INTERESTING CANUCKS NEWS: DISCOURAGING TOM WILLANDER UPDATE + CONOR GARLAND GETS AMAZING PRAISE

INTERESTING CANUCKS NEWS: DISCOURAGING TOM WILLANDER UPDATE + CONOR GARLAND GETS AMAZING PRAISE

All right, not the two players that I thought we would be talking about here today, but we have ourselves some interesting Kucks updates that we can really expand on if you think about it a little bit more. So, today we’re talking about Vancouver Connect stuff. We’re talking about Abbottzford Connect stuff. Let’s get things started with a tweet posted by Grady Sass earlier yesterday before the Vancouver Conucks played off against the Chicago Blackhawks. This is what an NHL scout said about Vancouver Conucks forward Connor Garland. I think he could be a point per game player over a full season or close to that. He drags his team into the fight and can drive play like the best of them. He wears his heart on his sleeve and is a great chirper, one of the most underappreciated players across the NHL. And that, I think, is something that we probably have good reason to acknowledge and agree with, right? Because Connor Garland has been one of the best and most consistent Vancouver Conucks players this season, bar none. Especially amongst the forwards who can say that Garland has been the guy so far in this young campaign. When it comes to driving play and just being so consistent like yes, Philip Heedel has had standout games already. He’s had multi-goal games and he’s looked pretty good at times, but Heedle also has been very inconsistent defensively. And that’s always been sort of a problem that we knew was going to be there. questioning whether or not his two-way game is up to snuff. He can back check. He does have the speed to do that. But when it comes to pure defensive decision-making, I think there’s a lot of improvement that needs to be established for Hedel. And I can say that that’s not really like a total indictment against him. I mean, he’s never been used as a top six center before in his entire career. And with him always getting injured, it’s not like he’s had the necessary time to develop those defensive skills. I think a lot of that just has to do with a shift in mindset, then he’ll be okay. But for Connor Garland, he does it all. He fights the good fight, stands up for his teammates, four checks, back checks, drives play, digs in deep into the corners, and he scores points. Connor Garland so far this season is the most productive Vancouver Conucks forward with four points in five games. Now, that is on pace for about 60 pointsish, which I hope is not the top of the Vancouver Conucks point production. I mean, Connor Garland is tied with Quinn Hughes for the Vancouver Conucks lead in points, but like we’ve been talking about with Quinn this entire past few weeks here, it’s not like he’s looked his best either. Like admittedly, Quinn Hughes looks the same as normal mobility-wise. Like he can move, he can skate, he can shift around, he’s got all the same skating ability, but the decisions just haven’t been as precise as we are used to them being. Whether that be due to the system or other players in the team not adjusting to what needs to happen. New coach, new systems, new whatever. Quinn Hughes, That Thatcher Demco both saying that the problems that the team has early on in the year, they’re fixable problems, easily fixable. So, we’ll just hope that Quinn Hughes is able to bounce back sooner rather than later. There’s no doubt that he will. I mean, it’s Quinn Hughes. There’s only one player I’d say that has earned the benefit of the doubt from the Vancouver Connects fan base, and that’s Quinn Hughes. Everybody else, I guess you could say Connor Garland included in that, too. They kind of need to prove themselves here. Pey needs to continue to do what he’s done and he needs to start scoring points. That needs to stay healthy. All these things need to happen for us to be proven too that this Vancouver Conucks team has what it takes. But for Connor Garland, NHL scout going out there and saying that he could be a point per game guy. And honestly, I buy it. Like he’s under a point per game right now, but if some of these other Canucks players had just finished a little bit better, you probably would have seen him score a little bit more points. Max Assassin’s a point per game player right now. So there you go. It’s possible, right? But with that in mind, I wanted to shift gears a little bit and start talking about yet another Canucks player. Not a Vancouver Conucks player. Let’s talk about an Abbottzford Canucks player right here. Rick Dollywal’s latest update from Halford and Bruff yesterday went out there and spoke about how Tom Vlander is probably going to need a lot more time in Abbottzford than we think. And I wanted to give a big shout out over to Tom Vander. Not because this tweet indicates that he’s not looking all too great and he needs more time in the AHL, but because he actually scored his first AHL goal today against the Laval Rocket. He is now up there with one goal in four games played. So nice to see Vlander getting up on the board there. And the goal itself was pretty nice. The puck was played back over to Vlander at the top of the umbrella there and he ends up just ripping it on goal and it beats everybody. So there you go. First AHL goal for Tom Vlander. But thinking about Vlander needing a little bit more time in the AHL or maybe a lot more time in the AHL, that’s honestly kind of fine in my opinion. I think the Vancouver Conucks decor has established themselves as pretty stable at this point of the season. And sure, they need to be a little bit better in those first periods. I think everybody needs to be better in those first periods, but the way the pairings are and the way the pairings have rotated, you saw Quinn Hughes and Mancini playing a little bit together yesterday. You didn’t necessarily just see Heronic with him. You saw Tyler Meyers establish himself as a pretty okay defenseman so far throughout the year. The penalties suck, don’t get me wrong. Like Tyler Myers chaos draft taking a whole bunch of unnecessary calls that is always going to annoy the hell out of this fan base. But when it comes to his pure defensive play, he’s been looking a lot better as of late. And I say as of late, like over the past few years, compared to the Tyler Meyers that everybody loves calling chaos draft, Marcus Patterson, despite the fact that he let Ryan Donado go on the one- nothing goal yesterday against Chicago, I think that he’s been looking pretty good. Mancini, DPD, Derek Forbort, these guys are all rotatable in the bottom of the decor and they’re all looking pretty solid. Tom Vander doesn’t necessarily seem like he’s needed with the Vancouver Conucks right now, but also hearing that if he just needs the development of the AHL, that also is a pretty reasonable step for him. To my understanding, he wasn’t necessarily the top guy in Boston University. If somebody wants to go out there and correct that, hey, feel free to. But Lane Hudson was a top guy there when he was in that organization. And then you had also of course Cole Hudson, Lane Hudson’s brother who was reportedly used as the top dog in Beu. Tom Vander of course a very important part of that decor. But was he the number one? I need to get some answers there. So Vander, if he’s just going out there in Abbottzford and working on his game, slowly getting better, doesn’t seem like there’s too much of a rush to add him up to the NHL squad. And even so, if somebody does get injured, goodness forbid, P. Joseph is already there on the Vancouver Conucks ready to take over and give a shift or two. So, interesting updates here for the Vancouver Conucks and their prospects. Tom Vander, I do kind of wonder if he does take a little bit more time, like let’s say it’s already January and he’s still an AHL caliber guy. He hasn’t made the jump yet. At that point, do the Vancouver Conucks start thinking about trading him away? Because we’ve seen this argument pop up sometimes over the past few weeks that yeah, Vancouver’s still looking for a center. They still want to get a guy. They still want to add forward support. They want to do this, they want to do that. What’s the timeline for these younger players that they’ve refused to include in trade talks thus far? Like if Leramaki doesn’t have a spot in the lineup, and if Vander is just chilling in the AHL, at what point do the Conucks say, “All right, well, let’s just trade them, get a forward that helps us out now that tries to put us into contention mode right now and hopefully convinces Quinn Hughes to stay.” I’m not saying that’s what I would do or that that’s ideal, but I am saying that it has been discussed by different folks in the media over the past few weeks. So, I do kind of wonder if that’s a possibility here. Also, when it comes to whom it is the Canucks could acquire in a trade, we’re going to make another video about that later on in today’s show because there’s a lot to talk about with Buffalo at this point in the year. So, let me know your thoughts in the comments section below about Connor Garland being a point per game potential guy who’s been so good and so reliable and so all this and also Tom Vander needing a little bit more time to chill in Abbottzford. If you enjoyed this video, feel free to hit the like button if you didn’t. The dislike buttons down there for you. comments help out with the algorithm as well. So, I would appreciate it if you got involved there. I hope you enjoyed this video and bye.

SUPPORT the channel with SUPER THANKS! Contributors will be recognized with individualized comments, and my sincerest gratitude. CLICK the “$ THANKS” button to get started!

We’re going over Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland, and Abbotsford d-man Tom Willander.

This video is taking place after the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, and after the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The 2025 NHL Draft 1st Round went as follows:

1st) New York Islanders, Matthew Schaefer
2nd) San Jose Sharks, Michael Misa
3rd) Chicago Blackhawks, Anton Frondell
4th) Utah Mammoth, Caleb Desnoyers
5th) Nashville Predators, Brady Martin
6th) Philadelphia Flyers, Porter Martone
7th) Boston Bruins, James Hagens
8th) Seattle Kraken, Jake O’Brien
9th) Buffalo Sabres, Radim Mrtka
10th) Anaheim Ducks, Roger McQueen
11th) Pittsburgh Penguins, Benjamin Kindel
12th) Philadelphia Flyers (from New York Rangers via Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins), Jack Nesbitt
13th) Detroit Red Wings, Carter Bear
14th) Columbus Blue Jackets, Jackson Smith
15th) Vancouver Canucks, Braeden Cootes
16th) New York Islanders (from Calgary Flames via Montreal Canadiens), Victor Eklund
17th) New York Islanders (from Montreal Canadiens), Kashawn Aitcheson
18th) Calgary Flames (from New Jersey Devils), Cole Reschny
19th) St. Louis Blues, Justin Carbonneau
20th) Columbus Blue Jackets (from Minnesota Wild), Pyotr Andreyanov
21st) Nashville Predators (from Ottawa Senators), Cameron Reid
22nd) Pittsburgh Penguins (from Colorado Avalanche via Philadelphia Flyers), Bill Zonnon
23rd) Ottawa Senators (from Tampa Bay Lightning via Nashville Predators), Logan Hensler
24th) Pittsburgh Penguins (from Los Angeles Kings), Will Horcoff
25th) Chicago Blackhawks (from Toronto Maple Leafs), Vaclav Nestrasil
26th) Nashville Predators (from Vegas Golden Knights via San Jose Sharks), Ryker Lee
27th) Washington Capitals, Lynden Lakovic
28th) Winnipeg Jets, Sascha Boumedienne
29th) Chicago Blackhawks (from Carolina Hurricanes), Mason West
30th) San Jose Sharks (from Dallas Stars), Joshua Ravensbergen
31st) Los Angeles Kings (from Edmonton Oilers via Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins), Henry Brzustewicz
32nd) Calgary Flames (from Florida Panthers), Cullen Potter

This video is also taking place after 2025 NHL Season, and after the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the Finals.

Tom Willander was one of the top NHL prospects at the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

The 2023 NHL Entry Draft saw many top NHL prospects get selected by a variety of teams. The first round of the draft went as follows:

1st) Chicago Blackhawks, Connor Bedard
2nd) Anaheim Ducks, Leo Carlsson
3rd) Columbus Blue Jackets, Adam Fantilli
4th) San Jose Sharks, Will Smith
5th) Montreal Canadiens, David Reinbacher
6th) Arizona Coyotes, Dmitri Simashev
7th) Philadelphia Flyers, Matvei Michkov
8th) Washington Capitals, Ryan Leonard
9th) Detroit Red Wings, Nate Danielson
10th) St. Louis Blues, Dalibor Dvorsky
11th) Vancouver Canucks, Tom Willander
12th) Arizona Coyotes (from Ottawa Senators), Daniil But
13th) Buffalo Sabres, Zach Benson
14th) Pittsburgh Penguins, Brayden Yager
15th) Nashville Predators, Matthew Wood
16th) Calgary Flames, Samuel Honzek
17th) Detroit Red Wings (from New York Islanders via Vancouver Canucks), Axel Sandin-Pellikka
18th) Winnipeg Jets, Colby Barlow
19th) Chicago Blackhawks (from Tampa Bay Lightning), Oliver Moore
20th) Seattle Kraken, Eduard Sale
21st) Minnesota Wild, Charlie Stramel
22nd) Philadelphia Flyers (from Los Angeles Kings via Columbus Blue Jackets), Oliver Bonk
23rd) New York Rangers, Gabe Perreault
24th) Nashville Predators (from Edmonton Oilers), Tanner Molendyk
25th) St. Louis Blues (from Toronto Maple Leafs), Otto Stenberg
26th) San Jose Sharks (from New Jersey Devils), Quentin Musty
27th) Colorado Avalanche, Calum Ritchie
28th) Toronto Maple Leafs (from Boston Bruins via Washington Capitals), Easton Cowan
29th) St. Louis Blues (from Dallas Stars via New York Rangers), Theo Lindstein
30th) Carolina Hurricanes, Bradley Nadeau
31st) Colorado Avalanche (from Florida Panthers via Montreal Canadiens), Mikhail Gulyayev
32nd) Vegas Golden Knights, David Edstrom

Twitter: @LR99Gaming
Portfolio: http://giopalermo.ca/
Twitch: legorocks99

#NHL #NHLNews #NHLTrade #NHLTrades #NHLTradeRumours #NHLNewsToday #NHLDraft #NHLProspects #Canucks #VancouverCanucks #CanucksNews #CanucksHighlights #Vancouver

Hi. I’m “Gio Palermo”, also known as “legorocks99” (“legorocks99Gaming”, “LR99Gaming”, or “LR99”). I post video game commentaries on YouTube revolving around “hockey”, with a primary focus on “Vancouver Canucks”, “Montreal Canadiens”, “Detroit Red Wings”, and top “NHL prospects” topics. These videos are uploaded with “NHL 26” gameplay in the background. I enjoy making these videos and I hope that you enjoy watching them!

legorocks99 and all its denominations function under “Gio Palermo Media Inc.”