Get to Know Your Abbotsford Canucks Ahead of Friday’s Home Opener

The Abbotsford Canucks host their home opener on Friday, October 25th at the Abbotsford Centre and are once again a team led by their youth, a group that continues to gain experience and grow.

In this article, we are going to go over some notable players at each position and discuss what they hope to bring to the Canucks on a nightly basis for head coach Manny Malhotra.

Forwards

Captain Chase Wouters is back for his fourth season with the Canucks and third as captain. The 24-year-old centre brings toughness and his faceoff prowess to the lineup.

Wouters is looked upon to be a leader in the locker room and he takes on that challenge every day as the captain of the Canucks. He will also be a key piece of the penalty kill and is taking his faceoff skill to the next level with Malhotra helping him evolve in the dot.

Jonathan Lekkerimäki was the Canucks’ first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft and had a stellar season last year in the SHL. He won MVP at the World Juniors last year and was rookie of the year in the SHL.

The 20-year-old winger is expected to make his season debut on Friday in Abbotsford. Lekkerimäki has missed the first two weeks of the season but has worked hard to get back into the lineup.

Lekkerimäki is looking to continue to develop his two-way game and show that he can be consistent in the AHL.

Max Sasson is aiming to build on his strong rookie season last year which saw him put up 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points. The left-shot centre has worked on his skating since coming to the AHL and tries to use his speed to his advantage.

“I am really excited,” said Sasson about the home opener. “All of us have been itching to get back home after being on the road and play in front of these fans. I love playing here, and I know all the guys do too. We're pumped up. The energy is always high at the Abby Centre, and we like to push the pace and get the fans involved.”

Linus Karlsson got into four games last season for the Vancouver Canucks and two playoff games during their run to the second round. The right-shot winger has been a 20+ goal scorer in each of his two AHL seasons and has a lot of confidence heading into his third year with Abbotsford.

After making the Vancouver Canucks out of training camp and playing three NHL games, Aatu Räty has returned to the Abbotsford Canucks and will be relied upon in a top-six role.

Räty was the only player to play in all 72 games last year for the Canucks and has seen time on both the power play and penalty kill units. He has been strong in the faceoff dot in his two games with Abbotsford this season and continues to work with the development staff in Abbotsford to prepare himself for his next look at the NHL level.

Defencemen

Cole McWard is coming into his second full professional season. The 23-year-old, right-shot defenceman continues to be a two-way defenceman who does a fantastic job of getting pucks on net from the point.

Jett Woo is in his fifth AHL season and has seen time as the top-pairing right-shot defenceman in the early parts of the season. Woo plays a physical game and has a lot of experience as a penalty killer as well.

Elias Pettersson and Kirill Kudryavtsev are the two 20-year-old left-shot defencemen on the roster. Each of them has played in all four of Abbotsford’s games this year. They are looking to adjust to the new level of competition and continue to grow their game while working with the development coaches.

Each of Pettersson and Kudryavtsev are over 200 pounds and are trying to become better puck movers and playmakers.

Pettersson showed well for Sweden in the most recent World Junior Championships and led the Swedes in shorthanded ice time in the tournament. He is now one of Abbotsford’s more relied-upon defenceman while shorthanded and is continuing to bring physicality.

Christian Wolanin, Mark Friedman, and Guillaume Brisebois bring a veteran presence to the backend and have been significant help for the young players who are breaking into the AHL. These three veterans will be able to bring calmness to the defence corps and Wolanin was named defenceman of the year in the AHL during the 2022-23 season.

Goaltenders

Nikita Tolopilo has had an excellent start to the season and holds a .925% save percentage through his first two starts of the season. He is 2-0-0 on the year and was lights out in his most recent start; stopping 29 of the 30 shots he faced in three periods and overtime before going on to win in the shootout.

Last season, Tolopilo played in 35 games and had a 20-13-1 record with a .905% save percentage.

“I think I’ve improved on a lot of things since last year,” said Tolopilo. “The biggest being mentally. I feel more confident and stronger with my mental. I’m also in better shape physically – it's way better. I spent a lot of time in the gym this summer in Vancouver. I’m just feeling good going forward from here.”

Jiří Patera has NHL experience and has been a solid goaltender in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights organization for the past three seasons. Patera is 25 years old and is new to the Canucks’ organization after signing as a free agent in the summertime.

Insider Extra: Manny’s Motto

We caught up with head coach Manny Malhotra ahead of Friday’s home opener.

Our conversation began with his expectations from the club on home ice.

“We want to make the Abbotsford Centre a very tough place to play, and we want to take advantage of being on home ice, so that needs to be our mindset heading into Friday. We want to play the right way at home, play the right way for our fans, and in doing so, a lot of good things usually tend to happen,” said Malhotra.

The Canucks went 2-1-1 through their first two weekends of play and Malhotra spoke about his team’s play in the early-season portion of the year.

“There are some details that we're looking to focus on and be better at, but the one positive that I've drawn out of all four games is that we've played in spurts the way we want to see our guys play; real aggressive, being physical, just a simplified hockey game, and then from there, a lot of good things have come out. We want to be in control of more games and then play on our front foot, but after four games, there's a lot of elements of our game that we like.”

We asked him to tell us what he’s expecting from the crowd on Friday.

“I’ve heard it gets very loud in here,” said Malhotra. “The guys have talked about it. They're excited to get another season underway. I have heard nothing but good things about the fans here. I'm looking forward to my first experience at the Abby Centre. Hopefully, it's a packed crowd and we give them something to cheer about.”

The Abbotsford Canucks get rocking on Friday night at the Abbotsford Centre for their home opener. Tickets can be found HERE.