Willander’s strength is his skating and puck-moving ability. He brings a two-way game and should be one of Sweden’s defencemen who is trusted on the penalty kill and potentially on the power play as well.
Canucks development coach Mike Komisarek spends a lot of time with Willander at BU and gives him credit for how he performed last year as Sweden hosted the tournament and took home a silver medal.
“Tom has grit and determination, and he has one thing on his mind, a gold medal,” said Komisarek. “This year, he has done a tremendous job pinpointing the areas where he can improve. He really dissects the little details and his hunger for improvement strikes me. He’s on a mission and he’s had a great start to the year.”
He is the second tallest defenceman for Team Sweden and his experience at last year’s tournament will do nothing but help the 19-year-old.
So far this season, Willander is leading BU in ice time – averaging 23:12 per game. He has scored a pair of goals and added seven assists in 16 games. In 371 minutes of ice time this season in the NCAA, Willander only took two penalties and had one game-winning goal.
Basile Sansonnens, LD, 6’2”, 183 pounds
Selected in the seventh round of the most recent NHL Entry Draft by the Canucks, Basile Sansonnens moved from Switzerland to Rimouski to play with the Océanic. The Océanic will host the 2025 Memorial Cup and Sansonnens has worked his way up the lineup since joining the QMJHL.
He has played top-four minutes and seen time on Rimouski’s top pairing in recent outings. Sansonnens is the largest defenceman on Switzerland's roster and has good skating skills to go along with his strong in-zone defending ability.
“He's been very reliable and responsible defensively in Quebec,” said Komisarek. “He's in a great spot there. He just has a kind of grounding effect on that defence corps. His size, mobility and physicality have stuck out this year. He moves really well for a big guy, and he takes pride in playing physically and is improving on getting his stick in the way and shutting down the opposition.”
No Swiss player played more games for Switzerland's U18 team in the last year and Sansonnens has even worn the ‘C’ and captained Switzerland at times in the past year.
Sansonnens’ role at this tournament is still unknown at this point, but he will gain experience and be a huge piece for Switzerland at the 2026 tournament.
“He’s a physical specimen when you stand next to him,” said Komisarek. “He is doing a good job of drawing in pressure and executing when passing lanes open up. Lately, he’s been working on his shot and his offensive zone mobility. For now, he’s a player who has embraced that defensive style and he knows who he is on the ice.”
Sawyer Mynio, LD, 6’1”, 180 pounds
Few WHL defencemen play more minutes than Canucks’ 2023 third-round draft pick Sawyer Mynio. The BC-born defenceman is a horse on the Seattle Thunderbirds defence and played at over a point-per-game pace in his 18 games this season.
With five goals and 14 assists for 19 points, Mynio is adding to his offence as he did last season when he scored 16 goals and added 37 assists in 63 games. Mynio is a two-way defenceman who plays tough defence that earned him some stick taps from J.T. Miller at Canucks training camp after a battle drill.
Mynio is one of the two players born in British Columbia (Tanner Molendyk–McBride, BC) on Canada’s roster.
We caught up with Mynio following a pre-tournament game to hear his excitement for the tournament to kick off on Boxing Day.
“You grow up dreaming of putting on this sweater and after doing it in some pre-tournament games, it feels a lot more real than it did in the summer,” said Mynio.
The defenceman went on to say that the team bonding has been a blast for them so far. Team Canada is currently staying on a military base and had a chance to do some virtual reality rides in helicopters along with some other fun exercises that have helped bring the team together.
Mynio has his family in Ottawa for the tournament and is excited to share this opportunity with the folks who support him in his hockey journey.
As for hockey, the goal is simple according to Mynio.
“The goal is to win gold,” said Mynio. “It’s definitely a bounce-back year and we have something to prove this year.”
Canucks’ Prospects Schedule (All times in Pacific Time Zone)
December 26th
Sweden vs Slovakia - 9:00 a.m.
Switzerland vs Czechia – 2:00 p.m.
Canada vs Finland – 4:30 p.m.
December 27th
Switzerland vs Slovakia – 10:00 a.m.
Sweden vs Kazakhstan – 2:00 p.m.
Canada vs Latvia – 4:30 p.m.
December 29th
Sweden vs Switzerland – 9:00 a.m.
Canada vs Germany – 4:30 p.m.
December 31st
Switzerland vs Kazakhstan – 9:00 a.m.
Canada vs United States – 5:00 p.m.
New Year’s Day is a day off for the tournament with the quarterfinals and relegation getting going on January 2nd.
January 4th will have the semifinals commence ahead of the bronze and gold medal games wrapping up the tournament on January 5th.
