BanTSN's Blog

Hahah I like this.

One thing I would change:
Luca Sbisa - NHL Career: franchise changer, absolute superstar.

kidding.

one more thing, if Ivan Provorov has good size, then Jeremy Roy has good size. They literally are neck and neck..

one more thing, add loik leveille

This is a nice writeup thanks. Any chance you could do this for Centers?

20lbs difference isn't neck and neck.

I'm not sure about doing this for centers when we have so many centers in the pool already with similar upside to that of the ones in this draft outside of McDavid and Eichel. McCann, Horvat, and Cassels are all potential top-6 NHLers.

A quick preview shows that Dylan Strome has a skating deficiency and Erie is inflating his stats. Mitchell Marner is actually a RW, a teeny tiny one, and London is inflating his stats. Mikko Rantanen is also a RW who likes to play on his off-wing, and may not develop offensively as a center. Barzal, as said elsewhere, hasn't done enough to prove his #1c capacity and while he's back from his knee injury, his return so far is 0pts -5 in 2gp. Merkley is pretty much a #2 center. Kyle Connor is a #2 LW. Konecny a #2 RW. Chlapik got levelled by Konecny, who's 172lbs, and is developing some bad head-down habits.

Beyond McDavid and Eichel, there is no saviour-level center in this draft.

It only makes sense for the Canucks to use their 2015 1st on a defenseman unless McDavid and Eichel become available. I'd be happy with either.

wheres loik bro

I heard he might have a 50-100mph shot.

I don't usually read blogs, but this was a good read. I have a few questions.

Who do you want the Canucks to draft?

Who do you think the Canucks will draft?

Is Hanifin a better prospect than Ekblad was last year?

20lbs difference isn't neck and neck.

I'm not sure about doing this for centers when we have so many centers in the pool already with similar upside to that of the ones in this draft outside of McDavid and Eichel. McCann, Horvat, and Cassels are all potential top-6 NHLers.

A quick preview shows that Dylan Strome has a skating deficiency and Erie is inflating his stats. Mitchell Marner is actually a RW, a teeny tiny one, and London is inflating his stats. Mikko Rantanen is also a RW who likes to play on his off-wing, and may not develop offensively as a center. Barzal, as said elsewhere, hasn't done enough to prove his #1c capacity and while he's back from his knee injury, his return so far is 0pts -5 in 2gp. Merkley is pretty much a #2 center. Kyle Connor is a #2 LW. Konecny a #2 RW. Chlapik got levelled by Konecny, who's 172lbs, and is developing some bad head-down habits.

Beyond McDavid and Eichel, there is no saviour-level center in this draft.

It only makes sense for the Canucks to use their 2015 1st on a defenseman unless McDavid and Eichel become available. I'd be happy with either.

Strome has put up 11 points in 5 games at the U17s, 143 points in 60 games in the GTMMHL and he was 4th in scoring (1 point behind leader) at the Ivan Hlinka for Canada. He produced over PPG even when McDavid was out.

Marner is leading the OHL in scoring, no one is inflating his scoring and Barzal has only played 2 games since coming back.

I agree that I would like them to draft a defenceman though.

Dylan Strome? Dane Fox. If skating is a notable concern, then teams should be careful, that's all.

Marner is definitely being helped out by London's forwards. Dvorak has almost as many points, Domi just as many ppg as him, as well as McCarron before he was ousted. These other guys have allowed Marner to rack up the points from the outside as a playmaking RW.

Barzal needs to pick it up soon.

I'll save my picks for this team until after the prospect seasons/tourneys/playoffs are over and we know where we're at in the draft. They should definitely pick up a defenseman considering their defense pool is pretty thin.

Hanifin looks faster than Ekblad, Ekblad bigger and better shot. Fairly different player type. Better? Since Ekblad has stepped in right away and looks great, it'll be a tough act to follow.

Thanks again for the post about the Centers. I am not a fan of drafting Dmen in the first round, unless they are dynamic point producers. We obviously need two of them.

You can get a good dman in any round, but a great scorer or setup man seems to be what everyone values the highest. Will be an interesting draft for sure.

You can get a good defenseman in any round just like you can get a good forward or defenseman in any round. It's just that in the first round the odds of getting that good player are much better.

The Canucks haven't drafted a 1st round defenseman since Luc Bourdon, RIP, a long-term offensive defenseman from the Q with good speed and okay shot but some decision-making problems and an unknown offensive upside.

Their other attempts include:

Bryan Allen, a big long-term defensive/tough defenseman with limited offensive potential.

Brad Ference, a WHL toughguy with limited offensive potential, passing on Marian Hossa, and Scott Hannan, who was a better defenseman prospect from the WHL at the time.

The immortal Mattias Ohlund, who the Canucks almost lost for nothing due to cheapness, went on to anchor this team's blueline for a decade.

Mike Wilson, another big and strong defenseman with limited offensive potential, passing on Saku Koivu and Todd Bertuzzi, Brendan Morrison, as well as Bryan McCabe, who was a far better option on defense at the time.

Jason Herter, college player who fell in the draft, a seemingly disinterested bust. Passing on Bobby Holik, Adam Foote and a slew of players that at least had some sort of transferable resume and a much better attitude towards the game, let lone the Canucks.

J.J. Daigneault, who showed up at the draft with crutches, didn't have a horrible career, but not worth passing on Gary Roberts for.

Michel Petit

The great Garth Butcher, who you're probably familiar with. (We passed on Al MacInnis)

Rick Lanz

Bob Dailey

Jocelyn Guevremont

And of course Dale Tallon, who started it all off for us way back in 1970.

Considering Matthias Ohlund, a highly scouted, can't-miss big, mobile, do everything guy is the best defenseman we've ever had, and considering all the talent we've missed out on in years past, I think it's alright to select a defenseman in the first round. The Canucks have A LOT of work to do to make up for their draft follies of the past, that's for sure. So I hope they pick the right one this time.

I think the one Dman this year, who is a can't miss is Hanifin. Unless we trade up to third, we are gambling on a franchise Dman or a bust.

I know I wanted Staal over Bourdon, and we still passed on Kopitar that year.

Ultimately I want us to draft a player, who is passionate about winning and can put up points, regardless of his position.

I think we could use any one of the defensemen near the top of that list more than we could use a redundant scoring prospect. This year is comparable to 2008 with defensemen.

Just look at this team when Bieksa or Hamhuis goes down. They have a hard time leaving the zone. And both guys are upcoming UFA's. If we can replace one of them right away in this draft, we need to do it.

If we can somehow add another decent 2015 pick, I think we need to do that too.

There usually seems to be decent Dmen on the UFA market. Rarely see top end scoring.

I believe its best to try to draft what you can never get through UFA or trade.

And a top end center or a franchise offensive Dman are those two things. We have never been able to successfully draft the Dman, but have gotten Linden and Henrik Sedin.

Five of the top end Dmen this year are from the Q or the Dub. Risky business if you look at the history of our drafting there.

I agree on adding another 2015 first round pick. However, I never feel scoring is redundant. If we get Tanev resigned, our D will look much better long term. We also need to develop Corrado. These two players are the future on the Canuck's blueline.

We need to draft a future first line center to replace Henrik Sedin. We also need a Dman who can shoot like a Sami Salo. Not sure if any of these will be available when we draft. But I think that is what we need to gamble on.

The good UFA's, defense or otherwise, tend to sign with contenders, so I think it's good to utilize the draft to suit all pressing team needs, especially during a rebuilding process, like we're currently in. Those good UFA's will come later as the team's drafted core improves and is ready to make a run.

This team urgently needs defense, the offensively-capable defense that this team has inexplicably ignored over the years of futile drafting. If we continue ignoring this need, then we're going to be forever stuck overpaying for the older ex-players of other teams.

Yes, instead we could land a UFA defenseman to extend whatever this phase is the team is currently in, but in a couple seasons that UFA will be gassed and we'd still be without the young core defensemen needed to elevate the team to the next level. How about we just do both, since we need immediate and long-term help on defense?

Since a team is made of various parts, it only makes sense to address all those parts in drafts, not just one. We've ignored defense for far too long. I don't dislike them, but Tanev and Corrado both have very limited offensive potential, so we need to do better than that if we want to assemble a winner.

There is no future 1st line center beyond McDavid and Eichel in this draft. Other teams will likely gamble on some of those other guys, and that's when we can step in and take a very, very good two-way defenseman.

But maybe we can swing McDavid or Eichel still. I'd be fine with that.

Sami Niku

Benning now has the task of building this team how he sees fit. I think he's got some good pieces, but without legitimately addressing the defense he's out of luck when it comes to assembling a winner. Tanev, Corrado, Big Russian Kid, all seem to have not much offensive potential. There's some, but not much. And Subban, Forsling, Hutton are all long-term defensive projects without much defensive ability and so-so offensive potential. There isn't a single bluechip top-4 in the bunch. Since UFA help only helps the stale core as it is now, and trades create holes elsewhere, I think Benning has no choice but to try to build the team through drafting and development.

Now, the Canucks have had a lot of trouble doing this in the past, with a lot of huge mistakes like Herter, Ference, Koltsov, etc. I think they're capable of landing a decent one, hopefully more than one, as soon as this draft. We need at least another Ohlund around, a new Edler, but preferably somebody better, with more offensive potential. Because without that key guy, or guys, in the backend, there's no hope of assembling a winner.

I understand the urgency of replacing the Sedins, but we need to be patient, people. The Sedins are still here and they will be for another 3 years. To me, that's the window Benning has to assemble the key prospects we'll need for the next wave, before sinking low enough in the standings to draft their official, legit replacements. The new franchise-level star center.

It takes longer for defensemen to round out their NHL game. So by the time our new offensive stars are ready to perform in the playoffs, our drafted defense will be tried, tested and proven enough to carry the load.

This selection is only part of what needs to be done to build a winner, of course, but you can't deny that defense is currently the team weakness among the prospects.

Honestly, what is your opinion of Jakub Zboril?

I don't really see how people can talk about him as a potential first rounder.

Well just want to say thanks for all your effort and energy, accessing all these Dmen and the Canucks future. Cheers.

No problem. Hopefully it comes of some use somehow. This draft should be a good one for many teams. Canucks probably won't load up on picks this year, but there will be other drafts too.

Should be interesting to see how these prospects work down the stretch and into their playoffs. Who'll elevate their game?

I think Hickey, DeHaan, Leddy and Rundblad have been better than you think, and all have a chance to improve yet some more.

Good blog read overall though.

Thanks!

Great read......thanks for the dissection!