Vancouver Canucks fans can keep an eye on two more prospects as the runup to the World Junior Championship continues.
Sweden announced its preliminary roster on Thursday, which includes forward Arvid Costmar and defenseman Viktor Persson.
Both were seventh-round picks by the Canucks. Costmar, a center, was selected 215th overall in 2019 after the Canucks acquired the pick from San Jose as part of the under-the-radar deal that also saw Francis Perron become Vancouver property, while Tom Pyatt and a sixth-rounder went to the Sharks. And Costmar has played a meaningful role on the Swedish national team as he has come up through the ranks. He was part of the crew led by Lucas Raymond and Alexander Holtz that won gold at the 2019 U18 championship after winning silver at the 2018 Hlinka Gretzky Cup — the tournament where Vasily Podkolzin burst into prominence.
Last year, playing with Linkoping in the Swedish U20 league, Costmar put up 50 points in 29 games to lead his team, and won the league award for top faceoff percentage. Though he's not a big guy at 5'11" and 181 pounds, he also put up 59 penalty minutes, which is pretty high for a Swedish junior. That suggests to me that he has some bite in his game.
This season, Costmar has been playing for Linkoping's senior team. He has one goal in 15 games.
Here's Swedish coach Tomas Monten on Costmar:
As for Persson, the tantalizing detail about him is that he has been planning to play for the Kamloops Blazers as soon as the WHL season gets underway. It's not very often that we see Swedish players come over to North America to get more development time in major junior — although Alex Edler came over in his draft+1 year to spend a season with the Kelowna Rockets before moving to the AHL. And for a third-round pick, his development went quickly. He played 22 games for the Canucks as a 20-year-old in his first pro season, and spent just two more games with the Moose in Manitoba before settling in with the Canucks full time.
Patrick Johnston of The Province caught up with Persson after his selection was announced.
Unlike Costmar, this is Persson's first opportunity to potentially suit up for the national team, which makes this a bit of a watershed moment in his career.
“Excitement, but a little bit nervous, it’s a big deal. It’s something I’ve always dream about,” Persson told Johnston about his emotions surrounding the selection. “Everybody watches the junior.”
Listed at 6'2" and 192 pounds, Persson is a right shot who already has good size at 19 years old, and likes to make a difference on the scoresheet.
“I was a forward until I was like 11 then I made the move to be a D," he said. "I always want to join the rush to affect the offensive game, to be good in there but also I know I need to work on my defence.”
He must have enjoyed this year's Stanley Cup final, citing fellow Swedes John Klingberg and Victor Hedman as two of his favourite players.
I believe the general plan for the nine non-Canadian teams at this year's tournament is for them to convene this weekend in their home countries. Final roster decisions will need to be made in about a week's time. Then, the teams will travel to Edmonton on Dec. 13 for quarantine and exhibition play before the tournament gets underway on Dec. 25.
The Swedes will need to make nine cuts in total. Persson's on the bubble:
The Russians released their
preliminary roster back on Nov. 20. Podkolzin is on it, of course. After playing in the Karjala Cup in November, Dmitry Zlodeyev is not. Johnston reports that's due to injury.
But if you want to get excited about Zlodeyev's upside — and the Canucks' entire draft class, to be honest — have a listen to Steve Kournianos's summary podcast covering all five selections, which he dropped a couple of weeks ago.
You can also check out the written version of his analysis
here.
When it comes to prospects, opinions vary widely, but I will say that Kournianos has been in the game for awhile and isn't afraid to drive in his own lane.
Going into the draft, he had Zlodeyev pegged as a potential first rounder (!) Huge if true, to put it mildly.
Here's what he has to say now:
Excessively bullish or excessively ignorant? Either one will ring true if Zlodeyev doesn’t cut it, but I figure I have a solid 12-24 months of hoping he develops into that first-round caliber player I claimed him to be. One thing is certain — you guys already like what you see and it’s only been two months. Zlodeyev is a beast on the puck, almost similar to Vasily Podkolzin. There isn’t as much violence or ferocity as his fellow countryman displays on a shift-to-shift basis, but Zlodeyev is far from a pushover. In fact, he will deliver big open-ice hits, but only if the situation absolutely requires it. It’s along the boards and in the corners where Zlodeyev’s hands, agility, elusiveness, and vision come to the forefront, but he’s also capable of finishing in several ways, to include off the rush via a blistering shot. Make no mistake about it — Zlodeyev drove his line from start to finish and was versatile enough to be used and succeed in all conceivable situations.
Overall, Kournianos had a positive impression of all of Vancouver's picks this year, although he was a little more muted about Jackson Kunz that the others. His analysis also reminded me that this is, of course, Vancouver's first draft since Judd Brackett moved on to Minnesota. With no picks in the top two rounds, it'll be fascinating to see if any of these lower-round selections do end up panning out — and if they do, if that changes the narrative that gave Brackett so much credit for Vancouver's successes at the draft over the past few years.
One final thing before I wrap up today. Have you seen the new photos of Elias Pettersson in the Reverse Retro jersey?
I know I'm probably still on an island here, but I think this looks great.
I also think Petey looks...different, right? His neck has thickened, for one thing.
He has talked about the time he has been able to put in at the gym during this pause, working to bulk up and get stronger. These pictures got me really excited about seeing what he'll bring when the Canucks get back on the ice — whenever that might be...
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