Bennett Schimek keeps scoring, reaches five goals in 12 AHL games

Bennett Schimek is making the kind of early noise that forces a team to think bigger. The 22-year-old Vancouver Canucks prospect has five goals and 11 points in just 12 AHL games, production that looks less like a lucky burst and more like a player who is quickly earning real trust in Abbotsford’s lineup.

That matters because Schimek did not arrive with much time to settle in. Abbotsford signed the 6-foot-0, 187-pound right winger to a one-year AHL contract on March 11, 2026, through the 2026-27 season, then brought him in on a professional try-out for the rest of 2025-26 after he finished his senior season at Arizona State. He made his professional debut three days later, on March 14, and was thrown right into meaningful minutes, working in a top-six role and on the top power-play unit from the start.

The numbers have backed up that usage. Schimek scored his first AHL goal on March 29 in a 5-3 win over San Diego, breaking in with Nils Åman before finishing the play. That was not a one-off. By April 18, he had added another power-play goal against Ontario, scoring at 13:29 of the first period off feeds from Ty Mueller and Jack Thompson in Abbotsford’s 2-0 win at Toyota Arena.

That goal was his fifth in only 12 AHL appearances, and it sharpened the bigger question around his value: is this simply a hot run, or has Vancouver found a prospect whose game already fits a higher-leverage role? A scorer who is producing at that rate while getting power-play looks is not just padding a stat line. He is giving Abbotsford a reason to keep feeding him tougher assignments.

For a Canucks organization that has had to manage a difficult regular season in Abbotsford, Schimek’s rise is exactly the kind of development win that stands out. The rookie has already shown he can finish off the rush, punish a power play, and keep producing when the league starts to take notice. If this pace holds, Schimek will not be a footnote in Abbotsford’s plans for long.