Vancouver Canucks Preparing to Pick at No. 5 in Next Week's Draft (canucks)

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Vancouver Canucks Preparing to Pick at No. 5 in Next Week's Draft

By Carol Schram

Jun 16, 2016 • 2:22 pm

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Today, we have a few tidbits from the reliable Dan Murphy of Sportsnet to shed a little more light (or not) on the Vancouver Canucks' plans for the draft, free agency and potential player buyouts.

First, the draft:

At this point, I'll be happy if the team stays at five. Unless there's an amazing deal to be had, I think they'll have a good shot at bringing in a useful player who can be a key contributor with the next wave of Canucks youth.

I have spent the last several days scouring through every team's draft record over the last 16 years, identifying draft steals and draft busts for Bleacher Report. Click here to take a look, and click here for each team's raw data, from HockeyDB.

The exercise was a good reminder that, while high first-rounders carve out NHL careers most of the time, there's still a wide discrepancy between the good players and the great ones—and plenty of great ones were hidden in the late second round or lower in their respective draft years.

Next, here's Benning on the Canucks' buyout situation:

As I have mentioned a couple of times previously, the buyout window closes on June 30, before free agency officially begins. Benning will need to take full advantage of the interview period that begins on June 25th if he hopes to determine whether he wants to use Burrows' roster spot for a new free-agent acquisition.

On Wednesday, the Canucks announced that they will be returning to Shawnigan Lake School for their annual summer development camp.

The camp will run from July 4-7, and the public is invited to watch the on-ice sessions.

Roster details will be announced at a later day. Certainly, the team's new 2016 draft picks should be in attendance, "as well as undrafted collegiate free agents," according to the team's press release.

There's still no official announcement, but the whispers are getting louder and louder that Glen Gulutzan will be Bob Hartley's successor in Calgary.

And Jared Cowen cleared waivers yesterday, so he's all set to be bought out by the Maple Leafs. Today's lucky buyout candidate: former Canucks first-rounder R.J. Umberger.

Now 34, Umberger was drafted with the Canucks' 16th pick in 2001, but couldn't come to terms with the team on an entry-level contract. After leaving college, he sat out the 2003-04 season. The Canucks dealt away his rights to the New York Rangers at the 2004 trade deadline, but he signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers later that summer, leaving the Rangers empty-handed.

The often-injured Umberger collected 180 goals and 392 points in 779 NHL games, including five seasons with at least 20 goals. Though I tend to think of him primarily as a Flyer, where he served two tours of duty, four of those five 20-plus goal seasons came during his time with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Umberger has had a decent career, overall. His current contract, which was for five years with a cap hit of $4.6 million per season and has one year remaining, turned out to be three seasons too long.

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