I’m obviously no National Hockey League (NHL) prospects guru, but sometimes you just get a spidey-sense about a specific player.
I’ll be the first to admit, a year ago I wasn’t so sure about Swedish winger, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, or his chances of becoming an impact NHL player. Unless he could legitimately set up shop at the top of the circle and blast away like Alexander Ovechkin or Steven Stamkos, I didn’t see the size or two-way chops to be an impact player without solely relying on his shot.
I apologize, Jonathan; (insert Shaq meme), I wasn’t familiar with your game.
The fifteenth overall pick from 2022 has an obvious flair for offence. What troubled me was if he had the pace to keep up on his skates, or the strength to win enough 50/50 battles along the boards. His resilience is evident though, rebounding from a tough injury-stricken nine-point season in 2022, with 31 points this year including 19 goals.
That his shot is dazzling is undeniable — I bet it keeps Swedish goaltenders up at night. The skeptic in me however, thinks that most of his goals are scored from distance, on larger European ice-surfaces. Scoring from distance is an admirable quality, but is more difficult to achieve with NHL goaltenders in smaller rinks.
Lekkerimäki arrived in Abbotsford in late March and I was able to get a close-up look at Abbotsford Centre in one of his first games in North America. Before we get there, maybe because of Spider-Mondays at Cineplex, some previous occurrences of my spidey-sense being half decent have been bouncing around in my mind, and I’d like to take this opportunity to gloat a little bit.
Back in 2022, when I watched the Canucks at the Young Stars tournament in Penticton, I was impressed with another Swedish player, Nils Åman. The former Colorado Avalanche draft pick had signed with the Canucks as a free-agent and displayed a detailed and professional game that stood out during the prospects tournament.
Åman would go on to play 68 games in Vancouver that season, and 17 in Abbotsford indicating the Canucks perhaps had their own spidey-sense watching his play in Penticton. The forward isn’t flashy, but showed effective stick-checking chops and effort away from the puck that has made him a reliable option for the Canucks organization, including this season as well.
In 2023, it was Arshdeep Bains who I thought made the biggest impression at the tournament, and separated himself from every player on the ice, no matter the team.
His strong tournament was anchored by dogged determination to retrieve loose pucks, both on the forecheck and in his own end, evidence of his strong skating. Bains’ Penticton performance was just a launching pad to an all-star American Hockey League (AHL) season this year, as well as putting himself in contention for a roster spot in Vancouver next season.
There’s not a whole lot to take away from a 7-2 loss, which is how Abbotsford was defeated by Coachella Valley on April. 7, but a word that came to mind to describe seeing Lekkerimäki play was plucky. It’s positive, and a trait often attributed to goal-scorers.
In a blowout loss, I was just looking for someone to show something; anything, steal a puck, be disruptive, just do something.
Being plucky might not be the most desirable trait for a hockey player among bruisers like Luke Schenn, or agitators like Brad Marchand, but if you’re going to go down 7-2, being plucky seems pretty good to me. Lekkerimäki was around it all night when the Canucks were on the attack, recording assists on two goals scored for the home team, before one was taken back, and still managing a positive +/- at +1.
In totality, Lekkerimäki’s short time in Abbotsford concluded with two points in six games — not exactly blowing the roof off, statistically — but the point totals don’t bother me. I think showing a certain degree of grit with his willingness to engage, and ability to create offence on smaller ice surfaces, is a notable step in the player’s development.
As he grows more comfortable his game will become more assertive and he’ll become more of a play driver. I’ll be watching for Lekkerimäki to create his own offence and get stronger on his stick in Penticton with the Canucks at the next Young Stars Tournament. Vancouver has seen sniper-from-distance, Brock Boeser, become a crease-crashing, in-tight scorer over his career, a trajectory perhaps Lekkerimäki can follow.
