risk in rushing a player into the NHL, so that’s not advisable, but you can be sure the Canucks are hoping he bursts onto the scene in the not-too-distant future.

Source

Related Posts