RWJC Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 Pettersson is only remaining Canucks pick left from 2016 and 2017 drafts Rob Williams Oct 20 2023, 5:17 pm Good thing the Vancouver Canucks got Elias Pettersson at the 2017 NHL Draft. Because other than him, they don’t have much to show for that draft, or the one in 2016 for that matter. The 2016 draft was famously a poor one for the Canucks, who drafted Olli Juolevi fifth overall, passing on Matthew Tkachuk, not to mention a number of other good defencemen that were picked after him. Despite being in the early stages of a rebuild, the Canucks didn’t have a second-round pick that year because Jim Benning traded it as part of the Erik Gudbranson trade. It may have cost them Alex DeBrincat, who the team had rumoured interest in. The only player the Canucks drafted in 2016 currently in the NHL is Will Lockwood, who was traded away in February. Juolevi left for Europe earlier this month after failing to make the Arizona Coyotes on a PTO, while Cole Candella (5th round), Jakob Stukel (6th round), Rodrigo Abols (7th round), and Brett McKenzie (7th round) have not played an NHL game. The 2017 draft was supposed to be different. The Canucks had five picks in the first 100, including two second rounders. And at various points, there was a lot of optimism about many of the players they selected. Vancouver nailed their fifth overall selection, taking Pettersson, rather than Cody Glass. No hindsight needed there. Day 2 was a different story. Kole Lind just narrowly missed being a first-round pick, with the Canucks snapping him up with the second pick of the second round. “Why isn’t anyone taking Kole Lind?” Benning famously asked before taking the winger. The Canucks lost Lind to the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 expansion draft. Now 25 years old, Lind has played just 30 NHL games in his career, scoring two goals and eight assists. He didn’t see NHL ice at all last season, though Lind did manage to score 62 points (30-32-62) in 72 AHL games. link to rest of article: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/only-pettersson-canucks-2016-2017-draft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 That's actually crazy that when the Canucks were the 3rd worst and 2nd worst team in the league they only have one drafted player from then in the organization 6/7 years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Hronek Posted October 21, 2023 Share Posted October 21, 2023 (edited) Who cares what internet Gaylords like Rob Williams think? Yes the Canucks have had a miserable past 10 years for the most part (sans 2015 and 2020) but the media and fans here need to start focusing on the future. We have Pettersson and we have Hughes. Boom. Franchise C and a Franchise D. There's also a very good chance that Silovs is going to be a gem and successfully replace Demko in 3 years or less (solid G). Lots of bad contracts will start to come off the books as well. Given the above, the Canucks should be able to attract some high quality UFA's to join our solid core. Hronek will also likely be a core player moving forward and we also have some decent prospects waiting in the Wings (Raty, Podkolzin, Willander, Lekkerimaki). Onwards and upwards. Rob Williams can go marry his father for all I care. Edited October 21, 2023 by Jeremy Hronek 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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