Craig Button Releases list of Top 50 NHL affiliated prospects (5 Canucks)

[Nave]

So good to see Pettersson up top.

[Nucker 67]

1 hour ago, Undrafted said:

Not true.  If that were the case, the Oilers (and FLA and AZ) would have overflowing cupboards and they don't.  Button pointed out correctly in an unconnected critique of the Oilers that "you can't build a team one player at a time", in reference to the Oilers poor drafting beyond the first-round (which the Canucks also suffered through before Benning). 

 

Finishing at the bottom only gives you access to the cream of the crop in any given year, but unless your scouts can find NHL players in the later rounds, you end up like Oilers system.

Well, the Oilers have been trading away a few of their 1st rounders (Eberle, Paajarvi, Hall, Yakupov) for help. They don't have the patience to develop a prospect. I think ARI has a few real good prospects too, but they have some new age analytics guy as their GM lol I think the Coyotes are building something good (Chychrun, Strome, Dvorak, Keller etc), but I'm not sure how they'll manage their players.

 

Funny thing about the Oilers draft in 2007. They had three 1st round picks, and drafted Sam Gagner (6), Alex Plante (15), and Riley Nash (21). Talk about pooping the bed lol People complain that Benning took Virtanen early. EDM could've had in that 1st round: Jakub Voracek (7), Max Pacioretty (22), and David Perron (26). Hindsite is always 20/20 though.

 

Benning has had a Top 10 pick 3 of the last 4 years. Virtanen is still developing slowly. Juolevi is developing even slower.  And Pettersson is a home run, hopefully will get a few games next season. Eventually all of these high picks will make their way to the NHL. Tryamkin was a great pick at #66, still have to see if he returns. Gaudette was an amazing pick at #149. Lind was a good pick at #33. Palmu was a good pick at #181. And I think Brassard will be a good player for us one day, he was picked #188.

 

The results aren't in yet on Bennings draft picks. Virtanen and Boeser are the only two players he drafted on the team today.  This process is taking longer than I thought, but probably because they don't want to put the prospects in too early, like EDM does.

 

 

 

[Qwags]

Yeah, but let's hire Holland instead. 

 

[Nuxfanabroad]

Would be nice to trade a vet or two, to nab a couple top D prospects. That, combined with Tree returning, & we'd be set.

[VanGnome]

3 hours ago, Warhippy said:

I still feel there's room for improvement.  Lind not on the list is questionable, plus we have guys that are in my opinion sleepers.  Brassard, Gadjovich, DiPietro etc.

 

But if Linden and Aqua man cannot look at this, look at our progress pre injuries at the end of November and decide to not re-sign Benning then they are out to lunch.

 

IMO we STILL need next year to be a top 10-15 draft and some additional picks between the next two drafts to really start feeling comfortable about having quality prospect depth

 

Sign the Benning already!!!!

I was listening to Sportsnet 650 and theres a thought going around right now based on both Linden and Benning's language that it could be mutual, in that Benning maybe underestimated the affect being the GM of the Canucks would have on his family (legit consideration). Maybe he steps down from the GM role and assumes a more senior position as it relates to drafting and scouting, and the Canucks bring in a grizzled veteran of a GM (Holland) to make those decisions.

We saw it from Nonis and Gillis that this city is not one for raw, rookie GMs, they get eaten alive. Granted both eventually grew into it but ultimately was too little too late, whereas bringing in a veteran like Holland and retaining the expertise of Benning along with Judd Bracket makes it a win win IMO.

Edit, even a veteran like Quinn had his lunch handed to him near the end of his tenure (locking himself in his office, etc). Vancouver is a tough tough market in all respects, sometimes I wonder if it is undeservedly so because of the lack of actual success we've had. We've gotten close, but close is no cigar.

[Silky mitts]

Sure have come a long way from the likes of Schroeder as one of our top prospects. Lol.

[Nucker 67]

VanGnome, that's interesting and I kind of like that idea. I really like Benning, so I hope they keep him, as you mentioned, as a scout and for drafting, etc. He's excellent in that regard I think. But yes, a grizzled veteran GM coming in might be what this team needs (as long as the owners keep their noses out of things). This GM (Holland?) would probably be able to make big trades, and with fresh eyes see that this team needs a new identity. Would Linden still oversee everything?

[hammertime]

Why isn't anyone picking Kole Lind???

[nergish]

2 hours ago, Rick Blight said:

I'm not so sure about that A.J. Playing on the same team last year and Dahlen had more points than Pettersson........personally, I think some might be underrating Dahlen simply because of the team he plays for.

Came here to post this.

Demko deserves to be higher, but Dahlen is in the right spot. 

He's a hardworking kid with a nose for the net who has always been a crowd pleaser.

His season has only been a disappointment in the sense that he could be proving much more at a higher level. He's putting up huge numbers, getting used to putting the puck in the net. He's still very young himself, don't forget.

 

Biggest sleeper in our pool, but with a higher risk based on his size and lack of experience against pro-level men.

 

 

 

 

[bloodycanuckleheads]

Before everyone gets too excited about this...  Their list from 2 years ago had these three guys in our Top-5:  Shinkaruk, Olson and Brisebois.  The year before, they had Virtanen as our top prospect (and Max Domi as the best prospect in the entire league).

[-AJ-]

3 minutes ago, bloodycanuckleheads said:

Before everyone gets too excited about this...  Their list from 2 years ago had these three guys in our Top-5:  Shinkaruk, Olson and Brisebois.  The year before, they had Virtanen as our top prospect (and Max Domi as the best prospect in the entire league).

That's exactly why we're so excited. It's not like those guys were very highly rated in the top 50 (if at all). The contrast is incredible.

[CroSen]

57 minutes ago, Silky mitts said:

Sure have come a long way from the likes of Schroeder as one of our top prospects. Lol.

I still remember the days when Nicklas Jensen was our big hope.

[Trebreh]

Kole Lind should be on that list instead of Dube.

 

Dube is giving me Curtis Lazar vibes. 

[Gaudette Celly]

1 hour ago, Qwags said:

Yeah, but let's hire Holland instead. 

 

Exactly one Wing on there, at #49.  Whatcha been doin', Kenny?

[Gaudette Celly]

1 hour ago, VanGnome said:

I was listening to Sportsnet 650 and theres a thought going around right now based on both Linden and Benning's language that it could be mutual, in that Benning maybe underestimated the affect being the GM of the Canucks would have on his family (legit consideration). Maybe he steps down from the GM role and assumes a more senior position as it relates to drafting and scouting, and the Canucks bring in a grizzled veteran of a GM (Holland) to make those decisions.

Nothing but idle speculation and gossip, almost like they're trying to find some way to oust Benning.  And yeah, Holland is "grizzled" alright -- his record over the past decade speaks for itself.

 

[Rounoush]

3 hours ago, Great Granny said:

Craig Button projected Hunter Shinkaruk higher than Bo Horvat. Take anything he says with a half grain of salt.

 

Surprised Dahlen is on that list though. He hasn't really proven anything yet, considering he's in Sweden's AHL.

Most people did. I wouldn't count that as an indictment of Button's judgment.

[Schmautzie]

4 hours ago, Russ said:

in fairness nhl.com had jake as #6 for north american skaters themselves and even bleacher report had him 6 on the mock

 

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-css-2014-n-american-skaters-final-rankings/c-712854

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2081205-2014-nhl-mock-draft-projections-for-top-30-picks-after-3rd-round-of-playoffs

Button actually didn’t have Jake rated as a first rounder at all according to mynhldraft.com. He only had him at number 6 in the mock draft because he correctly guessed that the Canucks would pick him there.

[VanGnome]

13 minutes ago, Hutton Wink said:

 

Nothing but idle speculation and gossip, almost like they're trying to find some way to oust Benning.  And yeah, Holland is "grizzled" alright -- his record over the past decade speaks for itself.

 

I find the discussion on 650 A LOT more grounded and based in reality than 1040. You can't deny that it's a plausible situation, and if it ends up being as such I'll be here to quote this thread as a voice of reason.

[dura_mater]

5 hours ago, ruilin96 said:

How the heck did Alex Nylander made the list? 9 points in 25 AHL games and you can't even see his name on the Rochester American Stats sheet on hockeydb until half way down. Demko IMO should be a lot higher than Juolevi, Gaudette and Dahlen. It's good to see Pettersson getting recognized, but I think this list is a bit too random.

 

4 hours ago, rekker said:

A. Nylander is the most overrated prospect out there. Didn't impress me much at juniors. He killed the play or it died with him a lot. Not even doing  much in the AHL. I wouldn't trade Gaudette for him. Lastnameitis if you ask me. 

Nylander was 2nd and 4th on both Button's and Pronman's rankings last year.  He's incredibly talented but can be a bit lazy away from the puck.  His poor/average WJC probably dropped him down the list as Button weighs big tournaments more heavily in his rankings.  To say he shouldn't be on the list though is unfair, the kid is talented. 

 

4 hours ago, Great Granny said:

Craig Button projected Hunter Shinkaruk higher than Bo Horvat. Take anything he says with a half grain of salt.

 

Surprised Dahlen is on that list though. He hasn't really proven anything yet, considering he's in Sweden's AHL.

You can say the same thing about ANY professionals list.  It's easy to criticise in hindsight and there are always going to be 1 or 2 mistakes.  Button had Virtanen lower than everyone else, Boeser higher than everyone else and has had way more hits than misses.

[dura_mater]

4 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

Fantastic having such a strong prospect group but let's be honest, we desperately need more quality defencemen. Juolevi looks great but after him there's not much, and Juolevi lacks that star quality that guys like Sergachev etc. have. Hutton has been a disappointment so far, Stecher is a serviceable defenceman but not likely to be in our future top-4, Pouliot has potential but again won't be a top-2 defenceman, we need a stud if we want to contend in the playoffs.

 

Really hope JB picks a star D-man with a likely another top-5 pick because there might be 5 or 6 future top pairing D-men to go in the first 20 of the 2018 draft class.

JB and all have an idea what the next few drafts will look like.  I guarantee you the reason our D prospects are thin is because they knew there wouldn't be high end C talent available this year, so took Pettersson last year, and knew this year was loaded with D men.  Trust them, they know what they're doing.