[Official] 2015 Canucks Draft Talk

[Devoted]

They're both big and fast Swedish forwards who can light the lamp, but they also play a hard game.

LA drafted a stud in Kempe last year, and I knew all along that he would be. I see Eriksson-Ek taking a very similar development path, but I also think that he's going to be even better than Kempe.

It would also help having a guy like him because we're in the same division as LA.

Eriksson-Ek vs. Kempe? Could be fun to watch.

I like Eriksson-Ek a lot myself. Very heady 2-way player with obvious offensive gifts that should develop nicely. I have him going before 23 on my list, but it's wide open in the 15-25 range.

I'm a big fan of Boeser as well. Fills a organizational need and if he's available at 23, I believe he'd be the best player available.

[Outsiders]

Banking heavily on worse than Kopitar. RIP.

He was going to be a stud. a #2 d-man for sure. He looked like the next Hamhuis. It was really an unfortunate situation. He was a big part of our future. No doubt in my mind we made the right pick at the time.

[granpappy]

hopefully jb has had a long look at gurianov. i doubt he's available at 23 but if there was any way, this russian would add instant high end offensive top line potential to our prospects. looks like he can do it all offensively. top ten international ranking.

[Outsiders]

Any films/ clips on his game?

[Gstank29]

Any films/ clips on his game?

not much to go off beside this

I have the feeling everyone is overhyping him. Don't really see much that can't be found in other prospects in our range plus there is always the "Russian factor". The fact he hasn't come over and is comitted to the KHL next year is somewhat concerning

[granpappy]

• Age: 17.27 years old at start of season. Born June 7, 1997
• Birthplace: Togliatti, Russia

hopefully this works. can see profile at canuck army

[Outsiders]

Whats with all the Zboil hype? He seems like the rest of the QMJHL d-man = a bust.

Anyone have a video/clip of his or any article that could make me eat my words? Comparable?

[granpappy]

• Age: 17.27 years old at start of season. Born June 7, 1997
• Birthplace: Togliatti, Russia

hopefully this works. can see profile at canuck army

ah there it is, gstank has it

[Gstank29]

Whats with all the Zboil hype? He seems like the rest of the QMJHL d-man = a bust.

Anyone have a video/clip of his or any article that could make me eat my words? Comparable?

Personally if we go QJMHL I want Meloche. Not a knock on the other guys but they don't really have the physical game that this team needs

[granpappy]

gurianov looks outstanding to me. goes to the net, shoots, rushes; is multi-faceted. he would have our highest offensive potential in our system instantly. at 23, i would hope jb would like him or if jb could move up somehow into teens, he might still be available. he would make up for picking 23rd.

[Gstank29]

gurianov looks outstanding to me. goes to the net, shoots, rushes; is multi-faceted. he would have our highest offensive potential in our system instantly. at 23, i would hope jb would like him or if jb could move up somehow into teens, he might still be available. he would make up for picking 23rd.

Boeser, Bracco, Svechnikov, IMO are much safer picks with the same offensive potential because there isn't the KHL variable.

Connor, Barzal, Timo, Merkley, could also be added to that group but they will be picked in the 6-20 range

[BanTSN]

I wouldn't call it bare. they have some guys that should be 4/5/6 type guys in the system.

Does Vancouver need more defenceman? Yes, and it should be a focus this draft. I'm all for take them with the rest of the picks.

Should they draft one just to draft one over a guy that is a better player? Hell no.

Philly Could have used a D back when they took Giroux...should they have drafted one then?

Maybe they should have went with Chriss Summers, Ivan Vishnevskiy, or Yuri Alexandrov who were all ranked about the same as Giroux.

Should the Hurricanes have selected Boychuk instead of Karlsson?

Should the Ducks have selected Holland instead of Leddy?

Should the Kings have selected Schenn instead of OEL?

And funny that about Philly, a team that is severely lacking defense and that is what has kept them down since the Pronger injury. If they had skipped Giroux, kept Carter and Richards, not signed Bryz, or and have selected Vlasic as opposed to Downie, they'd be in a different boat. But they knew what they were doing when they selected forward after forward after forward after forward in drafts. The result was entirely predictable.

Meh. We can play the hindsight game forever, but that won't solve the problem, will it?

The problem is that classically, the Canucks have always picked the wrong defenseman in drafts.

You can understand the fans here underrating 1st round defensemen when the Canucks pick these guys up in round one:

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.

The Canucks just need to change it up when deciding which defenseman to go after. In the past it's mainly been bruisers with limited offensive abilities and those types can be found in later rounds. PRODUCTION is the name of the game. If a defenseman cannot produce significant numbers as a drafted prospect, then his NHL upside is limited. You can see time and time again above that the poor production players go onto disappointing NHL careers. They were drafted for their size likely, but if that size doesn't come with offensive skill, then the bust potential is high.

Not to discredit the classic defensive defensemen, but ones of equal overall ability are often found in later rounds. So it makes little sense to burn a good 1st round draftpick on one. Especially if he has a high amount of pims. He may turn out to be a goon, not a top-4 type.

Here's something to note. Willie Mitchell was an 8th round selection. You never know where these type of defensemen can pop up.

Secondly, after production, SIZE is of vital importance for defensemen. You want at least 190lbs at 17rs old, preferably 200lbs. If you're not getting that, then you're taking a risk. The smaller the defenseman, the bigger the risk. Without size, they run the chance of being destroyed by opposing forwards night after night. If they are undersized, such as Karlsson was, then you had better make sure their offensive production is elite and their defensive ability is above 'liability' level. Karlsson isn't a defensive defenseman by any stretch, but his offensive output more than makes up for it. That's why he was a better choice than bigger guys Colten Teubert or Luke Schenn, who could only dream of Karlsson's offensive ability.

If an undersized prospect has only an average-to-good offensive ability, then be prepared for a high chance of busting. Enter Thomas Hickey. I'm not sure what LA saw in that prospect, but he was clearly undersized and not good enough with the puck to justify an off-the-board 4th overall pick. However, 2007 wasn't anywhere close to 2008 in defensive depth. They made up for the Hickey pick by selecting Drew Doughty the year after.

Third, when looking at offensive output, consider the junior league they're doing it in.

The OHL is considered the 'can't miss' league when it comes to offensive transferability. When a solidly-built defenseman does very well offensively there, chances are he will go on to a decent NHL career. (Hamilton, Fowler)

The WHL is more known for the tough shutdown-type overall, but can turn out HOFers like Scott Niedermayer as well.

The USDP will turn up some gems, as seen here: http://forum.canucks...the-draft-more/ And they're getting better by the year.

The SEL will have it's good and not-so-good years, but there have been some obvious greats to be had. The question is largely about transferability. Most solid-built defensemen can do it easily. Undersized ones have a tougher go, as expected.

There are a lot of Q D ranked high this draft. But the QMJHL has been a fairly disappointing junior league when it comes to developing defensemen, and hasn't turned out many top-notch 1st rounders in recent years. It's improving by the year though, but still there is this factor that the style of play in the Q basically breeds bad defensive habits and promotes wide-open offense that doesn't transfer well to the NHL. You shouldn't ignore the league entirely, of course, but just perhaps select them in later rounds. Such as the Penguins did with 3rd rounder Kris Letang, who to this day is still a defensive wildcard, but has a great offensive ability.

The KHL likes to keep their own prospects around as much as possible. This will add significant risk to any draft pick selected from that league. If you're going there, you better make sure he's an absolute NHLer. For example, our own Kirill Koltzov was an undersized offensive defenseman who had a cannon of shot, but not much else in terms of NHL-level skill. There was a low probability that he'd make it in the NHL and probably was not worth a 2nd round selection. At least not compared to... Duncan Keith!!! For the defensemen below, I'm ignoring the KHL risk and assuming some guys will come over. This is hardly a guarantee.

This draft year features a few difference-making defensemen. That doesn't happen every draft year. The Canucks might want to take advantage of that, if they can land one at 23rd overall. That's fairly possible.

Hanifin is a can't-miss stud.

Werenski is NHL ready and will contribute right away.

Andersson is also NHL ready. He appears to be in our reach.

Provorov is ranked a bit too high imho, but he is NHL ready.

Pilon is a year behind Provorov in readiness perhaps, and has less offensive upside, but his 2-way potential is great.

Kylington is a year behind Pilon, but has more offensive potential. He still needs to gain strength, but his speed is awesome. I don't believe that he's fallen as far as rankings indicate and some team will pick him up early, but he won't be the next OEL.

Roy is like Kylington, but with a far higher bust potential. He'll likely need some years of AHL time to round out his game.

Juulsen is a few years away, but projects a top-4 2-way defenseman down the road.

Risers:

Vince Dunn had a HUGE 2nd half and playoffs. A crazy 31pts in 24gp down the stretch. He absolutely caught fire and had scouts saying Keith! Keith! That's what has put him on the 1st round radar as of late. He's light and needs to build strength of course. Could be as good as Kylington or better in some years. But is he strictly an offensive defenseman? At least he has a somewhat workable frame, unlike Jordan Subban.

Dermott also had a great playoffs and 2nd half in Erie. He gained a lot of strength as the season wore on.

Zboril was hurt. But he finished his season at a ppg pace over eleven games. Q or not, that's decent. He'll need to build some strength though, and stay healthy. A lot of people are on the Zboril train now, and i'm saying he's the best Q D in this draft, but the best Q D 1st rounder recently was Kulikov, another import. If you're really impressed with Kulikov, okay then.

Stephen Derocher, Erie Otters, put on some weight and had a great playoffs. NHL GM's will notice. He's a future 2-way defenseman.

Caleb Jones is down there in his team's lineup, but he should be a riser just because of his brother Seth alone.

Fallers:

Jeremy Roy. Got hurt. Struggled to maintain 1st round status. I felt he looked out of sorts in the playoffs, constantly getting walked, and him and Barzal absolutely needed a good showing in the U18 to try to salvage their seasons. They delivered some points against the weaker teams in that tournament. Some other team will pick them up too early. Let them. If they fall to us, then let them fall some more.

Matt Spencer. Slowed WAY down late. Too bad.

Chabot. Also slowed down late. Still ranked high though.

Carlo. Hey, he's tall! He'll never be known for his offense, but what he had shown early on seemed to slow to a crawl late.

These guys aren't falling far, but they're not rising either. They or similar types should be available later on.

Cernak is strictly a defensive defenseman. Could be available late, but he has NHL size.

Gabriel Carlsson is the Swedish Carlo.

Jacob Larsson is the Swedish Cernak.

[TheSnipeshow91]

Whats with all the Zboil hype? He seems like the rest of the QMJHL d-man = a bust.

Anyone have a video/clip of his or any article that could make me eat my words? Comparable?

I'm sure there's a video out there in the internet if you just search his name up. In my opinion, he reminds me of Roman Josi. Big shot, mobile on the backend, great puck movement and a smart player overall.

[granpappy]

Should the Hurricanes have selected Boychuk instead of Karlsson?

Should the Ducks have selected Holland instead of Leddy?

Should the Kings have selected Schenn instead of OEL?

And funny that about Philly, a team that is severely lacking defense and that is what has kept them down since the Pronger injury. If they had skipped Giroux, kept Carter and Richards, not signed Bryz, or and have selected Vlasic as opposed to Downie, they'd be in a different boat. But they knew what they were doing when they selected forward after forward after forward after forward in drafts. The result was entirely predictable.

Meh. We can play the hindsight game forever, but that won't solve the problem, will it?

The problem is that classically, the Canucks have always picked the wrong defenseman in drafts.

You can understand the fans here underrating 1st round defensemen when the Canucks pick these guys up in round one:

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.

The Canucks just need to change it up when deciding which defenseman to go after. In the past it's mainly been bruisers with limited offensive abilities and those types can be found in later rounds. PRODUCTION is the name of the game. If a defenseman cannot produce significant numbers as a drafted prospect, then his NHL upside is limited. You can see time and time again above that the poor production players go onto disappointing NHL careers. They were drafted for their size likely, but if that size doesn't come with offensive skill, then the bust potential is high.

Not to discredit the classic defensive defensemen, but ones of equal overall ability are often found in later rounds. So it makes little sense to burn a good 1st round draftpick on one. Especially if he has a high amount of pims. He may turn out to be a goon, not a top-4 type.

Here's something to note. Willie Mitchell was an 8th round selection. You never know where these type of defensemen can pop up.

Secondly, after production, SIZE is of vital importance for defensemen. You want at least 190lbs at 17rs old, preferably 200lbs. If you're not getting that, then you're taking a risk. The smaller the defenseman, the bigger the risk. Without size, they run the chance of being destroyed by opposing forwards night after night. If they are undersized, such as Karlsson was, then you had better make sure their offensive production is elite and their defensive ability is above 'liability' level. Karlsson isn't a defensive defenseman by any stretch, but his offensive output more than makes up for it. That's why he was a better choice than bigger guys Colten Teubert or Luke Schenn, who could only dream of Karlsson's offensive ability.

If an undersized prospect has only an average-to-good offensive ability, then be prepared for a high chance of busting. Enter Thomas Hickey. I'm not sure what LA saw in that prospect, but he was clearly undersized and not good enough with the puck to justify an off-the-board 4th overall pick. However, 2007 wasn't anywhere close to 2008 in defensive depth. They made up for the Hickey pick by selecting Drew Doughty the year after.

Third, when looking at offensive output, consider the junior league they're doing it in.

The OHL is considered the 'can't miss' league when it comes to offensive transferability. When a solidly-built defenseman does very well offensively there, chances are he will go on to a decent NHL career. (Hamilton, Fowler)

The WHL is more known for the tough shutdown-type overall, but can turn out HOFers like Scott Niedermayer as well.

The USDP will turn up some gems, as seen here: http://forum.canucks...the-draft-more/ And they're getting better by the year.

The SEL will have it's good and not-so-good years, but there have been some obvious greats to be had. The question is largely about transferability. Most solid-built defensemen can do it easily. Undersized ones have a tougher go, as expected.

There are a lot of Q D ranked high this draft. But the QMJHL has been a fairly disappointing junior league when it comes to developing defensemen, and hasn't turned out many top-notch 1st rounders in recent years. It's improving by the year though, but still there is this factor that the style of play in the Q basically breeds bad defensive habits and promotes wide-open offense that doesn't transfer well to the NHL. You shouldn't ignore the league entirely, of course, but just perhaps select them in later rounds. Such as the Penguins did with 3rd rounder Kris Letang, who to this day is still a defensive wildcard, but has a great offensive ability.

The KHL likes to keep their own prospects around as much as possible. This will add significant risk to any draft pick selected from that league. If you're going there, you better make sure he's an absolute NHLer. For example, our own Kirill Koltzov was an undersized offensive defenseman who had a cannon of shot, but not much else in terms of NHL-level skill. There was a low probability that he'd make it in the NHL and probably was not worth a 2nd round selection. At least not compared to... Duncan Keith!!! For the defensemen below, I'm ignoring the KHL risk and assuming some guys will come over. This is hardly a guarantee.

This draft year features a few difference-making defensemen. That doesn't happen every draft year. The Canucks might want to take advantage of that, if they can land one at 23rd overall. That's fairly possible.

Hanifin is a can't-miss stud.

Werenski is NHL ready and will contribute right away.

Andersson is also NHL ready. He appears to be in our reach.

Provorov is ranked a bit too high imho, but he is NHL ready.

Pilon is a year behind Provorov in readiness perhaps, and has less offensive upside, but his 2-way potential is great.

Kylington is a year behind Pilon, but has more offensive potential. He still needs to gain strength, but his speed is awesome. I don't believe that he's fallen as far as rankings indicate and some team will pick him up early, but he won't be the next OEL.

Roy is like Kylington, but with a far higher bust potential. He'll likely need some years of AHL time to round out his game.

Juulsen is a few years away, but projects a top-4 2-way defenseman down the road.

Risers:

Vince Dunn had a HUGE 2nd half and playoffs. A crazy 31pts in 24gp down the stretch. He absolutely caught fire and had scouts saying Keith! Keith! That's what has put him on the 1st round radar as of late. He's light and needs to build strength of course. Could be as good as Kylington or better in some years. But is he strictly an offensive defenseman? At least he has a somewhat workable frame, unlike Jordan Subban.

Dermott also had a great playoffs and 2nd half in Erie. He gained a lot of strength as the season wore on.

Zboril was hurt. But he finished his season at a ppg pace over eleven games. Q or not, that's decent. He'll need to build some strength though, and stay healthy. A lot of people are on the Zboril train now, and i'm saying he's the best Q D in this draft, but the best Q D 1st rounder recently was Kulikov, another import. If you're really impressed with Kulikov, okay then.

Stephen Derocher, Erie Otters, put on some weight and had a great playoffs. NHL GM's will notice. He's a future 2-way defenseman.

Caleb Jones is down there in his team's lineup, but he should be a riser just because of his brother Seth alone.

Fallers:

Jeremy Roy. Got hurt. Struggled to maintain 1st round status. I felt he looked out of sorts in the playoffs, constantly getting walked, and him and Barzal absolutely needed a good showing in the U18 to try to salvage their seasons. They delivered some points against the weaker teams in that tournament. Some other team will pick them up too early. Let them. If they fall to us, then let them fall some more.

Matt Spencer. Slowed WAY down late. Too bad.

Chabot. Also slowed down late. Still ranked high though.

Carlo. Hey, he's tall! He'll never be known for his offense, but what he had shown early on seemed to slow to a crawl late.

These guys aren't falling far, but they're not rising either. They or similar types should be available later on.

Cernak is strictly a defensive defenseman. Could be available late, but he has NHL size.

Gabriel Carlsson is the Swedish Carlo.

Jacob Larsson is the Swedish Cernak.

wonder if we still would have taken lanz if edmonton passed on coffee

[DeNiro]

Need to draft future D duo this draft and stop hoping 3rd to 5th rounders pan out.

Pick up a puck mover and a nasty stay at home guy in the first and second round.

[Winter Soldier]

Need to draft future D duo this draft and stop hoping 3rd to 5th rounders pan out.

Pick up a puck mover and a nasty stay at home guy in the first and second round.

Kylington and Dunn?

I can only dream.

[73 Percent]

They're both big and fast Swedish forwards who can light the lamp, but they also play a hard game.

LA drafted a stud in Kempe last year, and I knew all along that he would be. I see Eriksson-Ek taking a very similar development path, but I also think that he's going to be even better than Kempe.

It would also help having a guy like him because we're in the same division as LA.

Eriksson-Ek vs. Kempe? Could be fun to watch.

so comparable to henrik samualsons game? I wanted us to pick him so bad. Pleased with gaunce though.

[Blömqvist]

I hope we add another 1st rounder, hopefully the 16th overall pick that Edmonton holds. Last year when we added Anaheim's first round pick from the Kesler trade I was hoping we would use that to draft defenseman Travis Sanheim. He had a monsteous second half of his season (similar to Dunn), and continued it this season with 65 points in 67 games in the WHL.

I'm hoping we can go with Zboril or Kylington with an added earlier pick, then Dunn with our 23rd overall pick. Add two potential top-pairing defensemen to the prospect cupboard.

[Baer.]

Need to draft future D duo this draft and stop hoping 3rd to 5th rounders pan out.

Pick up a puck mover and a nasty stay at home guy in the first and second round.

Puck mover: Zboril, Chabot, Roy

Nasty stay at home guy: Carlo, Carlsson

[Putgolzin]

The problem with drafting for organizational needs is timing.

By the time they're ready to actually contribute, we better have solved that problem already.

When we drafted Schneider we hoped he could be the goalie he became because we'd suffered through so many years of sub par tending. When he DID he was almost redundant because we'd solved that problem years earlier in a different way