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Canucks Prospects Rankings from Dave Gagner (Director of Player Development)


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I agree with the Sauve ranking, 6 or 7th defenseman at best. I mean he was drafted in 2008, I know defensemen take longer to develop but I haven't seen any real promise for him yet.

I also agree with the Rodin ranking. In his last 14 games he collected 9 points or something like that (of his 27). He's adjusted to the North American game, and I fully believe Rodin as well as some of our other prospects will flourish under a system coached by Arniel than MacTavish trying to resurrect his career.

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I was really excited when gillis took over that he was really going to take our drafting and player development and turn it around. Hodgson was gillis first pick and a very solid one at that. I believed the guys up top were finally getting it. Four years later and I'm afraid although their philosophy may have changed , the poor scouting and lousy drafting continues. Looking at how well some teams have been drafting and the talent we've been missing out on , especially in the second round, is very very frustrating. They were going to take rodin in the first round had Shroeder not fallen! That should say it all to you. Not a fan of Dave sorry. His time with us so far has been a bust

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I don't think most of us think any of our prospects can compare to the Sedins. None of our draft picks were picked near the top 20, and they went 1 and 2, so that is an unfair comparison. No one expects them to live up to superstar status. What we do hope is that some of them do fill certain roles in the future. Like Jensen has top 6 winger potential, like Booth or Higgins. While Gaunce has at best 2nd line centreman, and was described as one of the most NHL ready of the 1st round picks. He was also expected to go earlier, but the surplus of defenceman and questions about his skating bumped him back to us. Connauton has the potential to be a 2nd pairing defenceman. And Sauve has the potential to be a 6th-7th depth defensemen. Schroeder also has 2nd line centre potential, while also being defensively responsible enough to maybe be suitable for the 3rd line. His biggest weakness being his size.

You see it's not about replacing players, as there is no crystal ball telling management which players we will need to replace 4 years from now, and which prospects will pan out. So don't look it as replacing, think about it as new players with new potential, coming up through the system.

As someone else already pointed out, Kesler wasn't expected to be much more than a 3rd line centreman, and Bieksa a depth defenseman. Burrow sand Hansen (not even drafted) were depth bottom 6 wingers that were longshots of even making the NHL, let alone succeeding in it.

Now before you start comparing our pool to other teams, I don't care about other teams pools right now, and I know are pool is one of the weaker ones. But in my opinion it has been slowly getting better, and also has a lot of sleeper picks that will surprise people. I don't think they will surprise people in the same way as Burrows scoring 35 goals, but I think we will again find ways to make players succeed like Hansen or Bieksa.

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Great list. I'm happy to see Gaunce rated so highly. I'm a little wary of college players, even though we're getting results from Schnieder, Schroeder, and Kesler. Most elite players are either from Europe or the CHL. I'm worried we don't scout in our own backyard in the WHL very heavily.

What worries me more, is GM's like Burke draft heavy with college prospects and look how crappy his team is. (Then again trading away 2 high first round picks just make a big splash is pretty dumb.)

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Having a top team and late picks every year means a prospect has to kick the door down to make the big club.

Much as we love the prospects camps and pre-season games, hardly any of them ever get the call.

The Canucks add veteran NHL players to fill openings in the lineup through trades and free agency.

Schroeder may get a longer look this year but I would not be surprised if management is hoping he looks good enough to get something for him in a multi-player trade.

I would not be surprised if Tanev was showcased for trade value as well as Sauve.

I like big hockey players, and would like to replace lightweights like Raymond, Schroeder, and Tanev.

What might Florida give us for Luongo, Sauve, these three, and maybe a couple picks?

I think I would like Gudbranson (sp?).

Then we might be able to make room for top prospects like Lack, Kassian, Jensen, Gaunce, Connaughton,

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Having a top team and late picks every year means a prospect has to kick the door down to make the big club.

Much as we love the prospects camps and pre-season games, hardly any of them ever get the call.

The Canucks add veteran NHL players to fill openings in the lineup through trades and free agency.

Schroeder may get a longer look this year but I would not be surprised if management is hoping he looks good enough to get something for him in a multi-player trade.

I would not be surprised if Tanev was showcased for trade value as well as Sauve.

I like big hockey players, and would like to replace lightweights like Raymond, Schroeder, and Tanev.

What might Florida give us for Luongo, Sauve, these three, and maybe a couple picks?

I think I would like Gudbranson (sp?).

Then we might be able to make room for top prospects like Lack, Kassian, Jensen, Gaunce, Connaughton,

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Interesting assessment on Yann Sauve. I'd always thought he would be a No. 5 or 6 defenceman in the mold of maybe Shane O'Brien, in the sense that on a good team, he would be a 15-17 minute guy and on an average team, a 20 minute guy that plays some power play.

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