Canucks Insider Casts A Shadow Of Doubt Over The Possibility Of The Team Signing Top Prospect Tom Willander

The Canucks remain six points out of a playoff spot with just nine games left on the schedule for the season.

With every day that passes their chances of making the postseason become smaller and smaller as the team has not been able to go on a consistent hot stretch.

As a result, the focus for the organization is slowly starting to shift away from this year and onto the future.

That is where top prospect Tom Willander comes into play.

Willander was selected in the 1st round, 11th overall by the Canucks in 2023.

The 6'1" right-shot Swedish defenseman elected to come to North America after the draft, joining Boston University of the NCAA where he has 48 points across the last two seasons.

Willander remains one of the team's top prospects in general, but especially on defense as Elias Pettersson has graduated to the NHL.

However, Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal revealed today that the team may have a problem signing him.

As an NCAA player, Willander could theoretically finish his schooling at Boston University and would become an unrestricted free agent afterwards, giving him the freedom to sign with whichever team he chooses.

This would be a big blow to the Canucks who would have effectively wasted a top-11 pick in a good draft class.

That being said, as fellow insider Cam Robinson points out, the most likely outcome with Willander is that he simply signs his ELC over the offseason and joins the AHL next fall.

Hopefully it all works out for the Canucks as the organization can't really afford to have any more drama.