Draft 2012

[The_Pauser]

Wouldn't touch Wilson...I see him developing into a Ben Eager type of player. He'll probably top out as a 4th line enforcer type.

At 26, if someone like Slater Koekkoek falls I would take him immediately. Sadly I doubt that will be the case. Realistically I think we're looking at someone like Scott Laughton, Dalton Thrower, or Stefan Matteau. I wouldn't at all mind trading the 26th overall pick for the 37th overall pick and the 40th overall pick (Tbay) and hoping to land two of Kerdiles, Frk, Sutter, or Jankowski. I am also highly interested in getting Damon Severson in the 2nd round as well.

[FAN]

At 26, if someone like Slater Koekkoek falls I would take him immediately. Sadly I doubt that will be the case. Realistically I think we're looking at someone like Scott Laughton, Dalton Thrower, or Stefan Matteau. I wouldn't at all mind trading the 26th overall pick for the 37th overall pick and the 40th overall pick (Tbay) and hoping to land two of Kerdiles, Frk, Sutter, or Jankowski. I am also highly interested in getting Damon Severson in the 2nd round as well.

This is a great draft to draft defense so it depends on how the draft plays out. If the teams ahead of us drafts forwards there should be a good Dman that drops down to us. Even if the guys lated to go in the early 20s are gone by then there are still Dman like Bystrom, a type of Dman Gillis seems to like. I'm not too sure about Thrower. I think he'll make a better 2nd round pick. Just worried about his size a bit. He's only a little more than 5'11" and might not play at 200 pounds. I'm not a fan of Matteau as I see him as a 3rd line grinder, a guy you pick with your 2nd and 3rd round pick. I'm pretty sure the 26th pick will not be enough to get the 37th and 40th pick but you never know.

One name to watch out for is Pelech, Gillis' nephew but Gillis hasn't acquired any Pelechs so...

[Lancer]

I'd rather they select someone like Henrik Samuelsson. If Sissons is there at 26 I'd take him as well. Sutter's also intriguing.

Yeah, there are some interesting defence prospects in the 26th pick-range and Gillis may opt for the best player available, but if there's an organizational need on the farm, I'd say it's at forward vice defence and anyone one of the above has a good chance at making it with the club in a couple of years.

[FAN]

if there's an organizational need on the farm, I'd say it's at forward vice defence

I'm not sure if the organizational need is at forward as opposed to defense. I think the Canucks lack a blue-chip prospect on defense. Not that draft position is everything, but the Canucks haven't picked a defenseman before the 3rd round since Sauve, and before that Ellington, and before that Koltsov and Grot. That's not to say the Dmen in the system don't look promising but Dmen tend to take a longer time to develop and any Dman you draft is likely at least 4-5 years away. Obviously, things will look different if the likes of Tanev, Sauve, Connaughton etc. crack the lineup and show top 4 potential.

[Fred]

if there's an organizational need on the farm, I'd say it's at forward vice defence

I'm not sure if the organizational need is at forward as opposed to defense. I think the Canucks lack a blue-chip prospect on defense. Not that draft position is everything, but the Canucks haven't picked a defenseman before the 3rd round since Sauve, and before that Ellington, and before that Koltsov and Grot. That's not to say the Dmen in the system don't look promising but Dmen tend to take a longer time to develop and any Dman you draft is likely at least 4-5 years away. Obviously, things will look different if the likes of Tanev, Sauve, Connaughton etc. crack the lineup and show top 4 potential.

Luc Bourdon. It seems to me you can add Mc Nally, and Corrado maybe Polasek and delete Suave. The farm is bare of any forwards apart from Jensen... assuming Schroeder is up with the big club come the Fall

[Benjo]

Looks like NJ is going to keep their first rounder this year which I believe is going to be 29th overall. They are supposed to forfeit their first rounder either this season or in 1 of the next 2 seasons I believe. This just goes to show how teams around the league feel about this draft class.

[dbr]

Thought I'd take a page out of the Fred playbook and repost an entire CanucksArmy.com article

(kidding, but it attempts to gain some insight into the Canucks drafting strategy which is at least semi-interesting.)

Mike Gillis' Fishing Holes

Today's topic concerns Gillis' favorite draft prospect "Fishing Holes." This is a concept that was introduced to me by Scott Reynolds, but was originally coined by our pal Kent Wilson, who explained it as such:

Clubs [may] develop what I call "fishing holes", by which I mean they concentrate their scouting in certain amateur/developmental leagues (for the Flames, it's the WHL/CHL) - they can become familiar with the relative degree and value of the competition and therefore can more capably gauge a prospects level of performance.

Over the past decade, the Canucks have selected an above average number of prospects from the WHL, QMJHL and from Sweden at the draft, while shirking players from the US National Development Team Program and the OHL. Under Gillis, those trends have changed somewhat.

Of particular amusement value...

There are voices in the Vancouver media who'd like to see Gillis refocus on selecting more local talent, but from my perspective, disregarding the regionalist, sea-to-sky maple boner sentiments of the Canucks fanbase is probably the right policy when evaluating talent.

Ultimately there aren't too many conclusions drawn, other than pointing out that the Gillis regime has selected players out of the QMJHL and Sweden at much higher rate than the rest of the league, the NCAA slightly more often than the rest of the league and everywhere else of significance at a lower rate.

[Fred]

Interesting article. I believe Lingren now does Scananavia and Grdin lives locally now. He remarried a local lady who did the travel booking for the Canucks. I've seen him a couple of times at the Giants games.

The Dub was always thought to be the best league to prepare players, with all the travel and number of games. Most kids in the OHL are home every night.

Plus Smyl is doing a lot of scouting in the NCAA.

Fishing holes I have to believe more likely show the strength of the scout in a particular area.

[Topper]

Just plain stupid. No wonder the Flames go for it. You wonder if they ever looked past kids named Sutter.

It is a big world out there folks, no need for xenophobic myopia.

[Fred]

Wouldn't touch Wilson...I see him developing into a Ben Eager type of player. He'll probably top out as a 4th line enforcer type.

At 26, if someone like Slater Koekkoek falls I would take him immediately. Sadly I doubt that will be the case. Realistically I think we're looking at someone like Scott Laughton, Dalton Thrower, or Stefan Matteau. I wouldn't at all mind trading the 26th overall pick for the 37th overall pick and the 40th overall pick (Tbay) and hoping to land two of Kerdiles, Frk, Sutter, or Jankowski. I am also highly interested in getting Damon Severson in the 2nd round as well.

More of a Chris Neil many scouts are liking him to Lucic. Remember Ronning between Sandalak and Momesso, well I can see Schroeder between Kassian and Wilson, what a load that would be, but maybe Henrik Samuelsson might be a better pick he sure made up a lot of ground since Christmas. Another guy is Brady Skeji big smooth skating D

[RoyalDude]

Wouldn't touch Wilson...I see him developing into a Ben Eager type of player. He'll probably top out as a 4th line enforcer type.

At 26, if someone like Slater Koekkoek falls I would take him immediately. Sadly I doubt that will be the case. Realistically I think we're looking at someone like Scott Laughton, Dalton Thrower, or Stefan Matteau. I wouldn't at all mind trading the 26th overall pick for the 37th overall pick and the 40th overall pick (Tbay) and hoping to land two of Kerdiles, Frk, Sutter, or Jankowski. I am also highly interested in getting Damon Severson in the 2nd round as well.

More of a Chris Neil many scouts are liking him to Lucic. Remember Ronning between Sandalak and Momesso, well I can see Schroeder between Kassian and Wilson, what a load that would be, but maybe Henrik Samuelsson might be a better pick he sure made up a lot of ground since Christmas. Another guy is Brady Skeji big smooth skating D

Um, with the age of the Sedins heading into next season - 32 Years of Age...I would think, if I were a smart GM, that skill would be a major concern on the future of this organization, I mean, wasn't Kassian supposed to be that, I mean we did give up skill for his type of hockey player you want in this injury prone Wilson, I mean, that is brilliant....draft a player with a history of injuries when this team already has it's fair share of chronicness when it comes to untimely injuries.

Skill baby, you alway draft at the top end of the draft with skill in mind, you can get your Wilson's later in the draft, but hey, if you feel that Kassian can't cut the mustard and live up to the expectations of our Lucic then I guess we are still looking for help in that area.

[SKYO]

Nice read on hockeysfuture.com

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/73805/vancouver-canucks-2012-draft-preview/

Draft Tendencies

As is the case for most teams drafting towards the lower portion of the first round, it's the old adage of best player available for the Canucks. Drafting there makes things tougher for Gillis, head scout Ron Delorme and his scouting staff, but that's the price you pay for success.

The Canucks really don't have much in terms of discernable draft patterns over the course of the past few years when it comes to drafting specific positions. Out of 20 selections in the past three Canucks draft classes, they've selected nine forwards, eight defenseman and three goaltenders. Vancouver just needs to continue the same pattern of drafting the best player available because they need to add talent at all positions.

In terms of drafting from specific leagues, they've shown a tendency lately to stray away from the WHL, which is slightly puzzling considering they have a good chunk of the WHL teams practically right in their own backyard. They haven't drafted a player from the WHL since 2008. The last four players they drafted from that league can safely be considered draft busts. They have dipped into the QMJHL quite a fair bit over the past three drafts as a quarter of their 20 picks have come from that league.

One look at the Canucks NHL roster and you can see their fondness for drafting Europeans, specifically Swedish players. Just like the QMJHL, a quarter of their 20 picks from the past three years have come from Sweden. Given the success the Canucks have had drafting from that country, combined with Sweden's player development being on a major upswing and it's no wonder they are fond of drafting them.

It's funny how MG want's big power forwards, and he/Delorme squad haven't looked to the WHL much, as that is where Benn, Lucic, E Kane all have came from, now those guys are pretty much untouchable young power forward scoring wingers and, these players are exactly what MG has been trying to acquire since he got here!

[Fred]

It's funny how MG wants big power forwards, and he/Delorme squad haven't looked to the WHL much, as that is where Benn, Lucic, E Kane all have came from, now those guys are pretty much untouchable young power forward scoring wingers and, these players are exactly what MG has been trying to acquire since he got here!

I've come to the conclusion it's nothing more than lip service. Especially in game situations AV generally punishes players that get too emotional shall we say during a game IMO. I always remember Cam Neeley during his rookie year in Vcr he fought every one he could. He set the tome for his career and didn't have to re-enforce it to often. Vcr has failed to set a tone that has long term effects, because AV wants short term satisfaction of winning game and the Presidents Cup. IMO he's a good coach and get wonders out of a team that's not awash with talent, but his achilles tendon is his inability to set longer term goals

And besides there is a hint in the interview with the Vcr Sun he may in fact trade his first round pick..... I don't think we have a 2nd or third..... maybe should have saved money and just sent Delorme and Gradin on their own


CanuckArmy http://canucksarmy.com/2012/6/21/nhl-dr ... nd-targets

[SKYO]

Edmonton has a sick offense.

[Jovocop]

Edmonton has a sick offense.

However, they will need to deal their "sick" offense to get helps for their defense and goaltending.