The day is finally here.
Fans have streamed into Rogers Arena, eager to see who the Canucks will pick at tenth overall, if they pick anyone at all. There’s buzz that the Canucks might “make a big splash,” rumbles that they might trade the pick, and a low-level ringing in my ears that might just be permanent hearing damage from the volume of the live music at last night’s NHL media reception.
Jim Benning has made it clear: the Canucks are keeping their options open and considering every possibility. Those possibilities are many, so let’s run down some of them:
They could trade the tenth overall pick, whether trading up in the draft to grab a top-ranked player like Bowen Byram, trading down to get more picks, trading for a veteran, or trading for a top prospect.
They could pick a top-ranked player that slips down the board: perhaps Dyalan Cozens, Kirby Dach, or Vasili Podkolzin.
They could reach for a player ranked a little lower in the draft because they believe he’s the best player available. Arthur Kaliyev is a possibility or maybe Cam York.
Maybe they’ll pick the top-ranked name in the draft: Matti Fingerroos.
Most likely, however, they’ll pick one of the following players, whose PITB profiles I’ve linked below:
- Trevor Zegras
- Matthew Boldy
- Alex Newhook
- Cole Caufield
- Peyton Krebs
- Victor Soderstrom
- Philip Broberg
Before the start of the draft, however, the Canucks had a special announcement: Alex Burrows is heading into the Ring of Honour in the Canucks’ 50th Anniversary season.
That's amazing and one of the best parts about it being announced at the draft is that Burrows went undrafted. It's an incredible story for Burrows to never have that advantage of being drafted and working with an NHL organization from the age of 18. He worked his way up from ball hockey legend, through the ECHL, to the AHL with the Manitoba Moose, then all the way to one of the best first lines in the NHL alongside the Sedins.
Now he's heading to the Ring of Honour alongside Orland Kurtenbach, Harold Snepsts, Mattias Ohlund, Thomas Gradin, Kirk McLean, and Pat Quinn. He'll head into the Ring of Honour in the same season the Sedins head to the rafters, since their numbers will be retired. Burrows will forever be on their wing.
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