© Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Jonathan Lekkerimaki isn’t much of a golfer, but he understands the golfer’s mindset — all you can do is hit the next shot.

That approach is what helped the Vancouver Canucks forward prospect go from a disappointing 2022-23 to a 2023-24 that saw him named Swedish Hockey League rookie of the year and the top junior player in Sweden.

“I work [on] that a lot,” Lekkerimaki said of his mental approach. “Every shift is a different one. I think that sticks out for me.”

Most of Lekkerimaki’s shifts last season were good ones. He led Orebro with 31 points (19 goals, 12 assists) in 46 games. It was the most goals and points by a teenager in the SHL (he turned 20 on July 24), and the most by any under-20 player in the league since Emil Bemstrom (23 goals, 35 points) in 2018-19.

Lekkerimaki also was named the most valuable player at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, tying for the tournament lead with seven goals in seven games and helping Sweden win the silver medal.

He finished the season with two points (one goal, one assist) in six games with Abbotsford of the American Hockey League.

All that success is a far cry from 2022-23, when he had nine points (three goals, six assists) in 29 games with Djurgarden in Allsvenskan, the second-highest league in Sweden.

Jumping from Sweden’s junior league to playing with and against older competition seemed to overwhelm Lekkerimaki at times.

Some of that could have been attributed to a shortened offseason of training, which included traveling to Montreal for the 2022 NHL Draft, where the Canucks selected him with the No. 15 pick, followed by rookie camp before returning home to Sweden.

“He’s not the guy who’s just jumping right in, like here I am, I’m taking everything by storm, and off you go,” said Mikael Samuelsson, who works in player development for the Canucks. “That whole summer with the draft, development camp, it was [overwhelming] a little bit. He was like, ‘I don’t know what to think. It was a big impression for me, and now I didn’t have the off-ice time that I wanted.'”

Despite Lekkerimaki’s struggles, Samuelsson saw some good, and a lot of it carried into last season. A more stable offseason of training, a familiarity with the level of competition and the move to Orebro set up Lekkerimaki for the success he had in 2023-24.

Lekkerimaki (5-foot-11, 172 pounds) said he felt stronger entering last season and feels even more ready this season with a spot in the NHL a possibility.

“This was a long summer, so hopefully I will get some results,” he said. “I feel stronger and faster.”

Samuelsson believes that additional strength will help Lekkerimaki in board battles as he moves to the smaller rinks in North America this season.

“From the development side, I think he has steps to go in the physical game,” he said. “What I mean with that is, like, how you play in traffic, are you still strong on the puck when it matters, can you win races on the boards and actually come out with the puck from boards. That’s the thing he needs to adjust to. He needs to see that it’s really important in all the smaller rinks, because it happens all the time. I think he can do it. I think he will adjust in time. I really believe he can be a good player. But when? How fast will you take those steps? That’s the question I have in my head.”

Lekkerimaki said he believes he is better prepared to give an affirmative answer to those questions, starting this weekend with the Young Stars Classic prospect tournament in Penticton, British Columbia, then into training camp.

The offseason departures of forwards Ilya Mikheyev (trade, Chicago Blackhawks) and Elias Lindholm (free agent, Boston Bruins) leaves a spot among the top six forward group open. But Lekkerimaki understands if he has to start the season in the AHL.

It’s part of that play-the-next-shot-where-it-lies mindset.

“Yeah, just train hard and play hard,” he said.

Samuelsson is looking forward to what Lekkerimaki can accomplish.

“I know this, he’s up to the challenge,” Samuelsson said.