By Graham Burns
The Vancouver Canucks made three selections during Sunday's FNHL Draft, making selections at #4, #11 and #44. None of these selections are Vancouver's original picks, (slated at #19, #51, #83) but instead were all acquired at various points in trades. The headliner of course was pick #4. That pick of course was acquired from San Jose in January in the deal that sent superstars Jake Gardiner and Mikhail Grabovski to San Jose. Though the pick did not fair well in the lottery, dropping to #4 from #2, it still put the Canucks in place to draft an impact young player. With Florida owning the top-2 picks in the draft, there was a fair amount of intrigue as to which direction they would go in making their picks. This led to a lot of trade talks, with Seattle even trading the 33 pick to Minnesota and Vancouver reportedly having a trade in place to move out of the #4 pick pending what happened in the top-3 picks.
Instead Vancouver's #1 target, Dman Jamie Drysdale from the Erie Otters, was on the board when Vancouver was on the clock and the Canucks quickly made their selection. Drysdale is a prototypical defenceman for the modern game. The best skater in the draft, Drysdale has fantastic offensive ability and can still hold his own in 5-on-5 play. There is some question as to whether he will be able to step into a pro lineup immediately due to his strength and defensive play, but he will get a shot in training camp and in the pre-season. Matt Clark would seem to be a good fit as a partner stylistically, but that move would put Clark on his off-side, which isn't ideal.
When the draft got to pick #11, it was in full swing with the first in-draft trade already made when Toronto moved down from #8 with Buffalo. Vancouver GM Burns received an offer from Seattle that was extremely tempting, Seattle's 2027 and 2029 1st round picks as well as #58 in the 2026 draft for #11. Had it not been for Burns' feeling that Seattle GM Adam Harris was going to fast-track his team build, the #11 pick would have likely been on the way to Seattle. Instead, Vancouver held onto the pick and selected C Marco Rossi from the Ottawa 67's. Rossi projects as a top-6 C, which may eventually push either him or Barret Hayton to the wing. Rossi has missed the entire system with Covid related issues, so there is some risk, but his skill set is so dynamic that the Canucks felt he could have gone higher. Fully expect Rossi to get the time he needs on the farm to recover and rebuild his stamina.
After the 11th pick was announced, Vancouver had only one pick remaining in the draft, #72. They were hoping to grab a goalie there to continue to build out that position, but as the top of the second round progressed, they found a player that they had graded as a late 1st (or very top of the 2nd) value was sliding. They called up Florida and offered to buy pick #44 from them. After a quick negotiation, $4.25 million was the price the sides agreed on and Vancouver selected goaltend Joel Blomqvist. Blomqvist is not a flashy goalie, instead one that always seems calm in the net and controls his rebounds well. With the recent success of Ville Husso and Arturs Silovs on the farm as a blueprint, Vancouver is hoping that they will emerge with a pro level goalie after a few farm seasons.
Vancouver ended up selling their 72nd pick in order to recoup some of the cash they paid for the #44 pick, selling it for $1.35 million. Vancouver will now ramp up for both Restricted and Unrestricted Free Agency where they are expected to be very busy.
4/19/2021 - 645 words
