This Just Took a MAJOR Turn...

This just took a major turn as a recent announcement regarding one of the Canucks biggest prospects has massive implications not only for the team's future, but as well as the blossoming career of a future star in Vancouver. We're going to break down all that in this episode of Canucks Digest, but first, if you're enjoying this Canucks content and you want to stay up to date, make sure to hit that subscribe button and join the nearly 7,200 subscribers that we currently have on the channel. Last video, you guys really blew it up and really saw an uptick overnight in views and subscribers. So, thank you guys for that and stay tuned, it's going to be a very busy summer. And with that, let's hop straight into it with this is a major turn of events. So, in a tweet coming from Ryan McArthur, who is a very well-respected OHL reporter, he says that it appears that Anthony Romani will be heading to Michigan State next season. The Berry Colts forward had an outstanding playoffs, registering 12 goals and 12 assists in 16 games. Multiple sources came forward with this info, so it seems not to be much of a secret anymore. So, this is not new in a growing trend that we've seen, where if he does head to the NCAA, he would be ineligible to sign an entry-level contract with Vancouver this offseason, just like with Tom Willender. The Canucks prospect is part of a growing number of CHL players heading to the NCAA for the 2025-2026 season, which includes Calgary Flame prospect Henry Mews and Seattle Kraken prospect Tyson Jugnauth. The NCAA and CHL came to an agreement at the end of 2024, which would allow players and prospects who have yet to sign pro deals to join the NCAA after their juniors careers came to a close. So, obviously Anthony Romani, he has nothing left to do in the OHL, so where does he go from here? Well, the Abbotsford roster is a little bit front-loaded right now, and obviously the Canucks, they're pretty much set with their roster as far as trying to get a vet, just all needing to get a veteran guy at this point, really, for the Canucks. And so, with Anthony Romani, he doesn't have many other places to go to, and while they can't sign him to an entry-level contract, he's still due to get to keep his rights. The Canucks will hold his rights until June 1, 2026, which means a decision will need to be made by the end of next season. If Romani elects to stay in the NCAA for multiple years, he will become a free agent once his time at Michigan State is complete. And that last sentence is where things are a little bit scary, because if you guys have been following the channel for a while, you would know that Anthony Romani, like Jonathan This is a guy that, when we were doing our draft videos last year, him and Melvin Furnstrum were two guys that I said absolutely the Canucks need to go after. They did, they went after him. Melvin Furnstrum, he's no longer with the team, but Anthony Romani is still within the organization, and he has been absolutely lighting it up. If you guys aren't familiar with Anthony Romani, he's 19 years old from Pickering, Ontario. He's 6'1", he's only 190 pounds, shoots right-handed, and he's a right-wing center. And looking at the types of player that he is, he's a heavy shooter, he's a playmaker, and a two-way forward, and all you have to do is look at the numbers. They do not lie. In the three years he spent with North Bay, he had 14 points in the first season in 54 games. It's not a great start, but then skyrocketed after that to 43 total points. And then when he was drafted eligible after that season, he didn't get drafted, a lot of teams kind of took a pass on him, and he said, okay, I'm going to turn around and I'm going to put up 111 points and lead the OHL in goal scoring two seasons ago. And then this past season, he started with North Bay and was traded to the Berry Colts along with Canucks prospect Riley Patterson to join, and he put up 30 points total for the Berry Colts, and then had a massive 17-game point streak to end the season for the Berry Colts before they got swept in the playoffs. And looking at those playoff numbers as well, he knows how to perform when the lights are the brightest. So this is a big thing for Anthony Romani. When you look over the course of his OHL career, 223 regular season games, 110 goals, 203 recorded points, and unstoppable during the OHL playoffs, obviously where we just said, 24 points in 16 games. Absolutely insane. This guy is a natural goal scorer. He is exactly the type of player that would be perfect on the Canucks in a few seasons' time when obviously at least Patterson will still be there. Jonathan Lechromacki will have made the jump. Tom Willender, if he's still in the system, will have made that jump as well. So there's a lot of players here where if it's set up, Anthony Romani could almost be a future of this franchise. He has that potential when you look at his goal scoring. We'll see how it translates into the NCAA where that's going to be the next step up for him before he makes that jump to Abbotsford with Manny Malhotra. Or if Manny Malhotra is in Vancouver by then, maybe he just goes from one right into the other. So it'll be a very seamless flow for him. However, I really like this for Anthony Romani. With OHL, like we said, he has nothing left to do there. He's done all he can do. He's broken records. He's led the league in scoring. He's gotten to where he needs to be at, obviously getting drafted by the Vancouver Canucks. Now with Abbotsford being as front load as they are, there's not too many spots for him to be. And even with Tom Willender and some other guys, it takes some time before they're ready to make that jump to the HL level, or even to the NHL level, and we're going to see that with Romani here. Hopefully here where the Canucks have to come into play is they need to sign him before the end of next season. You cannot let that contract expire and let this guy become a free agent by the end of his college career. This is a massive opportunity that the Canucks would miss. Obviously I'm a little bit biased just because this is a guy that I was scouting with Mark along with some other guys where we were trying to see who would be a perfect fit for the Canucks. And no other prospect that I was looking at that the Canucks were able to get in the spot they were at was as shiny and luxurious as this prospect right here. And I think that he is definitely going to be a future star for the Canucks. Just give it some time, give it two more seasons in the collegiate career, and then go to Abbotsford for maybe one or two seasons, and then by then hopefully he's ready to go. But we could see a massive jump as well. He could go to the NCAA and light it up just like he did in the OHL and just be an absolute force to be reckoned with. That could be the case. We could see with Tom Willender where he plays two seasons there before trying to make the jump to Abbotsford. We don't know. However, I do think we're going to see probably two seasons max of an NCAA career for Anthony Romani. I don't think it's going to be very long before he makes a jump to Abbotsford, and I definitely think the Canucks will sign an extension for him once they are able to, once that entry level contract window does open up. Just like they've been able to do with Tom Willender, they've been very eager to try and get a deal made. They've been a bit far on trying to get those terms met. There is a bit of a cash issue there where there's a small amount that they're trying to get on. Hopefully, that's not the case for Romani once the Canucks come knocking on his door to try and give him an entry level contract, but I definitely think once that day comes where that window opens up, the Canucks will be there knocking on his door with a contract and a pen ready to sign on the dotted line. No doubt in my mind, but what do you guys think about all this? What do you guys think about Anthony Romani at the OHL level? How do you guys think that he is going to fare in the NCAA with a collegiate career? Do you think he's going to be like a Tom Willender where he's absolutely lighting it up, leading his team to playoff runs, potential championships, or do you think he's going to be one of those guys that the Canucks probably are going to take a pass on if they don't see a massive growth within that? But what do you guys think about all this? Let us know down in the comments below and let us know which prospects you guys are most excited to see heading into this draft. Let us know some draft picks that you guys want to see the Canucks try and go after. You could see them pop up in a video. We have so many videos planned. It's been a heavy week for Canucks fans. We've had all the coaching conversations going on. We've had the Brock Besser stuff going on that Mark covered from the Patrick Alvian event. We have all this with Anthony Romani. There's a trade out there that we could be looking at so stay tuned for a video on that coming later tonight or tomorrow morning so there's going to be a lot there. And then of course we have the NHL draft and free agency right around the corner from that so it is going to be a crazy crazy summer for the Canucks. Will it be stressful? Yeah. Will it be anxiety inducing for the fans? Absolutely. But we are going to see a massive overhaul for the Canucks probably within the next few weeks or month. So it's going to be crazy. You won't want to miss it. So stay tuned for all the updates that we're going to have for that. Hit that subscribe button and the bell icon so you can stay notified of every little update that we drop. But that's going to do it for this episode of Canucks Digest. Remember to leave a like, comment, subscribe. Always make sure to be happy in the comments. We are just trying to make the Canucks a much better community so we want to see all the fans just show their passion. I know it can be hard at times. I know it can be stressful. We want to just call for Jim Rutherford or Patrick Albion's job. We just got to trust that they can do the best that they can for this Vancouver Canucks team. But that's going to do it for this episode of Canucks Digest. I've been your host Griffin. Take care.