Following Thursday’s loss to ex-Captain Quinn Hughes and the Minnesota Wild, the Vancouver Canucks have done it. They’ve officially hit rock bottom in the NHL.
The upside is this means the organization now has a just over 25 per cent chance of selecting first overall at this summer’s draft.
Sportsnet 650 Host Bik Nizzar tells 1130 NewsRadio the team has never picked first overall.
“The two players at the top of this year’s NHL draft, especially with the Canucks having a desperate need for offensive talent in their forward ranks, are Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg. Last year, McKenna, for the Medicine Hat Tigers, put up 129 points in 56 games in the WHL. He had a very good playoffs as well en route to playing in the Memorial Cup. He then moved on to the NCAA and went from the Tigers to play for the Penn State Nittany Lions. He’s had a 51-point year in 35 games, which doesn’t sound as impressive, but it is a different league.”
Eighteen-year-old McKenna hails from Whitehorse.
Nizzar on 18-year-old Stenberg, who is from Sweden.
“Stenberg is overseas, and I think a lot of people would have seen him at the World Juniors, where he had a fantastic showing this past year with 10 points, and he plays for Frolunda HC, which is a professional men’s league. He had 33 points in 43 games as he continues with his season right now.”
It’s believed the pair will go one-two in the draft.
“This is the first time in franchise history the Canucks will draft four times in the first two rounds”
“These two players are very, very well thought of. McKenna has been the presumptive number one for many years, but maybe not quite at the same generational level as Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard, who are local products. We knew for years Bedard was going to be number one. We knew for years that Celebrini was going to be number one.”
Should the Canucks take McKenna, Nizzar stresses there’s no guarantee he’ll change the course of the organization.
“It’s challenging when you’re a winger who’s trying to change the franchise. Look at the last 20 years of the NHL, it’s Aleksander Barkov, it’s Connor McDavid, it’s Nathan MacKinnon, it’s Sidney Crosby, it’s Evgeni Malkin, on and on and on. It’s guys through the centre of the ice. So, there’s going to be a challenge for McKenna to be the true franchise-changer from the wing — we’re talking Nikita Kucherov, Patrick Kane, Alex Ovechkin — those are the primary guys who have done it.”
Potentially choosing first overall isn’t the only good news. Nizzar says the team has stacked picks this year and for the next couple of drafts.
“The Canucks will have a top-three pick with their own pick this year for finishing 32nd. They have also acquired the first-round pick from the Minnesota Wild in the Hughes trade, and that pick, depending on playoff success and seeding, could be anywhere from about 24th to 31st should they win the Stanley Cup. The Canucks also have two second-round picks. So, this is the first time in franchise history the Canucks will draft four times in the first two rounds.”
“You win the lottery on May 5th, your team has a chance to start trending in the direction of Stanley Cup champions”
Nizzar reiterates that winning the draft lottery is everything.
“The point of the lottery is to give franchises that are struggling a shot in the arm and fresh hope. If you win the lottery, it changes everything. It is now the biggest day on the NHL calendar. In this new cap environment, free agency has dried up, the trade deadline has slowed down, and player acquisition has become increasingly difficult in the NHL. So, the cheapest and most effective way, as it has always been, is the NHL Draft. You win the lottery on May 5th, your team has a chance to start trending in the direction of Stanley Cup champions.”
The Canucks are in a full-blown rebuild. What’s unclear is which members of the team, brass and those behind the bench, will be around to see it through.
You can listen to Bik Nizzar before, during and after every Vancouver Canucks game on Sportsnet 650.