Canucks Young Guns

[Lancer]

Nugent-Hopkins was drafted 1st overall. Just sayin...

A 2nd line two-way "high-character" centre with size and athleticism. Not bad at #3.

Not great.

But not bad.

[Ronning's Ghost]

Trade him!!!

Over sensitive RG.

The assessor is going to hedge his bets to start with.

Instead of glass is half empty Canuck talk let's take a month before the season to breathe, relax and attempt to enjoy that we have 5 players worthy of discussing as potential NHL'ers in our system when not that long ago we had little other than Klimovich to hope for.

I'm sure they would have preferred McKenna, but you know how that goes.

A premium two way second line center is not such a bad thing to have.

Let's suppose a premium two way second line centre means something between the 25th and 40th best centre in the League. That's a great thing to have -- potentially a key piece of the core.

But if a legitimate top pairing (but sub-superstar) D-man is between the 10th and 30th best defenceman (on that side) in the league, I think that is a better thing to have. If nothing else, he will generally have more ice-time, and therefore more impact on the outcome of the game. Time will tell if the Canucks passed over any.

And I will concede that even if they did, the doesn't necessarily mean that they got the draft wrong. Most observers are convinced that Malhotra has a high floor, and is going to be locker room/ team cohesion asset (addressing some recent organizational weakness), and there may have no consensus on which of the available defencemen -- if any -- was going to be that guy (or even if he was, he might have been a head-case). But I read many good arguments on this very GDHMB that at this stage of a re-build, the Canucks' highest draft picks should be directed towards the highest ceiling.

[Ronning's Ghost]

Nugent-Hopkins was drafted 1st overall. Just sayin...

A 2nd line two-way "high-character" centre with size and athleticism. Not bad at #3.

Not great.

But not bad.

Looking over a list of recent, but sufficiently long-ago that the outcome was apparent, 3OAs, I'd say that it would fall just slightly below the median.

But they can only draft the players that are there, and draft year crops vary widely. If they got either of the Best Player Available, or the Best Overall Organizational Fit (including future trade value), then they got it right.

And I will again acknowledge that predicting the professional careers of 18 year old athletes is harder than predicting stock performance, and so in both fields, just being right more often than you're wrong, and when you're wrong, not being so wrong that it's a disaster, means you're pretty good.

[donlever]

Would it be okay with you if he became Patrice Bergeron?

(...I don't think Bergeron ever hit 80 points in a season but he certainly displayed all the characteristics Malhotra is described with...)

Lets give the kid a chance before we judge him above, below or at median level....

[Ronning's Ghost]

Would it be okay with you if he became Patrice Bergeron?

It would depend on the opportunity cost. I would consider the pick a classic Canuck "if-only" if it turned out a defenceman who becomes Nicklas Lidström was still on the board. If there was no one else who so much as plays in an all-star game, then he was clearly the best pick, and great job management and scouting staff.

Lets give the kid a chance before we judge him above, below or at median level....

I was just saying that a generic "2nd line two-way "high-character" centre with size and athleticism" would be slightly less than median for a post- cap #3OA. I'm not suggesting any ceiling on what Malhotra may develop into.

And I absolutely agree that it is years too early to judge any of Malhotra, the kids who were picked after him, or the strategic choice that the Canucks made under the circumstance.

But you want to drive summer discussion on a hockey message board somehow, don't ya ?

[Aaronp18]

Interesting discussion this.

One could very well argue that a 2nd line centre responsible at both ends of the ice could be more impactful than a scoring centre not named McDavid.

They would potentially see more ice time than a scoring centre playing against the other team’s top line and killing penalties. Likely spotting on the 2nd PP as well.

Now throwing Lidstrom out there is a stretch, but also ironic as he was taken nowhere near the top of his draft class. But if he was available and any kid was touted as such he would’ve gone 1st easy. So we still wouldn’t have had the ability to drafted him.

I was sceptical of the pick at the time but seeing where a lot of the D men went I may have taken at that spot I would certainly concede that right now the NHL scouts likely see the value in Caleb and if he turns into a top 2 centre playing 20-25 a night putting up 70ish points that’s a well picked 3OA.

[Ronning's Ghost]

One could very well argue that a 2nd line centre responsible at both ends of the ice could be more impactful than a scoring centre not named McDavid.

Are you saying that if we're drafting teams from former Canucks you're taking Ryan Kesler before Henrik Sedin ? Or, to choose arguably higher end examples from another club, Bob Gainey before Jean Beliveau ?

[Hockey Widow]

The Abbotsford Canucks have signed former Penguins draft-pick Isaac Belliveau to a one-year AHL contract.
A former Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick is making his way to the Abbotsford Canucks.
23-year-old Isaac Belliveau, who was drafted in the fifth-round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, has been signed to a one-year AHL contract by Abbotsford.
The 6-foot-2, left-shot defenceman has spent the past three seasons split between the AHL and ECHL. He skated for the Wheeling Nailers in 2023–24, putting up 14 goals and 24 assists in 70 games with the Penguins’ ECHL-affiliate. The 2024–25 season saw him play in more of a split, skating in 22 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and 25 with the Nailers.


From the internet somewhere.

[Cousin Strawberry]

What a name for a team. The Wheeling Nailers

[Aaronp18]

One could very well argue that a 2nd line centre responsible at both ends of the ice could be more impactful than a scoring centre not named McDavid.

Are you saying that if we're drafting teams from former Canucks you're taking Ryan Kesler before Henrik Sedin ? Or, to choose arguably higher end examples from another club, Bob Gainey before Jean Beliveau ?

Perhaps not, but I would probably take Bergeron before Henrik, especially if Daniel isn't included.