lol Jordan Subban will never be an effective NHL defenseman. When he's lighting it up in Utica for the bulk of his career, LA drafted yet another big winger to hammer us every game.
Meanwhile Shinkaruk is broken, dropping him from 'sure bet one-dimensional shifty winger' to 'crossing our fingers now'. Now that he's well behind his class in development, it's going to be sad seeing all these other guys pass him by on their way to likely better NHL careers. Not good for a Canucks team on the edge of a blow up and rebuild. Rumour is we knew he was severely banged-up when we drafted him too. Good work, Canucks.
And Horvat is still in junior while the big russian kid is in NHL top-liner already and is in the Olympics.
So i'd have to dig deep to see where we 'cleaned up' here.
Let's see...
Cole Cassels may pan out, but he's no huge steal. Much like his father, he's a complimentary centerman, at best. A first-liner on a horrible team. A second-liner on a so-so team. Yay.
Cederholm may become a depth defenseman for us. Limited top-4 shutdown potential. I have no problem with the pick, actually, but he's aways off and well-sheltered on a stacked Winterhawks junior squad. Not enough steps above his draft peers to plan a parade about.
Williamson is another college guy we'll likely never hear from again. His upside is more AHLish than anything, but we're down there in the 6th round. LA's pick will likely turn out to be better. (It's an ongoing trend, so we shouldn't have to spend a lot of time wondering why they're way better than us now.)
And Liberati in the 7th round is an AHL defenseman, tops. Looked good on a stacked London Knights team. Not so good now.
Sorry, but I fail to see how we 'cleaned up' here. Several picks could have been better. Prediction: Years later, using 20/20 hindsight, i will be proven correct. Oh wait, that prediction is foresight.
Sigh... At least Horvat will still become a good player. Not a great one, but a good one. Baby steps.