The Vancouver Canucks prospect showcase against the Seattle Kraken gets underway tonight, and both teams have already set the stage with their roster lists and a few notable absences.
Vancouver’s group features a mix of forwards, defencemen, and goaltenders, including Vilmer Alriksson, Lucian Bernat, Austin Brimmer*, Yaroslav Bryzgalov, Gabe Chairot, Braeden Cootes, Quinn Emerson*, Ty Mueller, Adam Novotný, Riley Patterson, Brooks Rogowski, Ilya Safonov, Bennett Schimek, and Ryan St. Louis* up front.
On the blue line, the Canucks will have Arseni Anisimov*, Joe Arntsen*, Carson Cameron*, Alonso Gosselin*, Kirill Kudryavtsev, Sawyer Mynio, and Tim Rego*. In goal, the options are Aku Koskenvuo, Aleksei Medvedev, and Ty Young.
Seattle’s prospect list is just as deep. The Kraken will ice forwards Ryden Evans, Jagger Firkus, Oscar Fisker-Molgaard, Brody Gillispee*, David Goyette, Justin Janicke, Andrei Loshko, Julius Miettinen, Jani Nyman, Jake O’Brien, Carson Rehkopf, Eduard Sale, and Nathan Villeneuve. Their defencemen are Alexis Bernier, Lukas Dragicevic, Kaden Hammell, Tyson Jugnauth, Finn Kearns, Ty Nelson, Caden Price, Will Reynolds, and Rylan Singh.
The asterisk marks camp invitees.
There’s already been some uncertainty around Vancouver’s roster. After yesterday’s practice, Abbotsford Canucks head coach Ryan Papaioannou said he wasn’t sure whether the Canucks’ recent sixth-round pick, Lucian Bernat, would suit up in the showcase. He said Bernat was getting imaging and was still waiting to hear from the medical team about his availability this weekend.
Seattle also has a pair of players sidelined for precautionary reasons. According to the Kraken PR X account, 2025 eighth overall pick Jake O’Brien and 2023 second-round defenceman Lukas Dragicevic will not be available for the prospect showcase.
The source material also points back to the teams’ most recent meeting, where the Canucks let a lead slip away in the third period and then surrendered an empty-net goal in a 5-3 loss. Vancouver responded the next time out with Jonathan Lekkerimäki opening the scoring.
Seattle tied it early in the second, but Aaron Obobaifo answered to keep the Canucks from losing another lead. Riley Patterson then added an insurance goal in the third period as Vancouver finished off a 3-2 win.
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Canucks Prospect Sawyer Mynio Looks Much Closer To NHL Ready
Sawyer Mynio has spent the summer around NHL company, and for a prospect trying to turn a strong rookie season in Abbotsford into something bigger, that kind of work matters. The young defenceman, fresh off being named Rookie of the Year for the Abbotsford Canucks, trained alongside NHL players such as Luke Schenn and says the guidance from coaches Manny Malhotra and Jordan Smith has helped shape his development as he heads into his fourth training camp with Vancouver.
For the Canucks, Mynio is one of those names worth keeping an eye on because the conversation is no longer just about long-term upside. Hes focused on building on last season and continuing to grow as a pro, and that steady progression has him looking much closer to NHL ready than he did a year ago. Whether that translates into a bigger role this fall will be the next step, but the foundation appears to be getting stronger. [Read more 🡒]
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Cale Makar, Moritz Seider and Adam Fox remain the easy anchors in that debate, the kinds of defensemen who still separate themselves by reputation and recent play. But once the conversation moves beyond the obvious stars, Hroneks case gets more compelling, and that is where the real argument starts for Vancouver fans. Depending on how you value performance, consistency and role, he can look closer to the upper tier than many would have expected, which leaves the Canucks with a player who is becoming a legitimate measuring stick rather than just a useful piece. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Cannot Afford To Make Vancouvers Quinn Hughes Mistake
Jim Rutherfords recent admission about Quinn Hughes still hangs over Vancouver, because it frames one of the franchises biggest missteps in a very plain way: the Canucks knew before last season that their captain was probably not going to stick around, yet they made major roster choices as if the warning signs were not there. Hughes is now with the Minnesota Wild, and for a team trying to build something lasting around him, the lesson from Vancouver is impossible to ignore.
Bill Guerin has said he feels good about his relationship with Hughes, and that matters in the short term. But the broader question is the one Minnesota cannot afford to brush aside, because there is still noise around Hughes future and the possibility that he eventually wants to join his brothers in New Jersey. If that path is real, the Wild need to be thinking about more than just trust and good feelings, because the Canucks already showed how costly it can be to assume the conversation has been settled. [Read more 🡒]
