Were Makar available, Canucks could have been facing quandary
CHICAGO Jim Benning faced a double dilemma Friday in the first round of the National Hockey League entry draft.
The Vancouver Canucks general manager always included Elias Pettersson on his wish list of playmaking centres and selected the slick Swede fifth overall.
However, had puck-moving, projected power-play quarterback Cale Makar slipped one spot from fourth to fifth, it might have got interesting.
A day before the draft, Benning said this: “Any time you can get a high-end offensive defenceman in today’s game who drives the play for your team, that’s something we’re going to look at.”
After the first round he added this if Makar had been available: “That would have been a hard decision with his mobility, but we kind of had a feeling that both defencemen (Miro Heiskanen at No. 3 to Dallas and Makar at No. 4 to Colorado) would be gone. We were checking out a couple of guys and Pettersson was the one we wanted.”
The Canucks were also high on centre Cody Glass and so was Vegas. A flip of picks from fifth to sixth was expected to net Benning a second-round selection — he wouldn’t confirm the report — but when he passed on Glass, the Golden Knights had their guy at No. 6.
“We really liked him (Glass), too, but with Pettersson, it was that he was playing (with men) in the Allsvenkan league and put up good numbers and there’s a relationship with (prospect) Jonathan Dahlen. We’re hoping they could be part of a good line for us.
“Pettersson is a guy we identified early on. The way he thinks the game and the skill and the release on his shot, he makes other players better. If you look at our prospects and guys we had on the wing, he can get them the puck. It’s about speed and skill and he has good balance on his skates.”
Dahlen, 19, acquired from Ottawa in the Alex Burrows trade, has signed an entry-level contract and will be at the Canucks camp. How he fares will determine whether he plays in the AHL at Utica or returns to Sweden. His relationship with Pettersson played a part in the first-round pick.
“They can read off each other and we’ll have to see where they go in development,” added Benning. “We’re going to see where Dahlen is at. If he’s close to playing in the NHL, he’ll play in Utica. But if he needs to develop, he’ll go back to Sweden and he could play with Pettersson.”
DAY 2 PREVIEW
With the No. 33 and 55 picks in the second round Saturday, the Canucks can address a need. Eight defencemen went in the first round, including five in a row from No. 14-18, and Benning needs to bolster the back end.
“We’re going to take the best players available with the next three picks and if we haven’t taken a defenceman, we’ll concentrate more on one,” said Benning. “We’ll be leaning toward a forward with that 33rd selection and we’ll see who’s there at 55.”
One forward linked to the Canucks was big Russian winger Klim Kostin, who went 31st overall to St. Louis. “With what happened with Nikita Tryamkin (bolting back to the KHL) it probably would have been tough to take another Russian so high,” said Benning. “We weren’t trying to trade up to get into the first round and a player we liked had already been taken, so we didn’t try to move up.
“And at number 33, we still like two or three players who could have gone in the first round. We’re going to get one of those in the top of the second round. We can also flip down and try to recover picks in the fifth and sixth rounds.”
The draft continues Saturday, starting at 7 a.m. Vancouver time. The Canucks have six picks in the remaining six rounds.
WILLIE A WANTED MAN
Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said Friday he wanted ex-Vancouver Canucks coach Willie Desjardins back in the organization, but the former Stars associate coach and Texas Stars bench boss is expected to guide Team Canada at the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.
Desjardins is no stranger to the international arena.
He was an assistant when Canada captured world junior gold in 2009 and was head coach the following year when Canada claimed silver.
Former Canucks assistant coach Perry Pearn, who has been on three world junior tourney staffs, said Friday he would like to join Desjardins on the Olympic staff.
And don’t count out interest from Dave King.