Canucks announce prospect showcase vs. Kraken in Abbotsford

After hosting the Young Stars Classic against the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and Winnipeg Jets in Penticton for 11 of the last 15 seasons, the event was cancelled for the 2025-26 season when the Canucks announced the prospects showcase with the Kraken. Last year, it was held in Seattle, where the host Kraken won the first game, and the visiting Canucks captured the second to split the mini-series.

While the rosters won’t be announced until a later date, per the press release, the Canucks will ice a competitve roster.

The Canucks will be without two of the top-10 prospects in CanucksArmy’s summer rankings – #1 Caleb Malhotra and #8 Niklas Aaram-Olsen – as they will be playing in the NCAA next season. However, they will still have a new installment of prospects to help challenge the Kraken. Vancouver’s 24th- and 33rd-overall picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, Adam Novotný and Brooks Rogowski, will hope to make an impression.

The only other prospects from the 2026 draft class fans can expect to see in mid-September’s showcase is Lucian Bernat, who is set to play with the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack next season. Yaroslav Bryzgalov and Connor Davis will join Malhotra and Aaram-Olsen in the NCAA next season, while Dmitri Ivchenko (MHL) and Samuel Eriksson (SHL) will be playing 2026-27 overseas.

Last year’s roster included the likes of Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Braeden Cootes, Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson (D), and Kirill Kudryavtsev, who all went on to play NHL games last season. Other notable names on that roster who played professionally in Abbotsford were Vilmer Alriksson, Nick Poisson, Riley Patterson, Josh Bloom, Ben Berard, Jackson Kunz, Cooper Walker, Joe Arntsen, Sawyer Mynio, and Aku Koskenvuo.