Jonathan Lekkerimaki has spent the past four years idolizing Vancouver Canucks star centre Elias Pettersson.
Now he鈥檚 poised to be his favourite player鈥檚 teammate.
The Canucks chose Lekkerimaki with the 15th overall pick in the NHL entry draft Thursday.
鈥淚t鈥檚 amazing,鈥� said the Swedish right-winger. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 describe it.鈥�
The native of Tullinge said he鈥檚 been a fan of Pettersson, a fellow Swede, since he cracked the Canucks鈥� lineup in 2019. While he鈥檚 had discussions with Vancouver, he didn鈥檛 anticipate hearing the club call his name.
鈥淚 had some talks with them with the combine. But I didn鈥檛 thought it was coming,鈥� he said.
Lekkerimaki turned heads at the 2022 Under-18 World Championship, leading Sweden to gold with 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in six games.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 start so well but got better in the tournament and then ended up with a gold medal,鈥� he said of the performance. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 nice.鈥�
With the 15th overall selection in the 2022 #NHLDraft, the Canucks select, Jonathan Lekkerim盲ki!
鈥� Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) July 8, 2022
Welcome Jonathan 馃憦@ToyotaPacific | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/QNTTjWegIP
The five-foot-10, 165-pound forward spent part of last season playing for Djurgarden in the Swedish Hockey League and registered nine points (seven goals, two assists) in 26 games.
Lekkerimaki is a dynamic player, said Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin.
鈥淗e has an ability to score goals, but also make a lot of plays,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think his hockey sense is great. And he鈥檚 a threat in so many different ways there.鈥�
Hired by Vancouver in January, this is Allvin鈥檚 first draft as a general manager.
The rookie was busy on the draft floor, assessing whether it would make sense for his team to trade for a later pick.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have a second-round pick so we were checking if it makes sense for us to pick up another second-round pick and still get one of the players we like,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we were extremely happy to see (Lekkerimaki) at 15 there.鈥�
Vancouver is set to make five more selections, starting with No. 80, when the draft continues Friday.
After a rough start to last season, the Canucks rebounded under head coach Bruce Boudreau and finished 40-30-12, missing the playoffs by five points.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
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