The Vancouver Canucks have assigned forward Jonathan Lekkerimäki to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, the club announced Monday.
The move comes after Lekkerimäki finished his season with Orebro HK of the SHL.
Lekkerimäki finished the Swedish season with 31 points (19 goals and 12 assists) in 46 games.
The 19-year-old will be with Abbotsford for the next few weeks while awaiting a call to return to Sweden for a World Championship roster spot tryout.
“It would be awesome, it’s always been a dream to play for the national team,” said Lekkerimäki. “It is a challenge. Everyone is better, [they are] at higher speed and [have] bigger guys. So, it would be challenging, of course, but we will have to see what happens.”
On coming to North America, Lekkerimäki said, “I’m excited, it’s going to be really fun. It is my dream to play in the NHL and if I get a chance for that, I will do everything to prepare for that to be my future. That said, right now my focus is learning as much as I can from my time with the Abbotsford Canucks.”
According to the Canucks, they called him up to practise and potentially play in the AHL to help his chances of representing Sweden. They also cite the time in Abbotsford as an opportunity to gain better insight into the winger’s future development needs.
“We are happy to have a chance to work more closely with Jonathan over the next little while,” said Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin. “Jeremy Colliton and his staff as well as our development team have done a great job in helping our players the past couple of seasons. We have seen a number of guys including Nils Höglander, Vasily Podkolzin, Linus Karlsson and Arshdeep Bains benefit from spending time in the AHL and developing their skillset. Over the next few weeks, Jonathan has a great opportunity to learn more about the North American game and our organization.”
Lekkerimäki was selected by the Canucks in the first round (15th overall) of the 2022 draft and is signed to a three-year, entry-level deal that carries an average annual value of $950,000 in the NHL.
