VANCOUVER – When the Vancouver Canucks selected Jonathan Lekkerimäki 15th in last year’s draft, he became not only the National Hockey League team’s first pick in the first-round since 2019, but also the only player it has chosen in the top 40 since then.
The Canucks had no first-round picks in 2020 and 2021, no second-rounders in 2020 and 2022, and no third-round pick in 2021.
No wonder their draft-prospects pipeline is sparse, particularly devoid of high-end candidates to play in the NHL, which is why this feels like a critical draft for general manager Patrik Allvin.
Lekkerimäki was Allvin’s first pick after replacing Jim Benning as GM halfway through the 2021-22 season. Even without a second-rounder at this year’s draft in Nashville, the Canucks’ six selections in the first four rounds are the franchise’s most since 1984. Allvin had two first-rounders until he traded one of them (the 17th pick, acquired from the New York Islanders in the Bo Horvat deal) on March 1 to get top-pairing defenceman Filip Hronek from the Detroit Red Wings.
But the 11th pick the Canucks own in the first round is their only selection in the top 74, so Allvin has to get it right.
DRAFT PICKS
POTENTIAL ROUND 1 OPTIONS
The Canucks have plenty of wingers and are solid in goal with the development last season of Latvian national team hero Arturs Silovs in the American League. But they lack a high-end prospect at centre and blue-chip blueline prospects. Like nearly every GM in history, Allvin recites the best-prospect-available mantra. And he did, after all, select another winger last year in Lekkerimäki. But it would be helpful for the Canucks if the top prospect available when they pick is a two-way centre or a mobile defenceman with size.
Right-shot Austrian defenceman David Reinbacher, who thrived in a top-four role in the Swiss League this season, checks all the boxes for the Canucks. But in a draft class top-heavy in forwards, Reinbacher is expected to go in the top 10 — likely as the first defenceman off the board — even if his name still appears in the middle of the first round on some draft lists. Option B for Vancouver could be Swedish defenceman Tom Willander, a terrific skater and puck-retriever whose move up the draft rankings was helped by an excellent U18 world championship.
The Athletic reported that Willander, who played in Rogle’s junior program, was taken to dinner by Allvin and his staff during the NHL draft combine in Buffalo. Another on the Canucks’ hospitality list was centre Nate Danielson, the Brandon Wheat Kings’ captain who projects as a two-way, middle-six centre at the NHL level. Potential centres-of-interest include Slovak Dalibor Dvorsky, a big-bodied shooter who had a solid draft season playing against men in Sweden’s second-division Allsvenskan, and Minnesotan Oliver Moore from the U.S. National Development Team.
LAST YEAR’S FIRST PICK
The Canucks were elated that Lekkerimäki fell to them at No. 15 last year. He was seventh on the team’s draft list, after an outstanding junior season with Djurgårdens led to a promotion to the Swedish Hockey League and seven goals in 26 games as a 17-year-old. Lekkerimäki was regarded as one of the best shooters in the 2022 draft, a pure finisher who is dangerous almost anywhere in the offensive zone.
But his draft-plus-one season was close to a disaster. He contracted mononucleosis last summer, suffered a concussion in November and had his regular-season end in February with a foot injury. The medical setbacks contributed to Lekkerimäki’s struggle at two world junior tournaments, and the winger scored only three times in 29 games for Djurgårdens.
Easily the best part of the scorer’s season came at the end, as Lekkerimäki returned from his injuries and posted 15 points in 15 playoff games in the second division. He’ll spend at least another year, possibly two, in Sweden.
ONE BOLD PREDICTION
Allvin got the defenceman he coveted in Hronek. There’s no doubt Hronek is a superior NHL player who could partner with Quinn Hughes on the Canucks’ top pairing. The question, as is usually the case, is the price. Not only did the GM transfer the Islanders’ first-rounder to the Red Wings, but Allvin also surrendered Vancouver’s second pick in this draft, while taking back Detroit’s fourth.
That exchange leaves a big hole in the Canucks’ draft order (no picks between 11 and 75) and Allvin could fill it by trading down in the first round to add a pick in the second. There is so much talent and parity in this draft that one team’s eighth-ranked prospect is another team’s 22nd, and one team’s 40th in another team’s 20th. If the players the Canucks covet at No. 11 are gone by the time they pick, and Allvin believes he can still get a prospect he likes later in the first round, it would be smart to trade down if it means adding another valuable at-bat.
