Canucks Biggest Draft Booms and Busts since 2000

mathonwy

Positively #toxic
Jan 21, 2008
19,022
9,942
Hilarious....If I really wanted to bash Gillis' drafting I would have brought up 'all' of his first round busts...Get a grip.

The reason I brought up Shinkaruk is because its not common to see a 1st rounder 'traded' after only 2 years into his development...Most teams have a bit more patience with their higher picks..Almost looked like 'buyers remorse' from the get go..
Jared McCann would agree.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Peter10

Pastor Of Muppetz

Registered User
Oct 1, 2017
25,983
15,854
Jared McCann would agree.
McCann played 69 games for the Canucks..Shinkaruk only 1....

Despite talk of McCanns attitude...I dont think that the Canucks were actively trying to trade him (Shinkaruks name had come up in numerous trade talks),but obviously felt they had to give to get in the Guddy deal.
 
Last edited:

timw33

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
Nov 18, 2007
25,708
19,424
Victoria
I was ecstatic with the pick at the time. Viewed him as our own Patrick Kane type. Definitely the BPA at the time - same with Jordan Schroeder, IMO.

Agreed, when you're drafting in the back third of the first round it's pretty defensible to take high-skill players with great draft year production. Better to take a swing for a top 6 forward than try to bunt your way to a 4th liner.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mr. Canucklehead

Peter10

Registered User
Dec 7, 2003
4,193
5,042
Germany
Hilarious....If I really wanted to bash Gillis' drafting I would have brought up 'all' of his first round busts...Get a grip.

The reason I brought up Shinkaruk is because its not common to see a 1st rounder 'traded' after only 2 years into his development...Most teams have a bit more patience with their higher picks..Almost looked like 'buyers remorse' from the get go..

How can it be buyers remorse when the GM that traded him wasn't even the GM that drafted him.

The McCann example is better, the GM that traded him was the same that drafted him 2 years before.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MS

VanJack

Registered User
Jul 11, 2014
21,043
14,073
So I'm the only one who remembers that Shinkaruk was a perfectly good prospect until double hip surgery ruined him then, am I? K...
Have to agree. Hip surgery is just about as serious an injury as any hockey play can sustain, particularly a kid like Shinkaruk who relied so much on speed and edge-work when he was in junior.

He just never seemed to be able to gain any separation in his skating when he hit the AHL level. I fear Juolevi might suffer the same fate. Too many major injuries during his critical development period. Although in Juolevi's case, I don't think his lateral agility was ever a strength of his game.

And speaking of Jared McCann, it's obvious Jimbo gave up on him too soon. And what makes it more painful, is that he was squandered for an albatross of a d-man like Gudbranson.

And I also fear that Benning might have given up on Tyler Madden too soon.
 

mathonwy

Positively #toxic
Jan 21, 2008
19,022
9,942
Jim Benning will <strikethrough>never</strikethrough> always give you up.

Jim Benning will <strikethrough>never</strikethrough> always let you down.
 

Hit the post

I have your gold medal Zippy!
Oct 1, 2015
22,288
14,030
Hiding under WTG's bed...
And speaking of Jared McCann, it's obvious Jimbo gave up on him too soon. And what makes it more painful, is that he was squandered for an albatross of a d-man like Gudbranson.
...and threw in the 33rd overall pick for good measure because Jethro Bodine didn't think he was assaulted enough. Then the cherry on top was the contract extension he gave after seeing him **** the bed. Double down Benning strikes again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bitz and Bites

RandV

It's a wolf v2.0
Jul 29, 2003
26,831
4,924
Vancouver
Visit site
First time looking at this thread and the article, really not a very good job. First I think if you have a 1st round pick where it's questionable who you should pick and you hit out of the park, that should count as a boom. If you don't want to do that then there's a number of mid-late round picks to choose from.

Boom (not much needs to be said for these guys):

1. Elias Petersson
2. Alex Edler
3. Bo Horvat
HM:
Kevin Bieska
Jannik Hansen


Bust:

1. Patrick White(25) - questionable pick at the time who topped out as a 2nd tier European player. Not a good result.
2. Taylor Ellington (33) - not a 1st rounder, but at 33rd older close enough. Same draft as White, except topped out in the ECHL
3. Oli Juolevi (5) - If he busts right out moves to #1. Otherwise taken when Tkachuk was the best BPA, and the worst player and you have to move down to #18 to find a worse player (Logan Stanley) in that draft.

HM:
Nathan Smith(23) - drafted to be a checking center, topped out as a decent AHLer with 26 career games
Brendan Gaunce(26) - similar deal to Smith but better overall player.
 

Hit the post

I have your gold medal Zippy!
Oct 1, 2015
22,288
14,030
Hiding under WTG's bed...
First time looking at this thread and the article, really not a very good job. First I think if you have a 1st round pick where it's questionable who you should pick and you hit out of the park, that should count as a boom. If you don't want to do that then there's a number of mid-late round picks to choose from.

Boom (not much needs to be said for these guys):

1. Elias Petersson
2. Alex Edler
3. Bo Horvat
HM:
Kevin Bieska
Jannik Hansen


Bust:

1. Patrick White(25) - questionable pick at the time who topped out as a 2nd tier European player. Not a good result.
2. Taylor Ellington (33) - not a 1st rounder, but at 33rd older close enough. Same draft as White, except topped out in the ECHL
3. Oli Juolevi (5) - If he busts right out moves to #1. Otherwise taken when Tkachuk was the best BPA, and the worst player and you have to move down to #18 to find a worse player (Logan Stanley) in that draft.

HM:
Nathan Smith(23) - drafted to be a checking center, topped out as a decent AHLer with 26 career games
Brendan Gaunce(26) - similar deal to Smith but better overall player.
I'm not sure if I'd call Nathan Smith even just a decent AHLer. Not horrible AHLer, but nothing special.
 

Mr. Canucklehead

Kitimat Canuck
Dec 14, 2002
39,961
29,757
Kitimat, BC
Nathan Smith was a bad pick from the moment it was made. Same goes for Patrick White. The 2000 and 2007 drafts were just insanely awful for the Canucks.

And I’ll say again, it blows my mind that we only game away with Kesler in the deep 2003 draft. We had so many picks that went to waste.
 

rypper

21-12-05 it's finally over.
Dec 22, 2006
16,200
19,946
I can still remember the 2007 draft, when the Canucks selected Patrick White even the analysts had to scramble to be like who?
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,584
15,946
And I’ll say again, it blows my mind that we only game away with Kesler in the deep 2003 draft. We had so many picks that went to waste.

it's funny too look at what we came away with in the other loaded drafts, which really makes kesler, great as he obviously was, not a great haul at all in 2003

1979

GM: jake milford

5th: rick vaive, 50 goal scorer
26th: brent ashton, well traveled top six winger, peaked with 40 goals, played 998 games
89th: dirk graham, captained a cup finalist, won a selke, average 25 goals, 55 points over a six year prime as an elite defensive forward

note: we pissed all three guys away. 2/3 were future O6 captains and they combined for 171 games, 39 goals, and 69 pts as canucks.


1990

GM: pat quinn

2nd: petr nedved, not the ideal pick obviously but a good enough pick at that position
18th: shawn antoski
23rd: jiri slegr
86th: gino odjick

note: with so much talent available, you'd like a lot more than antoski and slegr at those positions but at least all three top 25 picks played. after gino in the fifth round (one pick after zubov), nobody we picked played; a year after stealing bure, quinn seems to have missed the memo that this draft was stocked with good soviet and czechoslovakian players.


2008

GM: mike gillis

10th: cody hodgson

note: in a first round stacked with norris-calibre defencemen, we once unsuccessfully tried to trade hodgson for john carlson, and later did acquire sbisa, del zaster, schenn, and myers.
 

ChilliBilly

Registered User
Aug 22, 2007
7,081
4,325
chilliwacki
it's funny too look at what we came away with in the other loaded drafts, which really makes kesler, great as he obviously was, not a great haul at all in 2003

1979

GM: jake milford

5th: rick vaive, 50 goal scorer
26th: brent ashton, well traveled top six winger, peaked with 40 goals, played 998 games
89th: dirk graham, captained a cup finalist, won a selke, average 25 goals, 55 points over a six year prime as an elite defensive forward

note: we pissed all three guys away. 2/3 were future O6 captains and they combined for 171 games, 39 goals, and 69 pts as canucks.


1990

GM: pat quinn

2nd: petr nedved, not the ideal pick obviously but a good enough pick at that position
18th: shawn antoski
23rd: jiri slegr
86th: gino odjick

note: with so much talent available, you'd like a lot more than antoski and slegr at those positions but at least all three top 25 picks played. after gino in the fifth round (one pick after zubov), nobody we picked played; a year after stealing bure, quinn seems to have missed the memo that this draft was stocked with good soviet and czechoslovakian players.


2008

GM: mike gillis

10th: cody hodgson

note: in a first round stacked with norris-calibre defencemen, we once unsuccessfully tried to trade hodgson for john carlson, and later did acquire sbisa, del zaster, schenn, and myers.


Just a note on Cody hodgson - he was ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the world at one point. We could have traded him for a fortune. Which is hindsight, because at the time if that had happened, everyone would have screamed.

He was a one of those players who's value skyrocketed after his draft year. Would have been amazing if the Canucks had traded him for probably a decent player and a 1st round pick at the 2011 trade deadline ....
 

Pastor Of Muppetz

Registered User
Oct 1, 2017
25,983
15,854
Just a note on Cody hodgson - he was ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the world at one point. We could have traded him for a fortune. Which is hindsight, because at the time if that had happened, everyone would have screamed.

He was a one of those players who's value skyrocketed after his draft year. Would have been amazing if the Canucks had traded him for probably a decent player and a 1st round pick at the 2011 trade deadline ....
Would'nt they?...Canucks did target Carlson (also Erik Gudbranson and Brandon Sutter) ..eventually winding up with Kassian
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,584
15,946
Just a note on Cody hodgson - he was ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the world at one point. We could have traded him for a fortune. Which is hindsight, because at the time if that had happened, everyone would have screamed.

He was a one of those players who's value skyrocketed after his draft year. Would have been amazing if the Canucks had traded him for probably a decent player and a 1st round pick at the 2011 trade deadline ....

i don’t remember how tight we were with the cap but imagine if we’d traded him at the deadline in 2010 to overpay for a #2/3 dman to replace mitchell.

imo that 2010 team was a dman that wasn’t alberts away from the cup.

but as you say that would have been considered insane at the time, an almost unprecedented testicles on the table move.
 

Balls Mahoney

2015-2016 HF Premier League World Champion
Aug 14, 2008
20,402
1,922
Legend
Reliving a lot of these really does make you question a lot of things. 20 years of Canucks Draft Picks...

170px-Tom_Lea_-_2000_Yard_Stare.jpg


Remembering all of these...

Patrick White

Taylor Ellington

Luc Bourdon (Sorry but over Kopitar? What the mother f***? We take Kopitar there and this team has two Stanley Cups)

were my biggest WTFs

Also thought Schroeder > Hodgson from day one and always thought Hodgson was a candy ass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: vadim sharifijanov

RandV

It's a wolf v2.0
Jul 29, 2003
26,831
4,924
Vancouver
Visit site
Just a note on Cody hodgson - he was ranked as the No. 1 prospect in the world at one point. We could have traded him for a fortune. Which is hindsight, because at the time if that had happened, everyone would have screamed.

He was a one of those players who's value skyrocketed after his draft year. Would have been amazing if the Canucks had traded him for probably a decent player and a 1st round pick at the 2011 trade deadline ....

Looking back on it with today's perspective I'd say a major factor is that we were a competitive team right up against the cap, so the best value there is to have a top prospect having an impact in your lineup while on an ELC. By the time it was apparent that he wouldn't have an immediate major impact the team was looking to trade him and his value was what it was.
 

tradervik

Hear no evil, see no evil, complain about it
Sponsor
Jun 25, 2007
2,330
2,406
2008

GM: mike gillis

10th: cody hodgson

note: in a first round stacked with norris-calibre defencemen, we once unsuccessfully tried to trade hodgson for john carlson, and later did acquire sbisa, del zaster, schenn, and myers.

Amazingly 11 players from the 2008 draft wound up playing some games for the Canucks but only two were drafted by the team:

Luke Schenn
Cody Hodgson
Tyler Myers
Luca Sbisa
Del Zotto
Markstrom
Zac Dalpe
Yann Sauve
Dutch Gretzky
Philip Larsen
Matt Bartkowski
 
  • Like
Reactions: vadim sharifijanov

Bettman Returnz

Why so serious?
Jul 28, 2003
4,788
2,675
BC
Visit site
Reliving a lot of these really does make you question a lot of things. 20 years of Canucks Draft Picks...

170px-Tom_Lea_-_2000_Yard_Stare.jpg


Remembering all of these...

Patrick White

Taylor Ellington

Luc Bourdon (Sorry but over Kopitar? What the mother f***? We take Kopitar there and this team has two Stanley Cups)

were my biggest WTFs

Also thought Schroeder > Hodgson from day one and always thought Hodgson was a candy ass.
Easy to say now... Bourdon over kopitar. With all do respect he was a good D. And I think he could’ve been something real special. I agree with the others as they amounted to nothing.
 

Hit the post

I have your gold medal Zippy!
Oct 1, 2015
22,288
14,030
Hiding under WTG's bed...
i don’t remember how tight we were with the cap but imagine if we’d traded him at the deadline in 2010 to overpay for a #2/3 dman to replace mitchell.

imo that 2010 team was a dman that wasn’t alberts away from the cup.

but as you say that would have been considered insane at the time, an almost unprecedented testicles on the table move.
Gillis still offered Mitchell a one year deal after the 2009/10 season but Mitchell was looking for more insurance (longer term deal). We didn't have that luxory to take that risk imho.

Gillis decided to go with Hamhuis (UFA) & Ballard (acquired in that infamous Grabner trade) - in the off-season. He hit a ground rule triple with Hamhuis but took a Reggie Jackson swing (and a miss) on Ballard.

At least that's how I remembered it.
 

Hit the post

I have your gold medal Zippy!
Oct 1, 2015
22,288
14,030
Hiding under WTG's bed...
Easy to say now... Bourdon over kopitar. With all do respect he was a good D. And I think he could’ve been something real special. I agree with the others as they amounted to nothing.
He suffered a pretty major ankle injury (at least I *think*, just going by memory) that affected his mobility. I don't remember if this was before or after he was drafted by us.
 

Jyrki21

2021-12-05
Sponsor
He suffered a pretty major ankle injury (at least I *think*, just going by memory) that affected his mobility. I don't remember if this was before or after he was drafted by us.
High ankle sprain, and it was post-draft.

Bourdon was likeable and no doubt would have become a lineup regular, but as @MS has chronicled here before, the numbers never really supported him being drafted that high [side note – he and best friend Kris Letang had identical GP, G, A, P numbers in their draft year, eerie... but note Letang didn't go until the 62nd spot]. So if we put emotions aside, it's not unfair to question either the draft selection or the likely longer-term impact even without the Kopitar misstep. When Bourdon "almost made the team out of camp" as an 18-year old, it was basically because he threw some big hits in preseason. I'm not an analytics expert, but I don't believe there were a ton of indicators that he was likely to become a big star or anything.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MS and vanuck

Kryten

slightly regarded
Sponsor
Sep 29, 2011
14,717
12,019
Kootenays
High ankle sprain, and it was post-draft.

Bourdon was likeable and no doubt would have become a lineup regular, but as @MS has chronicled here before, the numbers never really supported him being drafted that high [side note – he and best friend Kris Letang had identical GP, G, A, P numbers in their draft year, eerie... but note Letang didn't go until the 62nd spot]. So if we put emotions aside, it's not unfair to question either the draft selection or the likely longer-term impact even without the Kopitar misstep. When Bourdon "almost made the team out of camp" as an 18-year old, it was basically because he threw some big hits in preseason. I'm not an analytics expert, but I don't believe there were a ton of indicators that he was likely to become a big star or anything.
Having him and not Ballard might have gotten us a cup. Too many variables but that devastating loss of life leaves so many what ifs
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bettman Returnz

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->