This years draft June 22nd in Pitts

[Fred]

Griffin Reinhart, go after a local for once!

By the time we step up to draft Reinhart will be long long gone. We pick at the #26 slot

[BladesofSteel]

I would like to see management move some expendable bodies (ie. Raymond, Alberts, Ballard) in need of a fresh start to load up on picks and make a concerted effort to stock pile prospects. Or, if possible load up on depth picks with the mandate of moving up in the draft.

I agree, this club has traditionally lacked in drafting/developing home town boys. If Gillis wants to continue pounding the drum on scouting and player development investments, shouldn't Vancouver lead the way in BC scouting? There are far too many talented kids slipping through the cracks of this organization. Particularly in the mid-late rounds. It's our own back yard FFS!!

[Potatoe1]

The reality is we need prospects at basically every position, I'm always partial to taking forwards because they develop faster, but when your farm system is lacking in top end talent like ours seems to be, you really have to take the best player available.

[BladesofSteel]

The reality is we need prospects at basically every position, I'm always partial to taking forwards because they develop faster, but when your farm system is lacking in top end talent like ours seems to be, you really have to take the best player available.

Goaltending and defense depth are certainly Vancouvers strengths right now. So if Gillis picked a majority of forwards this year, I'd have no issues there.

As far as the best player available, its my belief this mainly applies to the first two rounds, where players are scouted, interviewed and tested inside and out . Beyond that, it is a crap shoot to a certain extent, but it is also the job of the scouts to find the gems and bring them to the attention of the brass. My point is, with the resources (virtually unlimited) Gillis has in the scouting department, Vancouver should have the upper hand on scouting reports for the Dub and Junior A talent throughout British Columbia and Western Canada.

The Jamie Benn's and Troy Brouwers of the later rounds must be on Gillis' radar before anyone else.

[the Dogsalmon]

The reality is we need prospects at basically every position, I'm always partial to taking forwards because they develop faster, but when your farm system is lacking in top end talent like ours seems to be, you really have to take the best player available.

the whole goddamn problem is that we pick prospects and not players...we will take a kid and put him in the minors until he rots and dies...our GM's call it development...i call it rotting...when was the last time we had an 18 year old play a full season(i cant remember)...every other team( yes i know some shit dick will point out Detroit but they are dead without Lidstrom) plays 18 or 19 year old rookies...NOT US...we would rather pick some player we can develop for 5 years than a player who plays today...i have watched it every goddamn year for fucking decades...our drafting sucks cock bigtime...personally they should fire the whole fucking lot and start again...fuck...

[Potatoe1]

the whole goddamn problem is that we pick prospects and not players...we will take a kid and put him in the minors until he rots and dies...

Which prospects are you talking about?

[tantalum]

Obviously all the ones that AV won't use so they rot and die. You know guys like Burrows, Hansen, Schneider, Tanev.......

THere are many things I can question AV about but development of young players isn't really one of them. He demands only a couple of things from his young players:

1) have the ability to be an NHL player
2) be able to play the defensive side of the puck

About the only prospect he broke those rules with is Hodgson and I think it's fairly apparent that it was for the reason many didn't like Gillis stating.

Schroeder, for instance, can check box #1 with his speed and skill and he was asked this past season to concentrate on being able to do the second thing.

[Potatoe1]

About the only prospect he broke those rules with is Hodgson and I think it's fairly apparent that it was for the reason many didn't like Gillis stating.

Meh...

I don't even think Hodgson got a rough ride from AV. That whole thing was way over played by the media and apparently Cody's parents.

Cody got 12mpg and was never scratched, on a first place club that's really all you would expect to see out of a rookie.

Not only that but Hodgson was making good progress under AV. Had he kept his head down and stayed the course he probably would have been looking at a 25 goal 50 point type of season next year and gotten a fat raise the following summer.

[vic]

About the only prospect he broke those rules with is Hodgson and I think it's fairly apparent that it was for the reason many didn't like Gillis stating.

Not only that but Hodgson was making good progress under AV. Had he kept his head down and stayed the course he probably would have been looking at a 25 goal 50 point type of season next year and gotten a fat raise the following summer.

Not to mention the #2C position was essentially his to start the year (Kelser was injured in February, unless COHO was that distanced from the team, he must have known the opportunity that lay ahead) unless Kesler was injured after the trade deadline?

Either way, the team doesn't have many rookies playing because there is no room from them on the roster.

[Island Nucklehead]

the whole goddamn problem is that we pick prospects and not players...we will take a kid and put him in the minors until he rots and dies...our GM's call it development...i call it rotting...when was the last time we had an 18 year old play a full season(i cant remember)...every other team( yes i know some shit dick will point out Detroit but they are dead without Lidstrom) plays 18 or 19 year old rookies...NOT US...we would rather pick some player we can develop for 5 years than a player who plays today...i have watched it every goddamn year for fucking decades...our drafting sucks cock bigtime...personally they should fire the whole fucking lot and start again...fuck...

With a most of our draft picks recently, who would you have plunked right into the NHL? Which one had the talent, coming out of Junior, to step right into the NHL? It's not like we're getting top-5 picks on a consistent basis.

Even teams like Edmonton, who have the pick out of anyone in the draft, have debatable success with this. They draft 1st overall, then throw the kids to the wolves. We've seen kids like Hall and RNH have injury trouble because they might just not be ready for starring roles as 18 year olds.

[the Dogsalmon]

the whole goddamn problem is that we pick prospects and not players...we will take a kid and put him in the minors until he rots and dies...our GM's call it development...i call it rotting...when was the last time we had an 18 year old play a full season(i cant remember)...every other team( yes i know some shit dick will point out Detroit but they are dead without Lidstrom) plays 18 or 19 year old rookies...NOT US...we would rather pick some player we can develop for 5 years than a player who plays today...i have watched it every goddamn year for fucking decades...our drafting sucks cock bigtime...personally they should fire the whole fucking lot and start again...fuck...

With a most of our draft picks recently, who would you have plunked right into the NHL? Which one had the talent, coming out of Junior, to step right into the NHL? It's not like we're getting top-5 picks on a consistent basis.

Even teams like Edmonton, who have the pick out of anyone in the draft, have debatable success with this. They draft 1st overall, then throw the kids to the wolves. We've seen kids like Hall and RNH have injury trouble because they might just not be ready for starring roles as 18 year olds.

its not my job to pick the players and i would have passed on most of our recent draft picks...other than Jensen...we aint got shit...

[Potatoe1]

its not my job to pick the players and i would have passed on most of our recent draft picks...other than Jensen...we aint got shit...

So your previous rant was just a spout off?

Got it...

[the Dogsalmon]

bit of both...we cant draft worth shit...thats a proven fact that has spanned decades...

[Potatoe1]

bit of both...we cant draft worth shit...thats a proven fact that has spanned decades...

Most of our current core was drafted and developed here.

That core has been one of the best teams in the league the past 2 years.

Keep up the ranting though.....

[RoyalDude]

bit of both...we cant draft worth shit...thats a proven fact that has spanned decades...

No, Gillis can't draft worth shit. Coming up to his 5th draft and the only one draft pick of his that has made the grade in that time, he trades away for a player playing in the minors. I don't think Gillis is a big believer of drafting and developing. He has traded more picks in his time as GM than any other GM in Canuck history.

I love it though, cause the pressure is really on Gillis now. We finally get to see what he is truly made of as a GM after hiding behind a team where it's core players were put in place by previous management, now that that core is getting stale or showing signs of it, we now get to see what Gillis is truly made of. Can't wait.