Welcome back to Blackfish, our weekly Vancouver Canucks prospect report, and this week the spotlight lands on a few names who kept making noise in very different ways.
The headliner in NCAA action was Caleb Malhotra, who keeps flashing the kind of upside that makes you stop and watch a little longer. The 2026 third overall pick picked up a smart primary assist and then capped his weekend with one of the prettier overtime winners you’ll see.
On the goal, he took the puck on the half-wall, paused on entry, then cut right into the middle and slipped past two defenders before ripping a wrist shot to the short-side top corner. It was his first non-empty-net goal and his first game-winner in his NCAA career.
The assist was less flashy, but just as sharp. On the man advantage, he got the puck on the half-wall and quickly fired a cross-ice pass through traffic.
His ice time has dipped below Tynan Lawrence over the last few games, but his influence is growing, and so is the confidence in his game. The defensive work is already there, and now the offensive side is starting to show up too.
What stands out most is how quickly he sees the ice. He can make a high-end play without needing extra time, and that blend of hands, pace, and awareness shows up in all three zones.
That BU group will get a good test this weekend, when the three Terriers skaters line up against this year’s breakout NCAA player, Anthony Romani.
Romani kept rolling this week and earned Big Ten second-star honours after adding two more goals. That pushed him to seven on the season, which is tied for second among all sophomores, and his 1.17 goals per game rank second nationally.
He’s doing it on a strong Michigan State team, and that’s a meaningful sign that his stock is moving in the right direction. Still, the caution flag stays up a bit.
There’s real upside here, but there’s also more work ahead. High-scoring wingers can run into trouble when the game gets heavier and the pace gets tougher, and that’s the hurdle he’ll have to clear.
The talent is obvious, but the bigger picture still matters.
Another BU name that got on the board was Niklas Aaram-Olsen, who picked up both his first point and first goal at the collegiate level. Both plays were clean ones.
The assist came in the neutral zone, where he showed good awareness at the red line and made a quick one-touch pass to help start the breakout. The goal was the more eye-catching moment.
He created room on his own, then used a quick backhand-to-forehand move to beat the goalie for his first collegiate tally. That said, this was the only real impact he made over the weekend.
He hasn’t been terrible, but he also hasn’t been very effective, and his NCAA start has been a struggle. He’s now working on the power play with Tynan Lawrence, stationed in the trigger spot on the half-wall, though the results haven’t come yet.
Even so, he was always viewed as a 2-3 collegiate project, and the tools are still there for him to become a dangerous player down the line.
At North Dakota, Connor Davis kept doing what he’s been doing: standing out without needing a big role to do it. He played another pair of games and kept making an impression shift after shift, even while working in his usual third-line minutes around the 12-minute mark. He’s not flashy, but he’s constantly around the puck, outworking opponents and creating chances from nothing.
The CHL side of the report belongs to Adam Novotny, who keeps showing up on the scoresheet. He followed another wicked released goal earlier in the week with yet another heavy shot for the game-winner.
That gives him 21 points, with nine goals and 12 assists, and puts him tied with four others in the league’s top 10, just four points behind the leaders, including 2027 draft-eligible Dima Zhilkin. In Peterborough, it’s becoming a two-man show with Novotny and Cooper Dennis driving things.
Brooks Rogowski also put together a strong weekend in Oshawa, where he posted five points - one goal and four assists. That brings him to 14 points in 15 games, with two goals and 12 assists, and he’s creeping toward a point-per-game pace.
Oshawa has had trouble scoring this season, sitting in the bottom-six in the league in offense, but Rogowski is doing his part. He’s winning 53 percent of his faceoffs and trying to generate offense for a team that hasn’t had much of it.
Overseas, Dmitri Ivchenko is starting to pull his numbers back in the right direction. He stopped 37 of 38 shots in a 2-1 win this week, and that gave him three straight victories.
Over his last five, he’s lost just one shootout game. The early-season damage still weighs down the stat line, but the young Russian goalie is beginning to settle in and find his game.
In Other News...
Ducks Just Caught A Canucks Goalie Spiral Getting Even Worse
Kevin Lankinens season has become one of the clearest symbols of how uneven things have gone for the Canucks in net. Vancouvers defensive problems, especially on the penalty kill, have left too much work for its goaltenders, and Lankinen has been stuck absorbing the fallout while trying to hold down the crease as the primary option.
The bigger issue for Vancouver is that there is not much relief coming right now. Thatcher Demko is still working his way back from hip surgery, leaving the Canucks to keep leaning on Lankinen even as the results continue to lag behind the standard they need. For a team already fighting through structural issues, the goaltending picture has only made the margin for error even thinner. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Prospect Connor Davis Is Chasing A Bigger Role Fast
Connor Davis is already finding out how quickly the game can tighten up once a prospect leaves juniors and steps into college hockey. The Vancouver Canucks forward is in his freshman season at North Dakota, where he is trying to turn his size and speed into a more complete package while adjusting to the pace and physical demands of the NCAA game. After attending Canucks development camp, he has had a chance to hear from the organization about what it takes to keep moving up.
For Davis, the transition has not been seamless, but it has given him a clear target. He has been working to play hard without losing the skill that made him an intriguing prospect in the first place, and the early focus is on making his game harder to handle shift after shift. The next step is proving he can turn that foundation into a bigger role, and the Canucks will be watching closely to see how fast he can make that jump. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Prospect Anthony Romani Is Forcing His Way Onto Fans' Radar
Anthony Romani is starting to make some noise well beyond East Lansing, and the Canucks prospect has done it with a fast start at Michigan State. The freshman forward was named Big Ten Second Star of the Week after a two-goal outing against North Dakota, a performance that helped keep the Spartans rolling as they opened the year 5-1-0.
For Vancouver, the appeal is obvious: Romani is producing right away and has quickly become one of Michigan States most productive players. He leads the Spartans in both goals and points through six games, and with Boston University next on the schedule, he has another chance to keep building the kind of early-season momentum that has put him on the radar. [Read more 🡒]