Liam Ohgren didn't hesitate when he was asked who he wants to play like. Gabriel Landeskog, and the Canucks winger already wears the same number 92.
I've always said Landeskog and I've watched him a lot, Ohgren told Postmedia. A good two-way forward who puts up points and scores.
I've looked up to him my whole life and maybe try to play like him a little bit.
That's a specific thing to aim at. Landeskog owns a Calder, a Stanley Cup, a Masterton and a Messier award.
Vancouver has wanted that winger forever. Markus Naslund and Daniel Sedin brought the production, never the physical version of it.
Ohgren arrived in the Quinn Hughes trade and put up 18 points across 51 games after landing here.
He added power work and sprints to his summer. I have a lot more to show, he said, and a lot more in me.
Source : Canucks: Liam Ohgren aiming high to become a Gabriel Landeskog clone
Vancouver Canucks may have just landed their own Gabriel Landeskog
Lekkerimaki got shut down in February for surgery to repair a torn labrum and a rotator cuff.
He has five goals across 37 career NHL games. That's the context everybody skipped past over the weekend.
He wore the worst of the reaction after Saturday's 4-2 loss in Seattle, a night he actually finished with 2 assists.
The two were linemates at Djurgardens IF in Sweden. Vancouver took Lekkerimaki 15th overall in 2022.
Ohgren went four picks later to Minnesota. I had a meeting with the Canucks and had a really good feeling, he said.
He put up 58 points in 30 games in the Swedish junior league that draft season. Lekkerimaki had 20 goals in 26.
Two years on, Ohgren scored 12 goals in 26 SHL games against men a dozen years older than him.
He projects onto a second line with Marco Rossi and Brock Boeser. Rossi came over in that same Hughes trade.
We talked a lot about how difficult it is, Ohgren said of him. He's been a huge part of my journey here.
He also scored twice in the Penticton scrimmage on Saturday morning, both of them off the rush.
Vancouver visits Calgary tonight. Manny Malhotra took that bench job on June 1 and is still sorting his lineup.
So can anybody actually become a Landeskog? Picking a player to model works like an apprentice choosing a master. Useful for the technique, no guarantee on the hands.
Ohgren wants the spot and says he intends to keep it. Everything about this season tells him nobody in Vancouver is handing out anything.
Can Liam Ohgren become a legitimate power forward for the Canucks?
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