Who will the Vancouver Canucks draft with the NHL's 5th overall pick?

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      With all the excitement—or lack thereof—of the Stanley Cup Final now finished, it will soon be time for the Vancouver Canucks to plot a return to the playoffs.

      The 2016 NHL Entry Draft is almost a week away, and analysts are predicting in which order the supremely talented teenagers will be picked.

      The Canucks, of course, hold the fifth overall pick in the exercise, and are set to get a top-notch prospect to add to their growing stable that includes Jake Virtanen, Brock Boeser, Jordan Subban, Jared McCann and Hunter Shinkaruk… Erm, well, three of the five isn’t bad.

      So, who’s out there?

      The contenders

      Matthew Tkachuk—LW, 6-1, 195 lbs., London Knights

      Rumoured to be the fifth-best prospect for much of the year, Tkachuk’s recent performance in the playoffs for the eventual Memorial Cup champion Knights was lights out. The son of former NHLer Keith registered 20 goals and 20 assists in 18 playoff games. Tkachuk is a power forward with exceptional hands, in the mould of Virtanen and former ‘Nuck Todd Bertuzzi.

      Unfortunately, his phenomenal play during the playoffs has meant that he will likely go fourth in the draft to the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers then, are set to continue their trend of stockpiling young, promising forwards and slowly sucking the life out of them.

      Pierre-Luc Dubois—LW, 6-3, 205 lbs., Cape Breton Screaming Eagles

      The perceived popular fifth pick is—surprise, surprise—another, even bigger, power forward. Dubois lit the Quebec Major Junior League on fire this year, putting up 99 points and 112 penalty minutes as he used his gargantuan frame to great effect.

      If the consensus holds, the Canucks will be getting a highly touted prospect from “The Q” for the first time since Luc Bourdon.

      Olli Juolevi—D, 6-3, 179 lbs., London Knights

      Another member of the Knights’ championship winning team, Juolevi’s stock has risen steadily throughout the year.

      A slick, puck-handling defenceman, the Finnish national put up 42 points and a plus-38 rating in 57 games, massive numbers for a rookie rearguard. To put those numbers in perspective, Canucks top defensive prospect Subban, in his fourth OHL season, put up 52 points in 63 games.

      The dark horses

      Alexander Nylander—LW, 6-1, 179 lbs., Mississauga Steelheads

      The brother of Leafs prospect William and son of former NHLer Michael, Nylander set a team record for scoring as a rookie, with 75 points in 57 games.

      Although constantly rated by scouts as the fifth- or sixth-best forward in the draft, the fact that his older bro was drafted eighth overall in the 2014 draft before lighting up the AHL in two seasons with the Toronto Marlies has increased speculation that the younger Nylander may just be getting started. Whoever ends up with the talented winger probably won’t be disappointed.

      Jakob Chychrun—D, 6-2, 215 lbs., Sarnia Sting

      Earlier in the year, Chychrun was slated to be the top-rated defensive prospect in the draft. Scouts raved that he was “NHL-ready”.

      Since then, he’s fallen down the draft boards a bit, thanks in part to a shoulder injury, but the tools that the monstrous 18-year-old possesses—defensive prowess, a slick first pass—are still very much there. His OHL stats look a whole lot like last year’s Calder winner, Aaron Ekblad’s.

      Logan Brown—C, 6-6, 222 lbs., Windsor Spitfires

      There’s been speculation that Canucks GM Jim Benning will consider trading down in the draft to keep the team competitive for this year while still getting a good prospect.

      If that happens, watch out for Brown, who is projected to go just outside the top 10. He is a hulking, scoring centre who may be impossible for Benning to resist. Remember, Benning spent years within the Boston Bruins organization, a team that was built on size and snarl. Although Henrik Sedin is aging gracefully, there is a number-one centre spot on the team that is looking more and more up for grabs each season.

      Prediction

      Unless they trade down, look for Dubois to be the newest Canuck. The forward’s combination of size and skill will be too much to resist. Plus, he has played centre in junior, an added bonus that Benning will consider heavily. 

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