This has Canucks fans absolutely BUZZING...

This has Canucks fans absolutely buzzing as a recent report revealing the top 100 prospects in the NHL has dropped and multiple Canucks prospects have cracked the list and we're going to break down exactly where they rank, how this impacts the future, and exactly what you need to know on these top prospects within the Canucks system and so much more in this episode and you're not going to want to miss it. Before we get into that, if you haven't hit that subscribe button yet and you want to stay up to date on everything to do around the Vancouver Canucks, make sure to go down and hit it, it's completely free and we'll give you updates from prospect videos like this, news reports, trade rumors, anything you can think of right here on Canucks Digest so look no further for your daily Vancouver Canucks updates. For all that, let's just hop straight into it today where we did see Scott Wheeler dropped his annual top 100 drafted prospects in the National Hockey League. This is going to be linked down in the description. He does an awesome job and goes so in-depth in his article on each player and you're not going to want to miss reading that so check that out in the description. But hopping straight in this today, we do see the first Vancouver Canucks and we have three to break down in this list in Tom Williner coming in at number 44 among all the top prospects in the National Hockey League. Tom Williner who just signed his ELC this past offseason with the Vancouver Canucks ranked in tier 4 prospects, a 6 foot 1, 180 pound Swedish defenseman, is set to join this Vancouver Canucks team going into next season. We've seen how productive he was at Boston University playing 39 games, 24 points, a plus-9 team. We've seen how well he played with Sweden in the World Championships Juniors. He was outstanding at every level he has played at and is going to continue his success into the National Hockey League. Now we did get a quote from Thomas Bryant so this entire article will be down below as well. He says the Canucks are planning for both Tom Williner and Elias Pettersson, the defenseman, to be on the team to open the 2025-2026 season. Now with the Canucks, we know right now they do have a bit of a logjam on defense which is a very good thing. I'm not going to sit here and say it is bad, but SEAM reports that Tom Williner is not only a top 45 prospect in the National Hockey League, but also set to join this Canucks team going into next season. It does get very interesting. Now before we get into the other players, I do want to briefly look at the fact the Canucks have a very good and deep defensive core where we're going to see Tom Williner and DPD fighting for that last spot to play with Derek Foreman. I'm sure we're going to see three of these guys kind of rotate in depending on matchups and how they develop and progress in the season. But having the Canucks having not only one, but three guys in the top 100 really shows how good this prospect pool is. And there's even more players that aren't on this list. One goaltender we're going to touch on in the video, a little teaser later on, that is ranked among the top goaltenders as well. But going straight into the second player, his fan favorite, or my favorite, I should say, Jonathan Lechermacky. Now Jonathan Lechermacky has been dominant at every level as well. Yes, he had a bit of a stinker of a playoff. But Lechermacky, 5'11", 172 pounds. Yes, he needs to put on weight. Yes, he needs to get used to a full 82 game size during an NHL season as we've seen him slow down a tiny bit during the Abbotsford playoff because it was the most hockey he has played in a full calendar year. But Jonathan Lechermacky is a lethal shot and someone that can step in within this Canucks season, either with the Abbotsford Canucks or with the Big Club. Now going into Jonathan Lechermacky, we know he dominated at the World Juniors, leading the entire tournament in goals. We've seen with Abbotsford during the regular season, 36 games played, 19 goals and 28 points for the 19-year-old at the time. Going into this, Jonathan Lechermacky is a dominant goal scorer, 7 points in 16 games. He had a rough stretch during the playoffs as well, but stepping back into the lineups in the finals and not looking out of place. Yes, Lechermacky needs to put on a bit of size. He needs to get used to the National Hockey League ice, where it is a lot smaller than what he's used to in Europe. But Jonathan Lechermacky at such a young age is going to step into this Canucks team at some point within the next year or two and make a dominant impact. I mean, going into Swedish players drafted, we've seen Tom Williner draft the 11th overall, a very good 2A defenseman that can put up points, but is very good and active with his stick. This list of Swedes the Canucks have drafted in the first round is very good company. I mean, we've seen the Sedins, we've seen Fidi, Jonathan Lechermacky stepping in at number 15th overall in the 2022 draft. The Canucks do like their Swedes. We're going to look at that. We know that. No jokes intended. This Swedish general manager loves to draft the Swedish-born players, and all of them have stepped up. Now, he did not draft Daniel and Hendrik Sedin. Shout out to Perkz for that. But this is a team that knows what it takes to win with European players, or at least be productive with European players, as the Canucks have not won yet. But the big thing is Lechermacky is looking at a bigger role, and going into less of a Swedish style, we do get Kootz, who was drafted 15th overall by the Canucks just this past season. Kootz steps in 5'11", 183 pounds, a center, tier 5, and I think this is a little lower than Kootz should get. Kootz is stepping in as a very intriguing prospect, someone that's not going to go out and put up 100 points. I mean, he could, but we know his strong suit is how hard he is to play against, his defensive mind, his face-off, and his leadership, which is a lot of things you cannot teach a player. You can teach them how to work with a stick, but you cannot teach them how to be a leader in the locker room. Now, Kootz coming in, we know. Play with the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL. 26 goals, 63 points, leading them as a captain into the playoffs, 8 points in 6 games. Kootz is a born leader. We've seen this at the World Championship level when he led Canada as the captain. We've seen it with Kootz going into the WHL, and I think there's a strong chance that we see Kootz at some point in the next 3 years wearing a letter, or at least playing with the Canucks, and eventually wearing a letter for this franchise. Could it be captain if Quinn Hughes leaves? Listen, we don't want to talk about it, but there is a leadership aspect coming from Kootz that a lot of players that have been drafted are unable to really achieve. I mean, looking at this, we know there's a big stockload of wingers on this team. Kootz could slide into this role maybe in 2-3 years from now as the 3rd or 2nd line center. Jonathan Leckermack is a very interesting one, because we've seen how productive he has been with Avid Street. But looking at the list of players the Vancouver Canucks have next year, with him being waiver exempt, it does seem like he will start the year with the Avid Street Canucks, unless you want to move on from someone. We've seen the trade rumors. With Teddy Bloeker, Dakota Joshua, if one of these players are moved and they go out to get a center and they need to fill the void, yes, Leckermack could step in and fit perfectly. But I do think it's better off letting him develop a little more in the Avid Street Canucks. Let him hit the 30-goal plateau. In the AHL, there's a lot to like about not only Jonathan Leckermack, but Tom Williner himself. The shutdown defenseman that's going to get tied with the Canucks this year, and I'm super excited to see him finally break into the league after the whole ELC fiasco that happened with him as well. But Canucksens, what are your thoughts on this? We've seen Scott Wheeler come out with this report. Once again, we'll be down in the description. Awesome read. He does a full mock-up on these players. Just hit the little drop-down box when you get to the article, and it does give an awesome summary on all these players. What are your thoughts on these rankings? Do you think someone was kind of slipped out of this list? Should have these players been higher? Is there someone you would have ranked in the top 20 even? Go down and let us know down in the comments. While you're down there, leave a like, subscribe, share this video, friends. We'll be back with another episode, so keep your eye out for that. But I've been your host, Mark Fine. Take care, Canucksens.