What we're seeing from Canucks, Jets, Flames and Oilers prospects in Penticton

PENTICTON, B.C. — Another Penticton Young Stars tournament is in the books, which means NHL training camps are right around the corner.

This year, it felt like the western Canadian prospect tournament had some sizzle again.

The Calgary Flames, amid a rebuilding effort, brought a top-10 pick from the 2024 NHL Draft in Zayne Parekh, and he was a clear standout.

The Vancouver Canucks brought sniper Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who electrified the crowd with high-voltage sorties carrying the puck through the neutral zone.

The Winnipeg Jets had several high-pedigree forwards, including Nikita Chibrikov and Brad Lambert, who performed well and looked primed to make an NHL impact this season.

And the Edmonton Oilers, fresh off of their run to the Stanley Cup Final, brought a young team featuring prized offseason acquisitions Sam O’Reilly and Matt Savoie.

There was a sense of excitement during games at the South Okanagan Events Centre, especially during the Canucks games and Saturday’s prospect version of the Battle of Alberta. The event, which will need to be renewed by the four teams if it’s to continue beyond this season, drew strong, loud crowds all weekend long.

“When we scored, it was like, ‘Wow, this is loud,’” noted Canucks centre Max Sasson after his team’s victory on the first night of the tournament. “The passion is there, the fans obviously love having us in Penticton and we love being here.”

Here are a few items we observed at this year’s tournament, and what it could mean for the various western Canadian teams and their prospects going forward.

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Calgary’s youth holding its own should be exciting for the Flames

The four teams at this tournament weren’t evenly matched; they were assembled with disparate experience levels and ages.

The Jets and the Oilers, for example, leaned heavily on invited free agents to fill out their back end. The Oilers went with younger players, many of whom are still draft-eligible, while the Jets brought more seasoned professional invites to insulate their young forwards. The Canucks brought a handful of their American League veterans, while the Flames iced a team with eight players selected at the 2024 draft.

Those gaps in experience levels and age prominently shaped the run of play and the results of the tournament. Even though the games were mostly close on the scoreboard, it was evident throughout the tournament that the Canucks and the Jets were at a different level than the teams the Oilers and the Flames brought. Some of the higher-calibre AHL players, like Canucks forward and AHL All-Star MVP Arshdeep Bains, were able to seemingly impose their will on proceedings whenever they chose to.

There are no set rules for how a team should be assembled at this tournament, making it a good opportunity for newly drafted teenagers to take stock of the distance they’ll have to travel to challenge for a spot on a 23-man roster at the NHL level. It’s likewise a chance for young professional players of all stripes to make an impression while playing games in front of NHL scouts, coaches and general managers.

The unbalanced composition of teams, however, is context that has to be kept front of mind when evaluating the performance of players and teams.

The Canucks team, for example, won all three games they played. Taking nothing away from the standout performances of various Canucks prospects, or the way those performances engaged the home crowd, the Canucks were favoured to win every game they played. The only contest that was ever in doubt was their Sunday afternoon comeback victory over the Jets prospects. Even when Vancouver fell behind 2-0 to the Flames in the closing game of the tournament on Monday afternoon, its territorial edge was so significant that it was clear — even when Vancouver was trailing — which way the result would go.

That’s partly why the performance of the Flames prospects in Penticton was one of the major stories of the tournament. This was a team loaded with teenaged players, and some of Calgary’s top 2024 draft selections — specifically Parekh and second-round pick Andrew Basha — were among the most dynamic players in Penticton this past weekend.

This season likely won’t have too many silver linings for the Flames and their fans. The performance of their 2024 draft class in Penticton, however, and the way they were able to hold their own against older and more experienced players, was impressive. It’s something to be genuinely excited about for the future.

Akey looks close to returning after double shoulder surgery

The Oilers could’ve used top blue-line prospect Beau Akey at this tournament, but Akey is being eased back into action following a pair of shoulder surgeries that ended his 2023-24 OHL season with the Barrie Colts just 14 games in.

The good news is Akey is getting close to returning. Throughout the tournament, he could be seen on the ice ahead of the Oilers’ prospect group practices, working hard and shooting a ton of pucks with good zip and velocity.

Akey told The Athletic it took him several months to rebuild his shot and that the surgeries were something of a relief. His shoulders had been somewhat bothering him for years before his season ended last fall.

“The Colts staff was great,” Akey said. “They kept reminding me to keep a good perspective on it. They kept telling me you’re looking at the long term, you’re only 19, you have your whole life ahead of you.

“They also said that at the end of the year, it would feel like it flew by. Now that I’m on the other side of it, it really did.”

The smooth-skating blueliner was a standout at the tournament last year, and given his speed and hockey IQ, could be a major factor for the Oilers in the not-too-distant future. After all, their blue-line group is desperate for a player with his skill set.

Beau Akey’s 2023-24 OHL season ended just 14 games in due to injury that required shoulder surgery. (Terry Wilson / OHL Images)

Alriksson the most interesting project in Penticton

Twenty years ago, there were only six NHL forwards listed at a height over 6-foot-5. Those six players combined to score 20 goals during the 2003-04 season.

Ten years later, there were seven NHL forwards listed over 6-5. Some of those players — playmaking centre Martin Hanzal and sniper Nick Bjugstad — were more skilled than the supersized forwards a decade earlier. This cohort combined to score 45 goals.

Last season, there were 12 NHL forwards listed at 6-6 or higher. Headlined by Buffalo Sabres star Tage Thompson, these 12 skyscraper forwards combined for 115 goals during the 2023-24 campaign.

This trend line was evident in Penticton. Jets forward Kieron Walton, a 2024 draft pick, stands 6-6 and was a standout performer in the two games that he appeared in. Flames 2024 draft pick Hunter Laing, who also stands 6-6, wasn’t quite as dynamic but featured heavily for a Flames prospect side that punched well above its weight.

Meanwhile, the Canucks had their own towering presence up front in Vilmer Alriksson, who might’ve been the most difficult player to evaluate at the tournament.

As a mark of how polarizing the 6-6, 220-pound Alriksson’s game is to evaluate, one scout suggested to The Athletic that some players make hockey look easy, and Alriksson makes it look near impossible. Another scout, however, pointed him out as “his guy” at this tournament. He went on to suggest that, in his assessment, Alriksson had the skill set and tools to “pop” as a potential NHL option within a couple of years.

Split opinion aside, Alriksson had a very good tournament overall. He scored two goals and had some stellar moments. There’s really no questioning his potential upside if he’s able to put it all together.

To watch him play, however, it’s extraordinarily difficult to make sense of what he might be at the next level. Some of the difficulties of playing the wing at 6-6 were apparent. For example, there were instances when Alriksson would struggle to defend up high because his lanky frame made it difficult for him to get compact enough.

Opposition defenders seemed to be able to pass and shoot through him with relative ease when he was cutting off the top. It seemed like a physical limitation more than anything to do with defensive awareness or hockey IQ. His physical stature simply makes it easier for skilled defenders to play the puck through his legs than it would be against a 6-2 winger in the same position.

On one representative sequence, Alriksson leaned into a defender while using his frame to protect the puck off the rush. Before the viewer could marvel at how much space Alriksson was able to create in that manner, he’d lost control of the puck.

Then before one could conclude it was a low-skilled play that caused the puck to slip off of his stick, Alriksson had simply gone to the net after his team retrieved the loose puck and overpowered a defender at the net front completely.

As one of his teammates took a dangerous shot using the chaotic traffic Alriksson’s sheer enormity created as a screen, the only reasonable thing to conclude is that his development could go either way.

I have no idea what Alriksson is or could be, but I’m absolutely fascinated to watch and find out.

Scouting Notebook: Standouts, disappointments and ‘only OKs’

An exhaustive but necessarily incomplete list of players who stood out, disappointed or were only OK at the tournament. This is based on notes taken during the games and auxiliary conversations with various scouts and league contacts in attendance. Key standouts Parekh and Aatu Räty are discussed at great length here.

Matt Savoie, RW, Oilers: Didn’t stand out nearly as much as players with similar pedigree on other teams in Penticton. Lined up on the wing throughout the tournament, a strong indication of where he fits into Edmonton’s plans long-term. Might have been hurt by the lack of quality puck-movers on the Oilers’ back end, but aside from a couple of dynamic plays against the Flames prospect, was quiet on a team that didn’t manufacture much offence this weekend.

Danila Klimovich, RW, Canucks: Still young enough and toolsy enough that he’s got a chance to work it out. Showed some good signs on the power play, but there are still red flags in his processing. In Vancouver’s first game against the Oilers, there was a rush chance where he launched a feet-set clapper that missed wide when he had numbers and the sort of available space where you’d like to see a forward drive the net. Especially a forward with his size.

Elias Pettersson, LD, Canucks: Probably Vancouver’s best defender at the tournament, which is wildly impressive for a 20-year-old player. Played solid, physical defense consistently. Showed off some uncanny maturity and awareness on the penalty kill, especially fronting shooters on the flanks. Authoritative defensive game and deceptive skating speed could give him a shot to play NHL games ahead of schedule.

Kirill Kudrayvtsev, LD/RD, Canucks: Played his off side throughout the tournament and looked enormously comfortable making passes behind his body and adjusting on the right side. Consistently broke the puck out cleanly. Not flashy, but looks like he has a chance to be a transitional defender with NHL upside.

Hunter Brzustewicz, RD, Flames: Had a rough first period of the tournament, as most of his teammates did, and then settled in very well. Still has some work to do in the corners and along the wall, but played as a flanker on the Flames power play and made some high-end skilled play — with a brilliant finish on Saturday against the Oilers being a standout sequence.

Brad Lambert, C, Jets: One of the best forwards at the tournament, Lambert still has the speed game and the wild horse elements that made him so exciting when he debuted at this tournament three years ago. His game looks far more controlled and layered than it has in the past, however. If Lambert isn’t NHL-ready to start the season, he isn’t far off.

Lucas Ciona, LW, Flames: By far the toughest player at the tournament, he struggled to find opponents willing to drop the gloves against him, which is a sign of the times in its own right. Exercised some pretty solid restraint when he fought Oilers camp invite Nate Corbet. Balanced giving the opponent no real choice in the matter, while still making sure that his younger opponent was ready before engaging. Looks like a player with a shot to play NHL games based on leadership, physicality and impact.

Nate Corbet, LD, Oilers (invitee): An Oilers invite, Corbet showed a ton of toughness in Penticton. Performed well outside of the martial stuff and was probably the Oilers’ standout defender at the tournament, but it was his performance with the gloves off that likely put him on the radar for talent evaluators. A player to watch as a potential late-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft process.

Andrew Basha, RW, Flames: One of the most consistently creative forwards at the tournament. The 2024 second-round pick played with an inexhaustible motor — he actually may need to find a change of pace gear to maximize his offensive ceiling — and made something interesting happen on almost every shift basis. Really impressive.

Jonathan Lekkerimäki, RW, Canucks: Should’ve scored a goal or two, but couldn’t get the bounces. More dynamic than advertised as a puck carrier through the neutral zone. Looks dynamic when attacking downhill, but far less dynamic when supporting the build-up in possession.

Arshdeep Bains, LW, Canucks: One had the sense that Bains was focused more on being a good leader while finding his feet and legs before main camp. Had the ability to dominate in this environment at will. Whenever the Canucks trailed by multiple goals, he’d singlehandedly change the momentum of the game by winning several races and puck battles. One suspect he likely could’ve maintained that level on an every-shift basis if it was exhibition play or the regular season.

Max Sasson, C, Canucks: Sasson can flat-out play. Might top out as a bottom-six contributor at the NHL level, but has a real chance to get there, perhaps as soon as this season.

Brayden Yager, C, Jets: Didn’t really get to see the high-end shot at this tournament and there’s still some growth for Yager as a playmaker, but the speed and two-way game were evident. Jets trusted Yager to hold leads late and play in all situations and he acquitted himself well.

Nikita Chibrikov, RW, Jets: Can run a bit hot emotionally during games, but that edge is a nice dimension. Skilled and disciplined about working the puck to the dirty areas of the ice, but also has the size, demeanour and physical assertiveness to potentially play in an energy-line role.

Sam O’Reilly, C, Oilers: Quiet tournament for O’Reilly, like most Oilers forwards. He plays bigger than his listed dimensions. Has good feel for a teenaged player at the net front on the power play, and watching him closely in practice, it was clear that his hands in tight are potentially exceptional.

Sam Morton, C, Flames: The 25-year-old hasn’t played very much in the AHL to this point, so it’s a good sign that he has AHL-level details in his game already.

Artem Grushnikov, LD, Flames: Some nice moments as a hitter and shot blocker. Fun to watch. Not sure his defensive IQ is NHL level yet, but his willingness to do the dirty work certainly is.

Elias Salomonsson, RD, Jets: Wasn’t especially dynamic this weekend and still looked the part of a potential NHL defenseman from Day 1.

(Top photo of Arshdeep Bains: Bob Frid / USA Today)