All right, we're done. The draft is in the books!
Overall, not as many thrills and spills as last year, although the Columbus Blue Jackets messed with everybody's mock drafts when they snatched up Pierre-Luc Dubois with the third pick.
That left Edmonton scrambling to learn how to say Jesse Puljujarvi's name—and presenting him with a jersey that didn't have his name on it—and to the Canucks selecting Finnish defenceman Olli Juolevi at No. 5.
What's your first reaction to the pick, given that Dubois was off the board?
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I'm happy with the pick, under the circumstances. Juolevi has had a winning season, at World Juniors with Team Finland in January and at the Memorial Cup with the London Knights in late May. I also like the fact that he has a year of experience in North America under his belt and is already fluent in English.
Listed at 6'3" and 179 pounds at
HockeyDB, Juolevi has some filling out to do, but he seems like he's going to be a solid top-level NHL defenseman for years to come.
The Canucks haven't drafted a blueliner this high since they took Bryan Allen fourth overall back in 1998. The late Luc Bourdon was also a Top 10 pick, chosen 10th in 2005.
Early on, we had heard that the Canucks wanted to draft a defensemen, but most of the scouting reports indicated that this year's crop of forwards was far superior. Laine, Dubois and Matthew Tkachuk all increased their draft stock dramatically in the second half of the year—as did some other players like Tyson Jost, Clayton Keller and Logan Brown, who were also taken in the first round—but Juolevi had probably the strongest finish among the blueliners, especially with his Memorial Cup win. In the end, it was enough for him to keep pace with the surging forward group, while Mikhail Sergachev was selected ninth and the original top defensive prospect, Jakob Chychrun, dropped all the way to No. 16, behind Jake Bean and Charlie McAvoy.
As an aside, it was a great first round for the BCHL, with Jost selected 10th, his Penticton Vees teammate Dante Fabbro at 17 and defenceman Dennis Cholowski of the Chilliwack Chiefs at No. 20.
Here's the lowdown on the rest of the Canucks' selections, made on Saturday:
Round 3 - Pick 64 - William Lockwood - RW - 5'11" - 172 pounds
Lockwood spent last season with the U.S. National U18 Team. A native of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, he had six points in 20 games.
Round 5 - Pick 140 - Cole Candella - D - 6'1" - 189 pounds
Candella is a Mississauga boy, who had 20 points in 37 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs last season.
Round 6 - Pick 154 - Jakob Stukel - LW - 6'0" 182 pounds
Satisfying the "local boy" criteria, Stukel was born in Surrey and spent two-and-a-bit seasons with the Vancouver Giants before being traded to Calgary in 2015-16.
Counting both teams, he had 36-24-60 in 69 WHL games last season.
Also worth noting - Stukel was passed over in last year's draft. He turned 19 in March.
Round 7 - Pick 184 - Rodrigo Abols - C - 6'5" - 188 pounds
We know Abols from his appearance on the Canucks at last year's YoungStars tournament. A native Latvian, he played his first North American season with Portland of the WHL in 2015-16, posting 20 goals and 49 points. Abols turns 20 in January, so he's already a little way down the development curve.
He'll be able to report straight to Utica this fall.
Round 7 - Pick 194 - Brett Mckenzie - C - 6'2" - 188 pounds
McKenzie has spent the last three seasons with the North Bay Battalion of the OHL. He hails frm Vars, Ontario, near Ottawa—population 1,424.
McKenzie also turned 19 in March.
So—Jim Benning walks away from the draft with a Finn, a Latvian, three Canadians and one American. And with three players who are 19 or older, he's using those later-round picks to try to snag players who might be a little further along in their development—something we also saw Mike Gillis attempt on more than one occasion.
It looks to me like another sign that the organization is wildly eager to do everything possible to try to accelerate the team's rebuild. Will be interesting to see if any of these players pan out.
In other Canucks notes from the past 24 hours:
And, continuing the theme of defencemen:
And finally—yes, Jim Benning is in trouble for what he said about Subban and Stamkos the other day.
With that, you're up to date for now!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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