Linden says defencemen much harder to judge
DALLAS — One year ago, the Vancouver Canucks tried to trade back with three NHL teams before settling on keeping their pick. They feared that, if they moved down, they wouldn’t have been in position to select Elias Pettersson.
With nine players they like at the top of this weekend’s 2018 NHL Entry Draft, the Canucks will explore options to do the same. It may be the only way to add to the six total draft picks they have on Friday and Saturday.
It could be a shrewd approach. The Canucks want a blue-liner, but it has proven more difficult over the years too assess top defenceman as opposed to forwards.
For example, if the Canucks were to trade with the New York Islanders for the 11th overall pick plus extras, there’s reason to believe the D-man they get at No. 11 could be just as good, or better, than one they would have taken at No. 7.
There are endless examples of this, but perhaps none better than Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins who went 14th overall in the 2016 draft, and would have been a Calder Trophy candidate in 2017-18 if he didn’t get hurt.
“It’s probably harder drafting defencemen,” Canucks’ president Trevor Linden said. “If you look at misses, particularly top 10 misses, a lot are defenceman.
“You look at the group of defencemen in this draft (after Rasmus Dahlin) and you talk to five people, and you probably get five different answers of who they like best.
“I think this is why looking at player type is important; looking at what kind of defenceman the player is. And we’re doing a lot more of that now.”