A perfect entryway to special year
Hosting the NHL draft would help to kick off the Canucks’ 50th anniversary season
While still two years away, the Vancouver Canucks are already making plans to mark their 50th anniversary in the NHL.
And it sounds as though the organization — which began in play in 1970 — hopes to kick off a year of celebration by playing host to one of the league’s flagship events.
Whispers emanating from Rogers Arena suggest that while no formal application has yet been made, the Canucks have identified the 2019 NHL Draft as a desired target. The team would then celebrate its half-century of existence throughout the 2019-20 season.
The Canucks will share their 50th anniversary with their expansion cousins in Buffalo, but the Sabres hosted last year’s draft and will be featured again in the 2018 Winter Classic when they face the Rangers at Citi Field in New York.
That should help clear the Canucks path to land one of the league’s marquee events as part of their golden anniversary festivities.
As a condition of its expansion deal, newcomer Las Vegas is likely in line for a league event in the coming years. But Sin City, with its glitz and glamour, seems like more of an all-star site and a terrific opportunity for the NHL to bring its biggest names and brightest lights to its newest city to help the Golden Knights make a splash in their infancy. Again, that should remove some of the competition for the Canucks to host the draft for the first time since 2006.
The timing of the 2019 draft is intriguing — and makes perfect sense — because Vancouver and Victoria have already been tabbed as the host cities for the world junior championship that year.
Several draft-eligible players would be on display in this province during that tournament and would then be front and centre again later that spring.
With the focus on prospects and the importance of youth to NHL teams and their fans growing each season, the draft has become so much more than a chance for organizations to stock their talent pools. It’s now a hockey convention spanning several days with managers, coaches, agents, players and parents all converging in the same city.
And with that many hockey people all gathering in one spot, trade talk and speculation runs rampant. With the draft occurring a week before free agency, it’s commonplace to see teams making moves at the draft or laying the groundwork for deals to come.
Last June, the P.K. Subban-for-Shea Weber blockbuster and the Taylor Hall-for-Adam Larsson deal both went down just days after the draft. While the triggers weren’t pulled in Buffalo, you know those trades were discussed there. And the last time the Canucks hosted the event, the team acquired Roberto Luongo from Florida for Todd Bertuzzi the night before the draft began. Who knows what the 2019 draft may offer in the way of drama, but it’s almost a certainty in today’s NHL that sizable deals will be made on the draft floor.
As the Canucks explore the idea of playing host in two years’ time, they should consider ways to elevate the event and take the NHL draft to new heights. Instead of two days in a hockey rink in late June, how about crossing the street and setting up shop at B.C. Place with the roof open and the sun beating down? The 1990 draft was held there and, of course, the 2014 Heritage Classic took place there, so the facility has a spot in Canucks’ history. Or how about turning the clock back and staging the event at Pacific Coliseum as an homage to the early years of the organization? At this stage, everything has to be considered. The first step, though, is to secure the event.
There is no question hosting the draft would be a popular choice with fans here and a fantastic way for the Canucks to launch a special season.
Jeff Paterson writes Sundays on the Canucks.