VANCOUVER – If you wanted to see the manifestation of what the Vancouver Canucks’ transition-rebuild looks like, rookie defenceman Tom Willander provided a perfect snapshot on Friday night.
Trapped on the ice for a marathon, two-minute-plus shift that led to the Seattle Kraken’s first goal, Willander was caught up ice with fellow 20-year-old defenceman Zeev Buium on a three-on-one, then lost a puck battle to Kaapo Kakko, then screened his goalie as his check went to the front of the net while Cale Fleury was blasting past Thatcher Demko.
But in the second period, there was Willander wheeling confidently with the puck while getting a trial at the point of the first power-play unit, which scored twice in six minutes to keep the Canucks in the game.
Willander, who had only five games in the minors between college hockey last spring and what seems like a semi-permanent promotion to the National Hockey League in October, even got a shift in overtime before Matty Beniers scored the only goal of a shootout to give the Kraken a 4-3 victory at Rogers Arena.
With a handful of first- or second-year prospects, including forward Linus Karlsson, who scored the tying goal in the third period a few hours after signing a two-year, one-way extension with the Canucks, there is a lot of learning on the fly in Vancouver.
“Yes, there is,” Willander said after his 30th NHL game. “But I think, like, I feel a lot more comfortable now and I’m making a lot less mistakes than I did in the beginning. At the same time, you know, I always try to look at the mistakes and learn from them. You always try to cut them down but, especially at this level, there’s so many good players, it’s so hard to not make any mistakes.
“I think it’s important to be critical of your game. If you’re not, I think it’s hard to get better. But there’s different mistakes, too. Sometimes, there’s just something new on this level. . . and it’s like a new thing. I feel like that’s a lot easier to handle. But then there’s also, I think, those mistakes that you know you really get pissed off about because you know you shouldn’t do that.”
Willander said he couldn’t remember all the details of his 138-second shift that preceded Fleury’s goal at 17:34 of the first, but admitted there was a “series of bad plays” on it.
“We got caught out there for a long shift, and those are always tough,” he said. “I don’t remember the whole shift. . . but it gets harder the longer you’re out there.”
The 11th-overall pick from the 2023 draft picked up the second assist on Kiefer Sherwood’s power-play rebound goal that cut a 2-0 deficit in half at 13:06 of the second period. Willander has 12 points in his 30 NHL games. Operating at the top of the first-unit power play is something he said he didn’t even do much during his two years at Boston University.
“You get thrown on the first power-play unit, you get a little nervous,” veteran Jake DeBrusk said after breaking out of a personal slump with a three-point night. “It’s a lot of responsibility. But he’s got a good head on his shoulders, and he’s a confident guy. But there’s always going to be trials and errors. We have trials and errors as veterans.”
DeBrusk’s second goal in 18 games nudged the Canucks within one, down 3-2, with 37.8 seconds remaining in the second period. DeBrusk charged to the net and got his stick in front of Kraken penalty killer Ryan Winterton’s stick just in time to direct in Brock Boeser’s hard centring pass 10 seconds after Elias Pettersson won a faceoff to start the power play.
The man-advantage unit also produced Vancouver’s first goal as Sherwood jammed a rebound through goalie Joey Daccord, who couldn’t control DeBrusk’s deflected shot.
Karlsson, who was around the Seattle net all game, coolly made it 3-3 at 6:15 of the final period by gathering the rebound from Filip Hronek’s shot and sliding a backhand between Daccord’s pads for the rookie’s 10th goal, tied for second on the Canucks behind only Sherwood, who has 17.
Karlsson and Willander are part of a large group of younger players who have pushed their way into the Canucks’ lineup this season.
Another of them, second-year centre Max Sasson, was easily beaten to the front of the Canucks’ net by Ben Meyers on the Kraken’s third goal, at 18:13 of the second period.
Trial and error.
“It’s always fun to play power play,” Willander said. “But I didn’t think too much about it. I mean, Zeev was on it earlier and he’s an amazing player. I think he did a great job. So I don’t know exactly, like, the reasoning behind it, but maybe just trying something new. I’m happy about it. It’s always a bonus to get some goals.”
Willander said it’s a bonus, too, having others on the team his age (or at least at his experience level) also trying to establish themselves as Canucks. Players like Buium and Karlsson and Sasson, as well as fellow Swedes Elias Pettersson and Liam Ohgren, and centre Aatu Raty.
“I feel like we have a lot of veteran players that I feel are easy to talk to,” Willander said. “Maybe best, in that sense, is Tyler Myers. He’s very easy to talk to, very helpful. I think our coaches do a good job, too, trying to teach us. But I definitely feel there’s a few of us in the same boat, too. It’s kind of good to have, you know, a good crew to talk to. And it’s not only about the hockey, but outside, too. It feels good to have some other people that are in the same boat as you.”
“Of course it’s fun,” Karlsson, 26, said of re-signing halfway through his rookie season. “I love to play here. I’m really excited for two more years in the organization. I’m really excited for the future.”
The Boston Bruins visit Vancouver on Saturday before the Canucks embark on a six-game eastern road trip that starts Tuesday in Buffalo.
