Has Alvin's 1st Round pick just been flushed down the toilet and wasted.

[RU SERIOUS]

While many normal Canucks fans were very upset and mystified - but not entirely surprised - that Alvin was magnetized by and just couldn't resist picking one his fellow countrymen (Lekkerimaki) in the 1st Rd draft at 15th, despite many teams passing up on him from his 9th place ranking, it's starting to look like our 1st Round pick is quickly turning to mush following another serious blow to his head on the weekend.  Despite his terrible performance this year, these repeated head shots and likely concussions may be the final nail in the coffin for this struggling featherweight finesse player, as he quickly turns into just another Concussed Washed-out Marshmallow. 

 

How "Canucks" would it be if this draft pick goes "Bust" after all the bad draft picks JB made and gave away over the past near-decade!     

 

Here is the just released report from "The Province" of what happened:

 

"A season that’s started poorly for Vancouver Canucks top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki just got worse.

The 15th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, playing for Djurgardens IF of Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan, took a hard, high hit in a game on Saturday and immediately dropped to the ice.

The hit came midway through the third period, as the 18-year-old entered the offensive zone with the puck and spun away from a Vasteras IK defender, only to get crushed by another player. (See video of the hit above)

Lekkerimaki did not return to the game, a 2-1 loss for Djurgardens. He may have a concussion, though that has yet to be confirmed.

 

Lekkerimaki, a 5-foot-11, 172-pound right-shot forward, was already struggling this season, netting just one goal and four assists in 20 games.

He had taken another hard hit along the boards in a game a couple weeks ago, but was able to skate it off.

Jonathan Lekkerimaki (#88) selected 15th OA by Vancouver in 2022 has struggled a bit thus far in the HockeyAllsvenskan. A bit too much 

Edited November 28, 2022 by RU SERIOUS

[Elias Pettersson]

Has it even been confirmed that he has suffered at least one concussion? 

[Drakrami]

I dont get this pick as well... All of our younger players (Pettersson/Hughes/Boeser/Hoglander) are featherweight and soft. So... let's add to that? 

[RU SERIOUS]

14 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Has it even been confirmed that he has suffered at least one concussion? 

Junior players and prospects will "fight to the death" to under and not report concussions as once they become known as "damaged goods" their value drops in the bucket and become black sheep.   So like all the other semi-pro, Junior and other sub-NHL leagues in Canada, I strongly suspect that the same thing goes on in sweeden with downplaying and under-reporting concussions for most but the worst cases where players are hauled off on stretchers.   If you've been around hockey long enough playing the game - you know what I'm talking about!

 

   We'll just have to wait and see what amount of fact they are willing to reveal in the coming days but you can rest assured with the violent hit like the one on Saturday and two weeks ago, that he probably has a few "loose screws" that even IKEA can't tighten! 

[RU SERIOUS]

6 minutes ago, Drakrami said:

I dont get this pick as well... All of our younger players (Pettersson/Hughes/Boeser/Hoglander) are featherweight and soft. So... let's add to that? 

Yes, it was a mystifying pick indeed, especially since we have such a significant shortfall on defence that JR, PA  pointed out was priority #1 yet PA picked up this kid???   

 

Go Figure!

[Nuxfanabroad]

It was a very key pick to spend on a handle with FIVE syllables..unforgivable!

[EddieVedder]

Pick made no sense. We needed dmen.

 

But hope he turns out.

[CanucksCountry]

Didn't like the pick at the time. still don't like it now, his draft +1 year has only added to my concerns with the player, Really wish we took Pickering or traded down and picked Lamoureux instead. 

[DrJockitch]

Didn’t like the pick but that is an incredibly disrespectful way to describe a young player going through significant health concerns suffered on the service of a game. 

[guntrix]

Regardless of how this guy turns out, you go for speed and skill when drafting.

 

If you go for size, you end up picking the Nick Ritchies and Jake Virtanens of the league who found it easy to play against kids half their size in the minors. 
 

Picking based on position and not BPA is also a recipe for failure. 

Edited November 28, 2022 by guntrix

[HKSR]

I was personally really hoping we were gonna trade down and gain an extra pick in the 2nd or 3rd round.  Then we would have likely picked a defenceman in the 1st round and gained another prospect. 

[Ghostsof1915]

40 minutes ago, guntrix said:

Regardless of how this guy turns out, you go for speed and skill when drafting.

 

If you go for size, you end up picking the Nick Ritchies and Jake Virtanens of the league who found it easy to play against kids half their size in the minors. 
 

Picking based on position and not BPA is also a recipe for failure. 

Skill without hockey sense, or drive, also leads to duds as well.

 

Not every hockey players development is a linear curve.

 

Drafting exclusively undersized players doesn't work either. What you need is balance.

 

R U Serious should just stay away from anvils and dynamite.

 

 

 

[Alflives]

3 hours ago, Drakrami said:

I dont get this pick as well... All of our younger players (Pettersson/Hughes/Boeser/Hoglander) are featherweight and soft. So... let's add to that? 

Boeser is close to 210 pounds.  And Petey is far from soft.  

[Oregon.Duck]

Hindsight is 20/20 man. A lot of folks were happy with the pick too, because it was best player available. They must’ve seen something we didn’t. Kid oozes skill, just needed time to marinate. 
 

Y’all go from 0-100 in no time. He’s getting hit with a bit of adversity, let’s see how he responds before you start saying we’ve wasted a pick. 
 

[Warhippy]

Umm....for those paying attention, that's the Canuck way.  We never have prospects that don't have issues of some sort.

 

Cat accidents, mono, covid, back issues, concussions etc.

 

To say this is a wasted pick though is a bit of a stretch

[Dazzle]

I keep mentioning that I've been a loud critic of this new management, but this pick is not worthy of criticism. He was a solid pick based on the rankings, plus he has proven to be a much faster skater than advertised. We can criticize how the cap was managed, but this pick was totally good at the time.

 

Here is the issue with this player though: he's suffered injuries and mono, the latter being a prime reason for his significant slow start.

 

Let's not assume that progression will always be smooth. These are still people, not robots. Juolevi was doing just fine up until his injuries started to hit. Remember how this board turned on him relatively quickly? People started backtracking and making claims that he was the wrong pick, even though there was nothing to suggest this to be the case.

 

Jonathan Lekkerimaki is going to be just fine. Let's give him more time before we start assigning bust status? Juolevi is doing well in the AHL right now, so even he can't be considered a bust as a player.

 

These kids are so young. Don't start putting pressure on them right now.

[Rush17]

You clearly need to take a step back lol. It's impossible to say a prospect is a bust months after his draft year. Give it 3-4 years and see how his progress unfolds. Players development curves are not always a straight line. He is getting important minutes in a tough league and finding his way. His team's GM is very encouraged by the steps he has taken. He is also working on other parts of his game not just offence. It's way to soon to judge his development. He is a 2-3 year project before he hits the NHL anyways. He would have to have exceeded all expectations to make the NHL in the near term. 

[nergish]

Dumb thread, my man. Especially bad hyperbolic title.

While the injury is concerning, and doubly so if it's an actual concussion - what is the point of making this thread? 

My only concern is that Allvin may be hyper-focused on Swedes.

But that's forgivable if he targets the right players, and recognizes that not every young Swede with some hands is the "next Pettersson/Raymond".

[Rush17]

The OP's name is making me wonder if this is just a troll job to illicite a reaction. I won't jump fully to that conclusion though lol.  I know we canucks fans like to have drama going on at all times. Maybe this is just a means to create some to keep us all entertained lol. We canucks fans love our drama :D

[nux_win]

Yeah, getting hit in the head confirms that it was a bad draft pick (sarcasm alert).  It might be a bad pick but getting an unexpected injury doesn't qualify as evidence of that.  Patience people patience.  We just don't know yet what we've got.  GCG!