Seventh pick seems to suit Canucks just fine
The NHL Scouting Combine was a big week for draft prospects.
This week could be bigger, but nobody is heading to Vancouver.
While the focus last week in Buffalo, N.Y., was on interviews and testing, follow-up visits are barometers of a heightened level of interest. Whether it’s further physical testing or giving a prospect the tour — the Canucks were stealth-like a year ago in showing Elias Pettersson their facilities and a poster-card perfect city — there is a lot of merit to the approach.
The Canucks interviewed 78 of 104 invited players last week in Buffalo, but didn’t plan follow-ups here with prospects.
That could mean they ’re not sure who’s going to be there when they select seventh overall June 22 in Dallas. Or it could mean they already have good intelligence on anyone who could be available. Either way, Canucks general manager Jim Benning didn’t sound like he’s about to part with the pick for immediate roster help because he should land a bona fide prospect.
“We have no follow-up visits planned and if we need to follow up with a player, we’ll do it when we go early into Dallas,” Benning said Monday. “We’re satisfied with the process of watching them play, the interviews and the physical and medical testing.
“Every year, the prospects just seem to get better and better. They’re comfortable coming in and sitting with a group of adults. And maybe that’s social media now, they don’t feel intimidated. When I was a kid, I would have walked into a room like that and been scared. They’re just not afraid anymore.”
A year ago, the Canucks ensured Pettersson met countrymen Henrik and Daniel Sedin and witnessed their legendary off-season training regimen. The interaction was significant because the Canucks wanted the slight, 165-pound puck magician to be sold on the franchise because they were sold on the slick Swede.
Fast-forward and the Canucks are also in a spot where peers could offer immediate help for the pick and a young player — like that Noah Hanifin trade rumour — but the cost would defeat everything the Canucks are attempting in a roster rebuild.
“I’m not closing up my options on that (moving the pick) today and I’ll continue to talk to teams, but it would take a lot,” said Benning. “We feel real strong that we’re getting a really good player (at No. 7).”
Even trying to recoup the 2018 fourth-round pick surrendered in the Derrick Pouliot acquisition has challenges.
“It’s easier said than done because you’ve got to trade players off your team to acquire picks and we don’t have a lot of depth,” stressed said Benning.
What Benning will have in Dallas are draft options. The Canucks need someone who projects as a possible top-pairing defenceman or top-six forward. Benning hasn’t changed his long-standing mantra of picking the best player versus a positional need, but he could have a pair of defenceman available once the top picks play out.
Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin and wingers Andrei Svechnikov, Filip Zadina and Brady Tkachuk top the prospects list and are expected to be selected by Buffalo, Carolina, Montreal and Ottawa.
Arizona could nab defenceman Quinn Hughes at No. 5.Detroit could then select blue-liner Evan Bouchard at No. 6. That would leave Memorial Cup winner Noah Dobson and Sweden’s Adam Boqvist available at No. 7.
The six-foot-three, 180-pound Dobson projects as a top-pairing producer after 69 points with Acadie-Bathurst in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The five-foot-11, 170-pound Boqvist brings skill and creativity and his 24 points in 25 games with Byrnas were impressive.