NHL Development Camps Cap Hectic Week for Prospects Like Canucks' Willander

How much stock should hockey fans put in a player's performance at his team's development camp scrimmage?

In the case of the Vancouver Canucks' new top prospect, Tom Willander, a less-than-dazzling showing on Wednesday night at the University of British Columbia should not be a cause for concern.

After all, it has barely been a week since the 18-year-old flew from Stockholm to New Jersey with his family — only to discover that the group's connecting flight to the NHL draft hub had been cancelled. 

Then, Tom's father Erik told Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, the scramble was on to secure a scarce rental car, then start the 11-hour drive that got the family into Nashville at 2 a.m. on draft day. 

With their luggage at points unknown, a suit for the big moment also had to be secured. Mission accomplished, and Willander was sharp and engaging during his interview rounds after Vancouver selected him with the 11th pick.

By Friday, Willander and the Canucks' other draftees were making their way to Vancouver — 2,500 miles northwest. On Sunday, the group was on the ice for the first day of skills and drills. Two more days of on-ice sessions followed, as well as other activities to fill out the days. 

Then, on Wednesday evening — at what would have been 3 a.m. in Stockholm — Willander and the rest of the prospects were expected to dial up their competitive fire and show their sharpest skills. It was a warm night in Vancouver, where the ice at Father David Bauer Arena was puddling noticeably, and it was tough to thread passes or display deft stickwork.

The Canucks' assistant director of player development, Chris Higgins, runs the development camp. He's well aware of what a whirlwind the newly drafted players are going through — even without travel drama like Willander's.

"It's hard for us," admitted Higgins, 40, after Wednesday's scrimmage. "I'm tired. We got back at three in the morning from Nashville and then the next day, guys are rolling in. So it's been a long stretch."

Last year, 15th overall pick Jonathan Lekkerimaki travelled a similar road to Willander — from Sweden to draft day in Montreal on July 7, 2022, then to the Canucks' camp starting on July 11. 

"It was a lot for him to come over and do the draft and come right out here," Higgins said. "He looked a bit tired with the time change and all that. This year, he looks like a completely different player. More confident. More sure of himself."

It's been a busy and tumultuous season for Lekkerimaki, who dealt with mono, a concussion and a foot injury in between playing for Sweden at both World Junior Championship and logging about 30 games for the Djurgarden organization, mostly in the second-tier men's league, Allsvenskan. 

Not much went right, especially around the net, until he returned from the foot injury in time for the playoffs. There, he rediscovered the touch that had made him the leading scorer in the World U-18 tournament one year earlier. Lekkerimaki put up 15 points in 15 games, and Djurgarden reached Game 7 of the Allsvenskan final before falling to Modo.

Lekkerimaki (No. 4 in blue) was prominent at the Canucks' scrimmage on Wednesday — one of the scorers in the blue team's 3-2 overtime win and active throughout the game in the offensive zone. 

The other scorers in regulation were 2020 sixth-rounder Dmitry Zlodeyev, on a penalty shot, and a pair of 20-year-old development camp invitees from the OHL: Braeden Bowman from the Guelph Storm and Colby Saganiuk from the Erie Otters.

Higgins mentioned 23-year-old Matthew Barbolini as a standout among the 11 invitees on the 40-player development roster. 

"Lightness on his feet for size," said Higgins. "Great kid. Our college scouts identified him pretty early."

A center who's listed at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, Barbolini is going into his senior year at Miami of Ohio on the cusp of free agency.

For players like him, a development camp experience is a chance for both sides to gain some familiarity before a free-agency decision must be made at the end of this college season.

"Sometimes, those guys in college, they were average college hockey players but they end up being being good pros," Higgins said. "Try to identify those guys, too, that kind of slipped through the cracks. Identify them early and show them our interest."

If any of this year's players really left it all on the ice on Wednesday night, they're going to be in for a rude awakening on Thursday. Development camp will conclude with an annual tradition — a hike up North Vancouver's steep Grouse Grind. Players are traditionally divided into teams that each receive one group result based on when the last team member reaches the timer at the top of the trail.

And just because 42-year-old player development aide Daniel Sedin climbed the Grind 11 times in one day on June 21, this year's campers would be wise not to take the task lightly. 

"I'm bringing my eight-year-old daughter with me so I've got, like, a little safety net," Higgins chuckled. "'Oh, it's my daughter, she wants to stop.' But it's gonna be me for sure."