Here's an excellent #ThrowbackThursday item—the draft preview of the Sedins:
When you think that Patrik Stefan was considered the other big prize of the 1999 draft, Brian Burke's maneuvering to bring the twins to Vancouver looks like an even savvier move.
Looking at 1999 on
HockeyDB, the twins are the only players from the entire draft to have reached 1,000 games.
Eighth-overall pick Taylor Pyatt, who just retired, had the next-best run of the first-rounders at 859 games, and 17th overall pick Barret Jackman is still active at 803 games, while 26th pick Martin Havlat is looking at a possible training-camp tryout with Ottawa.
Way further down the draft, however, you'll find some useful active players, like Chris Kelly of Boston (3rd round, 94th) and, yep, Henrik Zetterberg in the seventh round at No. 210. Martin Erat was taken 191st overall and has played 881 games. He's currently a free agent still looking for a gig.
Interestingly enough, two other current Canucks were drafted late in 1999. Ryan Miller was taken in the fifth round by the Buffalo Sabres and Radim Vrbata was drafted two spots behind Zetterberg at No. 212 by the Colorado Avalanche.
The average number of NHL games for the 1999 draft class is 234, with average scoring of 31 goals and 88 points.
Prust's First Canucks Appearance
Back to the present. Brandon Prust made his first appearance as a Vancouver Canuck earlier this week:
I'm pretty sure that's Rogers Arena, though I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere that Prust is in town. Even fiancee Maripier Morin's Twitter is focused solely on her work stuff these days.
NHLPA Hosts Two Canucks at September Rookie Showcase
Mike Halford at
Pro Hockey Talk has the list of 40 top prospects who will convene in Toronto on September 1 for the NHL Players' Association's annual rookie showcase.
Naturally, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel are grabbing the headlines but the Canucks will be sending two players—Jake Virtanen and Ronalds Kenins.
Virtanen makes sense, but I was surprised to see Kenins' name on the list. Not only is he relatively unheralded—an undrafted Latvian who came up through the Swiss League—he's also not technically a rookie.
Kenins played 30 regular-season and five playoff games for Vancouver last year, pushing him well beyond the rookie cutoff of 25 games.
If the Players' Association is cool with his status, then I am too. It has to be a good experience for Kenins to get a chance to mingle with the game's top prospects and handle a round of media availability in the Toronto spotlight.
Upper Deck also uses the event to photograph the rookies for this year's first batch of hockey cards, so Kenins will be included—perhaps as a nod to the rabid hockey fanbase back in his home country of Latvia.
Click here for a look at the activities from the 2014 event.
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