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Who should the Vancouver Canucks pick at 10 in the HockeyBuzz mock draft?

June 6, 2019, 2:16 PM ET [514 Comments]
Carol Schram
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The HockeyBuzz mock draft is now underway, and has started off with the New Jersey Devils choosing Jack Hughes.

I agree—despite the push by Kaapo Kakko, I think Hughes' longstanding position as the favourite will not be challenged in the end, even though the Devils defied the conventional wisdom a little bit two years ago when they passed over Nolan Patrick to select Nico Hischier instead.

In addition to all his skills, Jack's poise from a lifetime of being around the game is so impressive. He should have no trouble at all adjusting to the NHL lifestyle.




I'll be repping the Canucks at Pick No. 10 this year. I imagine my turn will come up within the next few days, so I'm officially opening the floor for your input now.

I'm not ready to even name a preferred pick at this point, because I feel like there are so many players in the mix that could go in the top 10; someone who is ranked high in some places will slip a bit, just as we saw Filip Zadina drop to six last year, Evan Bouchard slide to 10, Noah Dobson fall to 12 and Joe Veleno end up all the way down at No. 30.

Ben Kuzma of The Province is reporting that after the Scouting Combine interviews last week, Jim Benning is content to pick at 10—presumably because he has at least 10 guys that he likes enough that he'd be satisfied with any of them.




Kuzma namechecks six guys in his so-called "Fab Five" at the top of the list: Hughes, Kakko, Byram, Dach, Caufield and Cozens—and still doesn't include Alex Turcotte, who was part of the Group of Five that visited St. Louis for Game 4 of the playoffs and isn't listed lower than seven on any of the scouting services surveyed by Elite Prospects.

Kuzma's next tier includes Swedish defensemen Victor Soderstrom and Philip Broberg, NTDP forwards Matthew Boldy and Trevor Zegras and WHL center Peyton Krebs—and still excludes Alex Newhook, who has been named as a player who's almost certainly getting a followup meeting with the Canucks.

Nary a mention of Vasili Podkolzin, either...

So that's 14 guys who all have a good shot of going in the Top 10. Simple math says that four of them will be on the outside looking in, so the Canucks will have a minimum of five of these players to choose from when it's their turn to pick.

I'm guilty of still clumping guys together based on where they've been playing. Behind Hughes and his undersized sniper of a winger Cole Caufield, I haven't thought much about what differentiates Turcotte from Boldy from Zegras. I'd love to hear which of those three you like best, and why. And would you consider Caufield to be more or less desirable?

Ditto with the WHL forwards. How would you rank Dach, Cozens and Krebs against each other? And where would you fit Newhook against them?

I'm not super-high on the Swedish defensemen but it seems like Soderstrom has the edge over Broberg at the moment.

I won't even talk about Kakko or Byram; they'll be gone. And I'll be cautious about Podkolzin even though I like his talent a lot. The two years remaining on his contract in Russia really aren't that prohibitive, either, when compared against the players that are on their way to college: Turcotte and Caufield are committed to Wisconsin next year, Boldy and Newhook to Boston College, Zegras to Boston University.

I always feel like Bob McKenzie's draft rankings for TSN offer the most predictive picture of what will actually happen on draft day. He speaks directly to a cross-section of scouts from around the league, and his track record is pretty good. But his list won't be released until June 17, four days before the draft. That's too late for my needs.

So the floor is open. Make your case for who we should pick, that could realistically be available at 10. I'm feeling the pressure already!

One other note: just as I've been writing this, TSN's Craig Button released his final list, which offers a bit more food for thought:




The "Is Cole Caufield too small?" dilemma won't be something the Canucks have to worry about if he comes anywhere near realizing his projected ranking here of No. 4!

Button has Broberg now ranked way above Soderstrom, Newhook climbing but still well outside the top 10, and both Dach and Cozens falling outside the Top 10.

I'll wrap up today on a lighter note. With all the pre-draft action in full swing and trade rumours flying throughout the league, the Canucks have changed the scheduling for their annual Fishing for Kids Tournament in Haida Gwaii. Usually held just before training camp, the tournament is running this week, with Travis Green and Jake Virtanen among the team reps.


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