Canucks’ Karlsson among players looking to impress at the rookie tournament

PENTICTON, BC — The last week of summer felt a little like Christmas Eve for Ryan Johnson and the Vancouver Canucks coaches and player development staff on Thursday.

Sure, the sun was rising, warm and slightly misted by wildfire smoke, over Lake Okanagan and the green ribbons of vineyards and orchards that climb the slopes from its shores. But the Canucks’ prospects, who are hoping to launch careers in the NHL, trained Thursday afternoon at the South Okanagan Events Center.

So do eager rookies the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Winnipeg Jets, who play their opening games on Friday in the first full Canucks Young Stars tournament since 2017.

It’s hockey season.

“Edmonton and Calgary were adamant that we get this back together,” Johnson, the Canucks’ director of player development, told Sportsnet of the tournament. “And Winnipeg. . . was like, ‘Okay, we’re in.’ So I think everyone is excited.

“It’s not necessarily about wins and losses. But as I said to these guys, ‘What a great opportunity to change the perception of you as a player. Don’t stand and watch; have an influence.’ With the shortness of the training camps, boys who settle in are simply forgotten. This is an opportunity over the next four days here for the boys to change what happens to them over the next three or four weeks.”

NHL training camps open next week and every player in Penticton is trying to raise their standing, even if it just proves they deserve an invite to main camp.

Cole Perfetti, the 10th^th-Overall draft pick of 2020, who actually played 18 NHL games for Winnipeg last season, blows the Jets’ prospects by storm. Teammates here include 2021 first-rounder Chaz Lucius and enigmatic 2022 first-rounder Brad Lambert, the flying Finn who struggled through his draft season and was grounded as a healthy scratch by his junior national team.

The Oilers have brought first-round picks to Penticton from the last four drafts: Philip Broberg, Dylan Holloway, Xavier Bourgault and Reid Schaefer. Holloway and/or Broberg could play in the NHL this season.

The highest-rated Flame of the tournament is Jakob Pelletier, the 2019 first-rounder who advanced a point per game as a 20-year-old rookie in the American Hockey League last season. Canuck’s prospects are Swedish Hockey League Rookie of the Year Linus Karlsson, who scored 26 goals in 52 games for Skelleftea last season and has blossomed into a legitimate NHL prospect at the age of 22 after switching to Ballast in 2019 from Jonathan Dahlen to San was José from Vancouver. Other key candidates for Canuck include Danila Klimovich, the tall, veteran Belarusian who played in the AHL last season as an 18-year-old, and Swedish free agent Nils Aman.

They’re all trying to start from the same September tournament that brought Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, Mark Scheifele and Conor Hellebuyck, Elias Pettersson and Thatcher Demko to the NHL.

The round-robin tournament begins here on Friday when the Jets play the Oilers at 4:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET, followed by Canucks versus Flames at 7:30 p.m. PT/10:30 p.m. ET.

“We can set up fight drills and scrimmages and things like that,” Canucks minor-league coach Jeremy Colliton, the former head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, told reporters after Thursday’s run practice. “But when you finally play someone with different colors, it’s just a whole different thing. Then you really learn something about a player and where he is right now.

“I want to see guys win races, win battles, be extremely competitive, find ways to push the puck and then hold the puck. . . can be hard to play because that’s the stuff that transfers to another level. Even if they do very well here production-wise, if they don’t do these other things, it won’t do any good.”

A dispute over tournament earnings led to the Oilers and Flames going independent in 2018 before the 2019 event was canceled entirely. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Johnson and Canucks development team, which now includes Hall of Famers Daniel and Henrik Sedin after new general manager Patrik Allvin tripled the size of the division during the offseason, is delighted to have the tournament back. They also hope that Karlsson’s strengths will eventually translate into the NHL.

The winger, selected in the third round by San Jose in 2018, struggled through the Allsvenskan, Sweden’s second division, until switching teams two years ago.

In his first full season at Bofors IK, Karlsson scored 20 goals and 51 points in 52 games. He then reinforced his breakthrough year in the tougher SHL with 26 goals and 46 points last season. Karlsson’s skating has improved significantly since joining the Canucks, and his height and strength have also improved. He was always skillful.

“I love his process,” Johnson said. “He was given nothing. He basically started at the bottom and worked his way up the Allsvenskan. He had a good year and got a chance (in the SHL). So he worked for everything he got. He understands that it will not stay here. I like it.”

The physical aspect of Karlsson’s game, his willingness to compete and get to the top of the net, was evident in Thursday’s training session. He signed a two-year contract with the Canucks in May and is determined to build his career in North America.

“I’m going to give this one a 100 percent chance of making it into the NHL,” he said. “I’m much closer to the NHL when I play in the AHL. It’s a smaller rink out there; I need to get used to it. But I will work every day to make it into the NHL one day. I will work hard and if the opportunity arises I will try to get it.”

Beginning now.