On Tuesday, the Vancouver Canucks recalled centre Aatu Räty from the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks.
Could top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki be next?
In a recent interview on Sekeres and Price, NHL Insider Darren Dreger joined Matt Sekeres and Blake Price and said it’s a matter of when — not if — the Canucks will recall the young sharpshooter.
And that makes sense.
After all, the Canucks’ top prospect is currently averaging over five shots per game at the AHL level, a phenomenal output that suggests he could be ready for the next level of competition. Through six AHL games, Lekkerimäki has four goals and two assists — good for a point per game output to begin his first full season in North America. There’s no question that if those numbers keep up, the Canucks will bring him up to the NHL club this season.
But how soon are we talking?
Could Lekkerimäki immediately help the Canucks’ struggling power play? Almost certainly. But beyond that, with the team’s current configuration, it feels like the best place for Lekkerimäki remains the AHL. What benefit would he really get from logging NHL bottom six minutes? That’s entering Vasily Podkolzin territory, where a young player’s role changes almost nightly based on how well they played the game before. It’s hard to get a rhythm going, and let’s be honest, Lekkerimäki needs to be a top six player.
With Dakota Joshua about to return, it’s safe to say that the Canucks’ top six will be pretty crowded for the foreseeable future. Pius Suter is getting a look with Elias Pettersson and Conor Garland starting tonight, and Joshua could certainly also soon find himself in the running for that spot. That being said, Arshdeep Bains was getting reps with Pettersson just last week, and there’s no doubt that Lekkerimäki possesses more offensive ability than Bains.
But that spot is seemingly no longer up for grabs.
So really, what this really boils down to is opportunity. If an opportunity in the Canucks’ top six becomes available again like it was for Bains just recently, it feels like Lekkerimäki is the better option to fill that spot than Bains at this juncture.
There’s no way of knowing when that will come, and if Lekkerimäki continues to produce the way he has been to kick off his AHL season, there will come a point where the Canucks have decided that Lekkerimäki has forced open his own window of opportunity. What a great scenario that would be. Allowing Lekkerimäki the chance to really dominate the AHL, to put up point per game numbers — or better — for even longer and make it absolutely undeniable that he belongs in the NHL.
So should the Canucks call up Jonathan Lekkerimäki? Not yet, barring an injury or a lacklustre top six winger. But later this season? The Canucks’ top prospect is almost certainly coming, and he’s going to be a nice addition to this lineup when he lands in Vancouver.
I broke down the recent recall of Räty and the prospect of bringing Lekkerimäki up to the NHL in the first edition of Quads’ Instant Reaction over on the CanucksArmy YouTube channel! Give it a watch below!
