Tom Willander Caught in Limbo as Contract Dispute with Vancouver Canucks Drags On
Tom Willander is stuck in limbo.
The Vancouver Canucks top prospect left Boston University early, and is currently playing exhibition games with the Swedish national team in hopes of making the roster for the IIHF World Championships in Stockholm.
He could have been in Abbotsford, actively playing in the AHL playoffs. He could have potentially made his NHL debut earlier this month after Boston University's season came to an end in the NCAA Championship game against Western Michigan.
Instead, Willander remains unsure where he'll play next season, stuck in a contract dispute with the Canucks over a standard set of bonuses on his entry-level contract.
Willander said it's been his simple ask, put the bonuses in the entry-level deal. He says he never asked for the Canucks to burn the first year of his entry-level deal or promise NHL playing time immediately.
"No. We didn’t ask for anything like that” Willander said, speaking via phone Friday afternoon.
And at the same time, Willander was honoring one of the Canucks requests, it's why he didn't join the national team until recently as contract negotiations dragged on with Vancouver.
“They asked us earlier in the season. The Canucks didn’t want us to play there," Willander said. "But then as time moved on, it became viable so we decided ‘okay, it could be fun to play games with really good players.’”
The rift between Willander and the Canucks is another exclamation point on a season filled with strife for Vancouver.
This season, too often they were the main character, and not in a good way. A contentious dressing room, and struggling stars dominated much of the focus. Now, a lame-duck coach humming and hawing over an extension, while the captain has a spotlight on him amid fears of a wandering eye for familial fun in Newark, thanks to comments, almost unprompted, from the president of hockey operations.
It’s all been acutely distracting.
Willander, for his part, has done his best to try and stay focused on what he can control.
“It’s been good. I try to be objective with it all. It’s not bothering me too much. I like Vancouver. I like the guys that are around - the development team, as well as the guys on the team and in Abby… the draft picks I’ve met. I like all those guys”
And he's excited about his opportunity with world championships.
“Im hoping (to make the final roster). It would be sick. We’re playing in my home town. But for that same reason, there’s going to be a bunch of guys from the NHL who want to play too. But it’s been a good start.”
“I’m a firm believer in taking short steps at a time. I don’t think too far ahead when it comes to this stuff because it really doesn’t do me any good. I’m focused on whatever tomorrow brings”
While he can focus on the short steps now, it's not stopping others from trying to figure where Willander might play next season.
Those who know him best are already speaking about his college career in the past tense.
“I don't think he's coming back (to Boston University),” Sascha Boumedienne, Willander's defensive partner at BU this season, said this week from the Under-18 World Championships in Texas.
And college hockey was good to Willander.
In addition to excelling in two World Junior Championships, he was recognized as a Hockey East All-Star in both his seasons at Boston University. His game has become more polished and is now better suited for professional hockey.
“College hockey is sick. It’s a lot of fun. You’re all the same age and living with each other, just you and the boys having fun every day of the week. It’s a good league, but you can still feel that it isn’t pro yet.”
That sounds like a player that looks at the NCAA as part of his past, not his future. Does he believe he has outgrown what college hockey can provide moving forward?
“Yeah, I do," Willander said. "A little bit, anyway. I don’t think I’m in any way too good for the league. But thinking about optimizing development, I don’t know if that’s what I need. It might not be the perfect spot for me anymore.”
So if it's no longer the perfect spot, and he doesn't have a deal with the Canucks, the simple math might mean Willander returns to the SHL and signs with Rögle, who he originally turned down to play in the NCAA, becoming the first-ever defensemen to move directly from the Swedish junior circuit to the NCAA.
This is where Willander carefully chooses his words.
“The season is still going for me now with the National Program” Willander said. “I haven’t really sat down and thought about it too much.”
And what if Vancouver called today with a sufficient offer. Would he hop on a plane to Abbotsford to join their AHL playoff run, which may or may not end tonight in a first-round series.
“I haven’t even thought about it hypothetically because it’s not close to being a done deal.” Willander said.
For Willander, the big thing he's willing to divulge is his simple mindset here. An approach on the next steps right now, not necessarily the next ones in September or October.
“I don’t think too far ahead when it comes to this stuff because it really doesn’t do me any good," Willander said. “I’m focused on whatever tomorrow brings.”
And right now tomorrow represents a chance to make Team Sweden, to potentially represent his country at the senior level on home soil. The Vancouver Canucks haven't been ruled out, but they are no longer the top of his mind, which in the end only puts both the top prospect and organization deeper into the state of limbo.
