As we near the end of the decade, we’ll attempt to round out and rank all things Canucks over the last 10 years. Here are (in our humble estimation) the Vancouver Canucks drafts of the decade, ranked.  

Looking back over the decade that was authored by the Vancouver Canucks can leave fans feeling a multitude of ways. As we learned by ranking the best players by each position, those emotions can run the gamut—everything from heartbroken to hopeful is on the board.

This list is likely to make you feel more of the latter, as many of the team’s best draft years of the current decade have come closer to the end. Fans of general manager Jim Benning will be sure to note that, even if this season results in the fifth consecutive one without the playoffs under his tenure. And even if he may have whiffed on two particularly important picks.

Before we get to the ranking, let’s establish some ground rules. First, we are ranking based on the quality of players the Canucks took from the draft, regardless of whether they still play on the team. We’ll also be taking draft position into account. So late-round hits are more valuable than picking the obvious choice in a good spot.

There’s also the caveat that some of these drafts (especially 2019) haven’t had the necessary time to age.

With all that in mind, here are the Vancouver Canucks drafts of the decade, ranked. As always, feel free to disagree in the comments.

10. 2010 

The Canucks were firmly in “go for it mode” at the start of the decade and thusly had no picks in the first three rounds of the 2010 draft.

Centre Alex Friesen was the only selection from this year to play an NHL game, getting in one contest with the Canucks in 2015-16.

9. 2011

Another from the early years. The Canucks were still trying to win the Stanley Cup and didn’t care too much about stockpiling picks. They did keep their first rounder though, and Canucks fans will remember Dane Nicklas Jensen, drafted with the 29th pick overall. He had a couple stints with the team before being traded to the New York Rangers for a fellow 29th overall pick, Emerson Etem. Jensen has since gone to the KHL, where he’s been able to rack up points for Jokerit.

Big forwards Alexandre Grenier (third round) and Joe Labate (fourth) both had cups of coffee with the club before settling in as AHLers (though Grenier played this season in Germany).

But the most successful pick by the Canucks in 2011 was Frankie Corrado in the fifth round. The defenceman played 76 games in the NHL, including 25 with the Canucks before the Toronto Maple Leafs claimed him off waivers.

He’s currently in the Ottawa Senators farm system, having last played in the bigs with Pittsburgh in 2017-18.

8. 2016

This might be too low for the 2016 draft when it’s all said and done, but the fact is that no one selected by the Canucks has played a single game in the NHL. Of course, that’s in large part due to Olli Juolevi’s injury history.

Canucks fans know the story well: Juolevi was drafted with the fifth overall pick but has been consistently hampered by injuries to start his career. He’s only played 41 games over the last two seasons and is currently trying to put some games together in the AHL. He’s showed well in that league when he’s suited up, even if the Canucks would love a mulligan on that pick. Some players drafted right after Juolevi include Matthew Tkachuk, Clayton Keller and Mikhail Sergachev.

The Canucks didn’t have a second pick in this one (it was traded in the Erik Gudbranson deal), but third rounder William Lockwood still has plenty of potential and has been great with the University of Michigan. Whether or not he’ll sign with the team that drafted him this offseason is another matter.

7. 2012

The Canucks only had five picks here, but they did have their first and second rounders, though both were of the late variety. Brendan Gaunce was a decent enough pick at number 26 overall. He played 117 games with the Canucks while splitting time in Utica before the organization opted not to bring him back last summer.

The Boston Bruins signed him on July 1 and he’s currently with their AHL team in Providence. It wasn’t an overly loaded draft year, but five picks after Gaunce, current Canuck Tanner Pearson was selected by the Los Angeles Kings.

The best pick of the draft for the Canucks was actually a current King. Vancouver took Ben Hutton in the fifth round and he spent four seasons with the team before signing with L.A. last summer. He certainly was an embattled figure, but the smooth-skating Hutton had stretches of effectiveness for the Canucks. 

It’s also interesting to note that one pick after the Canucks selected Alexandre Mallet in the second round (zero NHL games played), the Phoenix Coyotes plucked Jordan Martinook out of the Vancouver Giants. The forward has become a decent bottom-six option; he now plays for the Carolina Hurricanes.

6. 2019

OK, we’ll admit that this is pretty much a guess. None of the Canucks selections has played a game in the NHL yet and it’s only been months since they were picked by the team.

But as long we’re guessing, Vasili Podkolzin (10th overall) looks like a player. He and Nils Hoglander (40th overall) both look quite promising, and have each gotten off to strong starts at the world juniors.

Again, it’s a big time guess here, but this ranking feels appropriate.

5. 2013

We’ve reached the last draft of the decade that was shepherded by former Canucks general manager Mike Gillis. That’s mostly due to the fact that the team was trying to win during his tenure and had terrible draft position. Indeed, this draft represents only the second time Gillis got to pick in the top 10 (the first was when he took Cody Hodgson in 2008).

Unlike that selection, there’s no argument about whether Gillis knocked the 2013 first rounder out of the park. That would be the Canucks’ current captain, Bo Horvat, taken with the ninth pick overall. 2013 was a good draft year, but the Canucks did well to get a future captain at the back end of the top 10.

Hunter Shinkaruk showed some promise in the AHL, but the Canucks made a smart move dealing him to the Calgary Flames for Markus Granlund after two seasons in Vancouver’s system. Say what you will about Granlund, but Shinkaruk has only played 15 games total in the NHL and recently signed in the KHL. 

Things never quite worked out for either of Cole Cassels or Jordan Subban, both of whom came with NHL lineage and big expectations but settled into AHL/Europe.

4. 2017

Still a little early for this one, but the Canucks obviously got an absolute star in Elias Pettersson. It’s nice to pick early, but any time you can get arguably the best player in the draft (Miro Heiskanen and Cale Makar are also elite) from number five overall, you take that.

As someone smart once noted, Pettersson changed everything in Vancouver. He’s one of the very best young stars in a league with no shortage of them.

The jury is still somewhat out on the rest of the picks. We’re starting to figure out why Benning was dumbfounded that no one was taking Kole Lind (33rd overall). The forward is having a very nice bounce back season in Utica, with 25 points in 31 games.

Things have been smoother for Jonah Gadjovich (55th) in his second season in the AHL too. His eight points (seven of which are goals) in 17 games shows improvement over the 10 in 43 contests he registered last year. 

And goaltender Michael DiPietro, selected in the third round, is having a stellar campaign with Utica. He’s also seen two games with the big club and didn’t look overmatched the second time around. (The first one, we all know, didn’t go so well.)

To cap it off, fourth rounder Jack Rathbone is having a great season with Harvard, while sixth-round pick Petrus Palmu is tearing up Finland after not getting much ice time in Utica last year.

3. 2018

Again, quite early to judge this draft.

But we already know that the Canucks have another building block for the future in Quinn Hughes, taken with the seventh pick overall. In fact, there’s an argument to be made that Hughes, with 27 points in 37 games this season, is the best player from the 2018 draft. Supporters of Rasmus Dahlin, Andrei Svechnikov and Brady Tkachuk might disagree, but there’s a case to be made.

It’s very possible that this draft and 2017 are far and away the best drafts of the decade in a few years. But as it is, it’s hard to judge exactly what else the Canucks got from 2018.

Defenceman Jett Woo (37th overall) has taken a bit of a step back with a new team in the WHL. He has 16 points in 30 games after scoring 66 in 62 last season.

Meanwhile, forward Tyler Madden is lighting up the college circuit with Northeastern University. He has 24 points in 18 games to lead his team. And blueliner Toni Utunen is once again one of the leaders on Team Finland at the world juniors.

It’s hard to say exactly what this crew will become, but with Hughes leading the way, it looks pretty good.

2. 2015

We had a long debate about the last two entries on this list. But, as you’ll see, the sure quantity from the next draft was a bit overwhelming.

To its credit, 2015 was a great draft for the Canucks. The team snagged a dynamic scoring winger in Brock Boeser late in the first round (23rd overall) at a time when the Canucks were masquerading as a playoff team.

They badly needed a couple of hits and they got them with Boeser and Adam Gaudette, who they unearthed in the fifth round. Both players look like they’ll be key cogs with the Canucks for years to come as 2015 was the year the team’s rebuild really started (even if it was wholly unintentional).

Vancouver also took Guillaume Brisebois in the third round, and he’s been a good piece in Utica. He’s also played eight games for the Canucks, but it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to develop into an every-night NHL player.

Sixth round pick Lukas Jasek also had a solid year last season with Utica, but may not be able to deliver on the promise he showed in 2017-18 when he put up seven points in six games.

1. 2014

This might be surprising to some, given that the two first rounders the Canucks selected haven’t exactly worked out for the team the way it was intended.

Jake Virtanen wasn’t a great pick at sixth overall. Not that he’s a total bust—hey, he’s been good lately!—but as every Canucks fan knows, there were other options on the draft board at the time. Those included the next two forwards taken, William Nylander and Nikolaj Ehlers, both of whom have gone on to considerable success.

Virtanen has 79 points in 248 games, but he’s shown some steady improvement in the last couple of years. With 20 points in 38 contests this year (and most of those games spent in the bottom six), there’s a sense that Virtanen is finally becoming a steady offensive contributor.

At 24th overall, Jared McCann was a great pick by the Canucks. The forward has really blossomed of late and seems to be rounding into a fine two-way player. The problem, of course, is that he’s doing it for someone else. Trading McCann and a second-round pick to Florida for Erik Gudbranson will go down as one of Jim Benning’s defining moves of the decade (and not in a good way).

There’s also the small matter that McCann was taken one pick before the Boston Bruins grabbed David Pastrnak, who the Canucks were reportedly interested in. That hurts. But despite all that baggage, McCann was still a strong selection by the Canucks where he was taken.

Vancouver’s best pick here was in the second round, when they selected Thatcher Demko at number 36 overall. It’s very hard to secure good goaltending in the NHL, and it sure looks like the Canucks have that in their current backup. Demko sparkled in the AHL and he’s been very solid in the NHL so far. He may even take over the full-time job when Jacob Markstrom’s contract runs out at the end of the year. Outside of his injury history, there shouldn’t be too much doubt about Demko.

But the Canucks also took two more players in 2014 that have seen time at the NHL level.

Defenceman Nikita Tryamkin was selected at 66th overall. He played parts of two seasons with Vancouver before returning to the KHL. But he’s in the last year of his contract in Russia now and there’s been a lot of talk that the hulking rearguard is on his way back to Vancouver. Whether he can actually hack it at the NHL level is another matter, but perhaps he can be a decent penalty killer and a defensive force on the third pairing?

And finally, the Canucks took Gustav Forsling in the fifth round. He never played for Vancouver but logged 122 games for the Chicago Blackhawks after being dealt for Adam Clendening. Forsling was moved to Carolina last summer and has been with the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate since then.

But with five players having significant NHL experience, 2014 is the best the Canucks have done at the draft table this decade. That’s how it seems in 2019, anyway. Ask us again in a couple years. 

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