Despite Canucks' appalling luck, highest pick since Sedins still promising

There really is no limit to the hockey gods’ cruelty when it comes to the Vancouver Canucks.

Not only did the National Hockey League’s worst team lose the draft lottery parlour game yet again Tuesday, the rusty knife plunged into the guts of Canucks Nation was twisted sickeningly when the Toronto Maple Leafs snatched the first pick and the chance in June to select Gavin McKenna.

The Maple Leafs moved to first from fifth in the draft order, while the Canucks dropped to third. The San Jose Sharks leapt to second from ninth by winning the second lottery draw, the California team’s second victory by chance in three years.

When the NHL carnival wheel spun against the Canucks in 1970, it was supposed to decide the first pick of that year’s draft. But on days like Tuesday, it sure feels like it set the tone for the fate of the franchise.

Since picking second behind their expansion cousins — the Buffalo Sabres grabbed Hall of Famer Gilbert Perreault, the Canucks took Dale Tallon — that first season, Vancouver remains without a Stanley Cup and is the only team currently 0-3 in Cup Finals.

At 25-29-8 — with just nine home wins all season — the Canucks last month finished last in the NHL by three time zones, 20 points behind the Leafs and 28 adrift of the emerging Sharks. 

But finishing last in the NHL earns the league’s most needy team only a 25.5 per cent chance of drafting first and the Canucks, as usual, watched others beat the odds.

Statistically, Vancouver picking third overall in June was the most likely outcome, the way the lottery has been designed. But it still hurts.

Except for a surprise league ruling in 1990 that allowed the team to keep a contentious draft pick named Pavel Bure, cunningly claimed in the sixth round the previous year (the gods must have golfing that day), the Canucks just aren’t allowed to have nice things.

They remain 0-for-ever in the draft lottery, one of only six teams unlucky enough never to have moved up in the order since the NHL began randomly juggling picks in 1995 to prevent tanking. The measure, you may gather, has reached absurd levels over the last decade, when the league turned a safeguard mechanism into a fan spectacle involving as many teams as possible.

Besides choosing third, Vancouver has three other selections among the top 41 picks in this year’s draft.

"Despite the fact that the Canucks aren't going to pick No. 1, it doesn't mean that we have to be all upset about this," Canucks president Jim Rutherford said in a press conference that followed the NHL’s lottery show. "This is a really strong draft. With the disappointment and all the excitement that goes with picking No. 1, No. 3 is still going to be a great building block for the Vancouver Canucks.

“What I've been told by our amateur (scouting) staff is they're very confident that we're getting a number of good players in this draft. Picking at the top of the second (round), and even in the middle of the second, our staff feels very confident they like players that are going to fall in there. This could be a game changer for the Canucks if, in fact, the staff hits on three or four of these players.”

Despite their appalling luck, the Canucks’ draft position at No. 3 is still the franchise’s highest since Brian Burke conjured Daniel and Henrik Sedin second- and third-overall in 1999. The twins watched grim-faced as the organization’s representatives while the draft show was broadcast from NHL Network headquarters in New Jersey.

With its top pick, Vancouver is still going to get an outstanding prospect, someone who should be a key part of its rebuild and may even play in the NHL next season. But the Canucks almost certainly will not be getting McKenna.

The offensive playmaker could have been a game-changer for Vancouver, not only on the ice for his dynamic skills, but for re-energizing a fanbase that just endured one of the bleakest, most disappointing seasons ever inflicted upon them.

Whatever McKenna’s shortcomings, the 18-year-old winger from the Yukon, who is training in Kelowna, is the most offensively talented player available in June and the one most likely to excite fans.

The Canucks, like many NHL teams, have wrestled with the choice of McKenna over buzzsaw Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg as the top forward (and player) available in this draft class. 

But now they may not get either.

The organization is extremely high on offensive defenceman Chase Reid, an American who played junior hockey in Sault St. Marie, and has liked Brantford junior centre Caleb Malhotra, minor-league coach Manny Mahotra’s son, long before the two-way pivot soared up draft rankings.

Reid also headlines a talented tier of defencemen that includes Keaton Verhoeff and Carson Carels. 

Over time, any of these players could become stars. But none of them has the immediate star power of McKenna.

From the Quinn Hughes trade, the Canucks acquired the Minnesota Wild’s first-round pick, currently 24^th but subject to a slight downgrade if the Wild make the Stanley Cup Playoffs’ final four. Kiefer Sherwood’s trade to San Jose gave Vancouver an extra second-round pick, 41^st overall. As the worst team in the regular season, the Canucks’ own second pick will be the first of the second round, 33^rd overall.

A good portion of the team’s rebuild can be constructed in June with sharp drafting. All they need is a little luck.