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Vancouver Canucks Blogger •
The 90's started off with a bang with the 1990 draft held in Vancouver BC. This year is arguably a top 5 draft year in the modern era and the Canucks had 3 picks in the first 23! Oh had they known how this draft was going to turn out.
Petr Nedved was taken 2nd overall by the Canucks, a bit undersized in the opinions of some but he had plenty of promise and was well known to the Canucks as he played 3 hours away in Seattle. Most hockey fans can name the first five selections of this draft in order, Nolan, Nedved, Primeau Ricci and Jagr. Can anyone remember #6? It was the first of many hair-brained draft picks taken by the Islanders- Scott Scissons- who played only 2 NHL games in his entire career.
Vancouver would take Shawn Antoski at #18, missing out on Tkachuk, Brodeur, and Smolinksi before taking Jiri "wrap my stick like a candy cane" Slegr. Vancouver would not pick again until the 4th round at #65, here's who they missed after Slegr: Chris Simon, Doug Weight, Geoff Sanderson, Renberg, Kozlov, and Therien. It gets worse though, with Vancouver's next pick they took Darin Bader and missed on these players: Zhamnov, Chris Tamer, Darby Hendrickson and Sergei Zubov. After that one of the most popular players in Vancouver history was drafted Gino Odjick. Now I'm not going to say we should have taken Bondra, Kovalenko, Conroy, or Lang instead, it's just that they all went after Gino and seemed to have better careers.
In 1991 Vancouver had another top 10 pick at #7 and this too would be another draft with some outstanding players available in the top 10 including, Lindros, Foresburg, Lachance and Scott Neidermeyer, along with the infamous Pat Falloon at #2 overall. Vancouver chose Alek Stojanov and we know this to be one of the biggest first round busts in Vancouver history. The only redeeming factor to Stojanov was he was the piece in the biggest lop-sided trade for Vancouver in franchise history. Stojanov for Markus Nalsund. As time wore on many a Canucks fan would refer to that deal as 'our Neely'.
1992 was a rather uneventful draft year with few players who would become superstars and certainly not the Canucks first round pick of Libor Polasek. *face in palm* It was with the 2nd pick where Vancouver took a soon to be sought after NHL player in Mike Peca, a key piece that brought Alexander Mogilny to Vancouver to play with Pavel Bure. In that same year Adrian Aucoin was taken and he has amassed almost 1000 games as a player, certainly not a bad pick for a 5th rounder.
1993 was another very good 1st round with an average of 597 games played by the entire round. With the Canucks picking 20th they took Mike Wilson. Many quality players had been taken and it was apparent then that they team wanted to get better on defense but they missed a few too before picking again #46. Koivu, Bertuzzi, Kevyn Adams, Langenbruner, Morrison, McCabe and Niinimaa were all players available before the Canucks took Rick Girard. There was a gem for Vancouver in round 5 with Scotty Walker but that's all we would get out of that year.
After a stinging loss in game 7 of the Stanley Cup final the Canucks would draft Mathias Ohlund with the number 13 pick, right after Quebec took Wade Belak. Ohlund would soon anchor the Canucks defense for 12 seasons after arriving in Vancouver for the 1997 season. Just ask Jarome Iginla how much he likes Ohlund to get an impression of how valuable he has been to this franchise. If not for Dave Scatchard, this draft could be considered finished for Vancouver after Ohlund as the team barely found anything good later other than Muckalt and Nash if you want to stretch that far.
1995 through 1997 are pretty brutal years for drafting by Vancouver, they saw a total of only 3 players in Cooke, Schaefer and Sopel play more than 500 games each to date. 1998 does not get much better with Bryan Allen at #4 overall while players such as Tanguay, Gagne and Gomez all taken later. With all due respect to Bryan Allen no one really dismissed the pick and he was a key piece in the Luongo deal as well but he certainly does not have the presence and reputation of players like Regher, Beauchemin, Spacek and Markov all taken much later. Even looking at Jarkko Ruutu we can see Vancouver could have done better by looking harder, Eric Cole, Brian Gionta and Pavel Datsyuk were all taken later.
The next period we can look at runs for 5 years from 1999 to the last draft before the lockout in 2004- 6 drafts. It easy to see that Henrik and Daniel Sedin, in a bold move that shipped out Bryan McCabe to get the 2nd pick, are clear winners for the Canucks although it took some time for many of us to see that. Clearly in the 'class of 99' the Canucks got the best two players although some honourable mentions do go out to Havlat, Comrie, Malone and of course Henrik Zetterberg.
2000 to 2003 is a real mess for Vancouver and it's these periodic years of very little that seem to haunt the Canucks. Coincidentally the team's fortune's had turned around and the terrible years of the late 90's had been replaced by a dynamic team and top line called the "West Coast Express" named after the only profitable thing to ever come out of BC Transit- light commuter rail service. Times were good down at the garage but on the farm they were terrible. A total of 30 NHL games came from Canucks picks in 2000 and only Kevin Bieksa remains from 2001 due to the stubbornness of Brian Burke and his dealings with R.J. Umberger- certainly a player the Canucks could have used in the future.
2002 is another grim year for Vancouver with only 12 NHL games from that class. During the lockout top pick Kiril Koltsov left the Manitoba Moose under odd circumstances to return to Russia- Winnipeg wasn't cold enough? There is still hope that he can return to the Canucks but that hope is fading each year. A true talent he was but due to the belief that he only wanted a NHL contract and ice time it seems destined that he stays in Russia and the KHL for the foreseeable future. Hudler, Stajan and Filppula were all taken after the Canucks took the notable Denis Grot.
2003 produced another fan favourite in Ryan Kesler with the Canucks first pick. After that just 42 NHL games were generated from Vancouver choices in 2003. Kesler learned on the farm and brought it too the big city. The Canucks had long been in search of a true #1 stud centre and Kesler was certainly not it no matter how hard we tried to envision it. However, that disappointment did not mean he wasn't going to be valuable and it probably took Bobby Clarke's offer sheet for many Vancouver fans to take a closer look at Kesler and what he brings to the Canucks. He's not looking so bad right now is he?
2004 appears to be the best draft for the Canucks since 1999. Cory Schneider, Alex Edler, Mike Brown Ducks Jersey in the HockeyBuzz Store' href='http://shop.hockeybuzz.com/anaheim-ducks.php'>Mike Brown and Jannik Hensan were all taken that year. Edler is proving to be the future Mathias Ohlund as we await the latter's almost certain departure from the Canucks. Cory Schneider also seems destined for a good career in the NHL, whether it is with Vancouver or another club will probably depend on the next contract signed by Roberto Luongo. Hansen has proven to be a reliable checker and timely scorer but is still a work in progress.
2005 was the year everyone had a chance at Sidney Crosby and as teams were eliminated Vancouver hung on to make it for the 10th overall pick. Not bad but certainly not one that would change the fortunes of the club. Luc Bourdon was the choice and we all know the tragic ending to his career and life just over a year ago. His death was a huge blow to the club and fans let alone his family. Unfortunately this blogger will never get to write about a defense anchored by Edler, Bieksa and Bourdon- something the could have been incredibly special.
That same year was the drafting of Mason Raymond and only he has seen significant NHL time from the class. Raymond is a polarizing figure to Canucks fans. Some see his speed as a deadly weapon and others see his head as a lethal detriment. Raymond has some skill but if he is going to have any kind of lasting NHL career he needs to find a way to combine his skill with his speed and use them both at the same time.
The 2006 to 2008 drafts are hard to gauge as not one pick has played an NHL game but there is certainly reason to be optimistic. Michael Grabner looks to be ready to challenge for a spot come training camp but he certainly has to improve the defensive side of his game. Recently signed Sergei Shirokov will hopefully make an impact when coming to camp this year but seems destined to play on the Moose or at best between clubs this coming season. First round pick in 2007 Patrick White is a mystery. He was not on anyone's radar when the Canucks selected him and if anything he seems to have moved further off with no real sign of him moving closer to Vancouver. Considering David Perron was taken right after by St. Louis, Patrick White is going to have to make some serious noise for him not to be considered another first round bust for Vancouver.
Finally we get to 2008 and the first year under new management with Mike Gillis. With a short time to prepare and very little for fans to know, Gillis seems to have gotten a bit of luck his first time out. It was expected that the Canucks would take Kyle Beach at number 10 and Cody Hodgson would go somewhere between 7th and 9th picks but that's not how it worked out. The Canucks took Hodgson 10th overall in a chance that was certainly surprising to Canucks' fans, we simply did not think he would be there at #10.
Hodgson has received a lot of praise and with that praise comes hype. I think he has lived up to it with his regular season play, his play at the World Juniors, the awards and stepping into the lineup of the Manitoba Moose and not looking out of place. The kid has hockey sense, smarts and ability. The one drawback that is consistently presented is his skating ability. That was the same mark against two brothers drafted 10 years ago, their skating. We can look at Hank and Dan now and say they are two of the strongest players with the puck. Hodgson will be reporting to a prospects camp in early July where he will certainly be given a training regimen and more time at Dave Gagner's clinic to improve his skating stride.
One year out from 2008 is pretty hard to tell about other picks but it appears that after Hodgson most are longshots at best to make an impact in the NHL but that is pretty much how it is in any organization. All we can do is hope for another diamond in the rough from the group.
The next blog will be about who is the greatest draft pick for the Canucks and why, along with what we can expect on draft day.
Petr Nedved was taken 2nd overall by the Canucks, a bit undersized in the opinions of some but he had plenty of promise and was well known to the Canucks as he played 3 hours away in Seattle. Most hockey fans can name the first five selections of this draft in order, Nolan, Nedved, Primeau Ricci and Jagr. Can anyone remember #6? It was the first of many hair-brained draft picks taken by the Islanders- Scott Scissons- who played only 2 NHL games in his entire career.
Vancouver would take Shawn Antoski at #18, missing out on Tkachuk, Brodeur, and Smolinksi before taking Jiri "wrap my stick like a candy cane" Slegr. Vancouver would not pick again until the 4th round at #65, here's who they missed after Slegr: Chris Simon, Doug Weight, Geoff Sanderson, Renberg, Kozlov, and Therien. It gets worse though, with Vancouver's next pick they took Darin Bader and missed on these players: Zhamnov, Chris Tamer, Darby Hendrickson and Sergei Zubov. After that one of the most popular players in Vancouver history was drafted Gino Odjick. Now I'm not going to say we should have taken Bondra, Kovalenko, Conroy, or Lang instead, it's just that they all went after Gino and seemed to have better careers.
In 1991 Vancouver had another top 10 pick at #7 and this too would be another draft with some outstanding players available in the top 10 including, Lindros, Foresburg, Lachance and Scott Neidermeyer, along with the infamous Pat Falloon at #2 overall. Vancouver chose Alek Stojanov and we know this to be one of the biggest first round busts in Vancouver history. The only redeeming factor to Stojanov was he was the piece in the biggest lop-sided trade for Vancouver in franchise history. Stojanov for Markus Nalsund. As time wore on many a Canucks fan would refer to that deal as 'our Neely'.
1992 was a rather uneventful draft year with few players who would become superstars and certainly not the Canucks first round pick of Libor Polasek. *face in palm* It was with the 2nd pick where Vancouver took a soon to be sought after NHL player in Mike Peca, a key piece that brought Alexander Mogilny to Vancouver to play with Pavel Bure. In that same year Adrian Aucoin was taken and he has amassed almost 1000 games as a player, certainly not a bad pick for a 5th rounder.
1993 was another very good 1st round with an average of 597 games played by the entire round. With the Canucks picking 20th they took Mike Wilson. Many quality players had been taken and it was apparent then that they team wanted to get better on defense but they missed a few too before picking again #46. Koivu, Bertuzzi, Kevyn Adams, Langenbruner, Morrison, McCabe and Niinimaa were all players available before the Canucks took Rick Girard. There was a gem for Vancouver in round 5 with Scotty Walker but that's all we would get out of that year.
After a stinging loss in game 7 of the Stanley Cup final the Canucks would draft Mathias Ohlund with the number 13 pick, right after Quebec took Wade Belak. Ohlund would soon anchor the Canucks defense for 12 seasons after arriving in Vancouver for the 1997 season. Just ask Jarome Iginla how much he likes Ohlund to get an impression of how valuable he has been to this franchise. If not for Dave Scatchard, this draft could be considered finished for Vancouver after Ohlund as the team barely found anything good later other than Muckalt and Nash if you want to stretch that far.
1995 through 1997 are pretty brutal years for drafting by Vancouver, they saw a total of only 3 players in Cooke, Schaefer and Sopel play more than 500 games each to date. 1998 does not get much better with Bryan Allen at #4 overall while players such as Tanguay, Gagne and Gomez all taken later. With all due respect to Bryan Allen no one really dismissed the pick and he was a key piece in the Luongo deal as well but he certainly does not have the presence and reputation of players like Regher, Beauchemin, Spacek and Markov all taken much later. Even looking at Jarkko Ruutu we can see Vancouver could have done better by looking harder, Eric Cole, Brian Gionta and Pavel Datsyuk were all taken later.
The next period we can look at runs for 5 years from 1999 to the last draft before the lockout in 2004- 6 drafts. It easy to see that Henrik and Daniel Sedin, in a bold move that shipped out Bryan McCabe to get the 2nd pick, are clear winners for the Canucks although it took some time for many of us to see that. Clearly in the 'class of 99' the Canucks got the best two players although some honourable mentions do go out to Havlat, Comrie, Malone and of course Henrik Zetterberg.
2000 to 2003 is a real mess for Vancouver and it's these periodic years of very little that seem to haunt the Canucks. Coincidentally the team's fortune's had turned around and the terrible years of the late 90's had been replaced by a dynamic team and top line called the "West Coast Express" named after the only profitable thing to ever come out of BC Transit- light commuter rail service. Times were good down at the garage but on the farm they were terrible. A total of 30 NHL games came from Canucks picks in 2000 and only Kevin Bieksa remains from 2001 due to the stubbornness of Brian Burke and his dealings with R.J. Umberger- certainly a player the Canucks could have used in the future.
2002 is another grim year for Vancouver with only 12 NHL games from that class. During the lockout top pick Kiril Koltsov left the Manitoba Moose under odd circumstances to return to Russia- Winnipeg wasn't cold enough? There is still hope that he can return to the Canucks but that hope is fading each year. A true talent he was but due to the belief that he only wanted a NHL contract and ice time it seems destined that he stays in Russia and the KHL for the foreseeable future. Hudler, Stajan and Filppula were all taken after the Canucks took the notable Denis Grot.
2003 produced another fan favourite in Ryan Kesler with the Canucks first pick. After that just 42 NHL games were generated from Vancouver choices in 2003. Kesler learned on the farm and brought it too the big city. The Canucks had long been in search of a true #1 stud centre and Kesler was certainly not it no matter how hard we tried to envision it. However, that disappointment did not mean he wasn't going to be valuable and it probably took Bobby Clarke's offer sheet for many Vancouver fans to take a closer look at Kesler and what he brings to the Canucks. He's not looking so bad right now is he?
2004 appears to be the best draft for the Canucks since 1999. Cory Schneider, Alex Edler, Mike Brown Ducks Jersey in the HockeyBuzz Store' href='http://shop.hockeybuzz.com/anaheim-ducks.php'>Mike Brown and Jannik Hensan were all taken that year. Edler is proving to be the future Mathias Ohlund as we await the latter's almost certain departure from the Canucks. Cory Schneider also seems destined for a good career in the NHL, whether it is with Vancouver or another club will probably depend on the next contract signed by Roberto Luongo. Hansen has proven to be a reliable checker and timely scorer but is still a work in progress.
2005 was the year everyone had a chance at Sidney Crosby and as teams were eliminated Vancouver hung on to make it for the 10th overall pick. Not bad but certainly not one that would change the fortunes of the club. Luc Bourdon was the choice and we all know the tragic ending to his career and life just over a year ago. His death was a huge blow to the club and fans let alone his family. Unfortunately this blogger will never get to write about a defense anchored by Edler, Bieksa and Bourdon- something the could have been incredibly special.
That same year was the drafting of Mason Raymond and only he has seen significant NHL time from the class. Raymond is a polarizing figure to Canucks fans. Some see his speed as a deadly weapon and others see his head as a lethal detriment. Raymond has some skill but if he is going to have any kind of lasting NHL career he needs to find a way to combine his skill with his speed and use them both at the same time.
The 2006 to 2008 drafts are hard to gauge as not one pick has played an NHL game but there is certainly reason to be optimistic. Michael Grabner looks to be ready to challenge for a spot come training camp but he certainly has to improve the defensive side of his game. Recently signed Sergei Shirokov will hopefully make an impact when coming to camp this year but seems destined to play on the Moose or at best between clubs this coming season. First round pick in 2007 Patrick White is a mystery. He was not on anyone's radar when the Canucks selected him and if anything he seems to have moved further off with no real sign of him moving closer to Vancouver. Considering David Perron was taken right after by St. Louis, Patrick White is going to have to make some serious noise for him not to be considered another first round bust for Vancouver.
Finally we get to 2008 and the first year under new management with Mike Gillis. With a short time to prepare and very little for fans to know, Gillis seems to have gotten a bit of luck his first time out. It was expected that the Canucks would take Kyle Beach at number 10 and Cody Hodgson would go somewhere between 7th and 9th picks but that's not how it worked out. The Canucks took Hodgson 10th overall in a chance that was certainly surprising to Canucks' fans, we simply did not think he would be there at #10.
Hodgson has received a lot of praise and with that praise comes hype. I think he has lived up to it with his regular season play, his play at the World Juniors, the awards and stepping into the lineup of the Manitoba Moose and not looking out of place. The kid has hockey sense, smarts and ability. The one drawback that is consistently presented is his skating ability. That was the same mark against two brothers drafted 10 years ago, their skating. We can look at Hank and Dan now and say they are two of the strongest players with the puck. Hodgson will be reporting to a prospects camp in early July where he will certainly be given a training regimen and more time at Dave Gagner's clinic to improve his skating stride.
One year out from 2008 is pretty hard to tell about other picks but it appears that after Hodgson most are longshots at best to make an impact in the NHL but that is pretty much how it is in any organization. All we can do is hope for another diamond in the rough from the group.
The next blog will be about who is the greatest draft pick for the Canucks and why, along with what we can expect on draft day.
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