Team: Vancouver Canucks
GM: Mike Gillis
First-round pick: 26th
Number of picks: Five (Rounds 1, 2, 5, 6, 7)
Recent first-round picks: LW Nicklas Jensen (2011), C Jordan Schroeder (2009), C Cody Hodgson (2008), C Patrick White (2007)
Team needs: The Vancouver Canucks are one of the deepest teams in the NHL and don’t really need a player that can step into their lineup in the immediate future. Goaltending shouldn’t be an issue even if Roberto Luongo is traded this summer as the Canucks have Eddie Lack in the system who is more than capable of stepping into the backup role.
What the Canucks need is a puck-moving defenceman with star potential, and Vancouver is in a unique position in that they can try for a home run with their late first-round pick.
Likely first-round target: Ludvig Bystrom, D, MoDo (Sweden)
Other options: If the Canucks want to go off the board, Nick Ebert of the Windsor Spitfires is a high-risk defenceman with tremendous upside. A year ago, Ebert was considered a top-five pick, but after failing to build on an impressive rookie season in the OHL, scouts are now calling him overrated. He possesses all the attributes of an NHL defenceman but needs to up his intensity and become more consistent. Another D-man with big upside is Slater Koekkoek, but he will most likely be off the board before the Canucks pick at No. 26.
Great moments in draft history: Back in 1999, Canucks general manager Brian Burke certainly took advantage of a weak draft class. The Canucks already held the No. 3 overall pick but were targeting Henrik and Daniel Sedin, who made it very clear they wanted to be drafted by the same team.
Burke began his maneuvering by trading Bryan McCabe and a 2000 first-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for the No. 4 overall pick. Burke then sent that pick and two third-round picks to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for the No. 1 overall pick. The Canucks and expansion Atlanta Thrashers then swapped the top two picks with the condition that Atlanta would take Patrik Stefan with the first pick in the draft so that the Canucks could select the Sedin twins in sequential order.
Of the top 15 picks in 1999, Tim Connolly and Taylor Pyatt are the only other two players currently playing in the NHL.
A steal at No. 26: Zigmund Palffy is a perfect example of slowly cultivating a player with tremendous offensive upside. When the New York Islanders selected Palffy with the No. 26 pick in the 1991 NHL Draft, they knew he needed more seasoning overseas. The dynamic right-winger spent two more seasons in Czechoslovakia before coming over to North America. He then split two more seasons bouncing back and forth between the IHL and NHL before breaking out in the 1995-96 season when he finished with 43 goals and 87 points in his first full NHL season. Unfortunately, shoulder injuries would hamper his once-promising career.
Interestingly, goaltender Cory Schneider could surpass Palffy as the best player to be selected at No. 26. The Vancouver Canucks picked the American netminder back in 2004 and he is considered to be the long-term starter if indeed Luongo is dealt this summer.
Sportsnet says: "Size and tenacity have been issues in Vancouver, and after drafting 6-foot-3 Nicklas Jensen in Round 1 of 2012, then acquiring big Zack Kassian this season, don’t expect Vancouver to change its tact.
At 26, and with the possibility of a Roberto Luongo trade looming over this draft, the Canucks plans are fluid. Would they jump at snarly, skilled Swedish winger Henrik Samuelsson, knowing the Canucks’ penchant for Swedes? Or will the pick be part of a deal that could move Vancouver up to pick from the crop of defencemen this season?" – Mark Spector
