Written by 
Article content
The 20-year-old Swedish winger, who was the No. 15 overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, has been an offensive force with Abbotsford to date, recording 39 shots on goal in just seven games. He has five goal and seven points in that time.
He missed four games with Abbotsford at the start of the season due to illness. There was thought that he was a candidate to be promoted late last week when Brock Boeser (upper body injury) was sidelined after taking that dirty hit from Los Angeles King forward Tanner Jeannot, but Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said Saturday that Lekkerimäki was dealing with a minor injury. He did not play for Abbotsford on Saturday, when they dropped a 3-1 decision at home to the Bakersfield Condors.
Vancouver doesn’t play again until Tuesday, when they are home to the Calgary Flames.
Article content
Along with the Lekkerimäki promotion, the Canucks also called up goaltender Ty Young, 20, from Abbotsford and reassigned forwards Arshdeep Bains, 23, and Nils Åman, 24, along with goaltender Artūrs Šilovs, 23, to the AHL club.
Abbotsford plays Bakersfield at home again Sunday. Considering the timing, this could be a case of wanting to get Šilovs some game action. He came into this season with high hopes, coming off last year’s playoff run in place of the injured Thatcher Demko but’s he’s struggled out of the gate. He is 0-2-1 with a 4.77 goals-against average and 808 save percentage in four games (three starts) this season. Šilovs has only started one game for the Canucks since Oct. 15. Free agent pickup Kevin Lankinen, 29, has carried the load in net so far.
Share this article in your social network