Vancouver Canucks: Jim Benning Likes a Forward at 5, Looking to Make a Deal (canucks)

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Vancouver Canucks: Jim Benning Likes a Forward at 5, Looking to Make a Deal

By Carol Schram

May 2, 2016 • 2:28 pm

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Now that the draft lottery is in the books, the Vancouver Canucks move on to the next phase—deciding how they're going to use their fifth overall pick.

Jim Benning made an appearance on TSN1040 this morning to share his thoughts, admitting that he was disappointed that his team dropped in the draft order.

In past weeks, when the draft order was unclear, Benning has been enthusiastic about the idea of shoring up the Canucks' blue line by drafting a defenseman, but now that course of action doesn't seem as likely.

He goes on to say that he's willing to consider trading down, and that he doesn't think that the player they'd take in the five-spot would be able to step in and play next year.

So—chances are, we are looking at either LW Matthew Tkachuk or C/LW Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Thanks to everyone who corrected me yesterday when I referred to Dubois only as a winger. I was going by this draft ranking from TSN but I see now that Elite Prospects has him listed at both positions and he shows up as a centre at Hockey DB.

Here's a glowing report on him that I received yesterday:

This is an intriguing report, considering the QMJHL is generally known for its run-and-gun style.

Dubois—who turns 18 on draft day, June 24—is already a big boy, listed at 6'3" and 202 pounds. He led his Cape Breton team in scoring with 42-57-99, good for third in the entire league, and tied for fifth in the league with a plus-40.

Dubois also took a big leap in the Central Scouting rankings for North American skaters during the second half of the season, moving from No. 7 to No. 1 and bumping Matthew Tkachuk down a notch. The only other player in the top 20 to move up so much is big Logan Brown, who jumped from 14 to 7—and who Craig Button assigned to the Canucks with the fifth pick in his mock draft.

Here's more on Dubois from the Halifax Chronicle-Herald.

His coach and GM Marc-Andre Dumont offers high praise—suggesting that he's better than Claude Giroux, among others:

“Fortunately, I’ve had the privilege — at the junior level — of being around guys like Claude Giroux and Marco Scandella and Anthony Mantha and Evgeny Svechnikov, but Pierre-Luc is just on top of all those guys,… Dumont said. “He’s just a very special player with high skill, but (also) high desire.…

In addition to checking out the players at the U18s in Grand Forks in April, Benning also made a special point of travelling out to the Maritimes to see Dubois—after that Central Scouting ranking was released.

I'm now thoroughly intrigued by what Dubois brings to the table, but the possibility exists that the Canucks won't end up picking at five once June 24 rolls around.

If it's about moving up, it doesn't sound likely that the Canucks would be able to get any higher than the fourth pick.

The Oilers' potential willingness to deal that pick to another team means it'll be tough for the Canucks to predict how that pick will ultimately be used. It all depends which team ultimately makes the selection.

A couple of other notes from Benning's interview this morning:

• He believes they're in the running to sign UND free agent forward Drake Caggiula.

• Ryan Miller is expected to return.

And, the team is continuing to discuss the possibility of bringing back Dan Hamhuis.

Next, a couple of quick quotes from Travis Green following the end of the Utica Comets' season:

And finally:

But, the number of Canucks at the tournament is unchanged.

So—the current list of Canucks that will be in the tournament:

Canada: Chris Tanev, Ben Hutton USA: Thatcher Demko Sweden: Jacob Markstrom Switzerland: Yannick Weber Denmark: Jannik Hansen Latvia: Ronalds Kenins

The games begin this Friday, with Canada taking on the U.S. in St. Petersburg.

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