Pettersson was ranked second among European skaters by NHL Central Scouting, but showed up at seven on Bob McKenzie's draft rankings. He was the first player from Bob's rankings to move up. McKenzie had the first four picks in the correct order, but had both Gabe Vilardi (ranked fifth, chosen 11th) and Casey Mittelstadt (ranked sixth, chosen eighth) listed higher than they were chosen.
It was pretty strongly telegraphed that the Canucks were very interested in Pettersson—especially when the organization flew him out to Vancouver after the draft combine and, among other things, set up a meeting with the Sedins. He and Canucks prospect Jonathan Dahlen have been linemates in Sweden over the past season so if all goes according to plan, this duo could be the next incarnation of the Sedins.
There's some concern about Pettersson's size. He's 6'2" but is listed at just 165 pounds. Around these parts, that's known as the Ryan Miller physique—HockeyDB lists Miller at 6'2" and 168.
There will be time for him to fill out—although genetically, it looks like it won't be easy for him to add mass. His brother Emil, who's now 23, is listed at 6'1" and 176 pounds.
Elias likens his playing style to Nicklas Backstrom—and that certainly isn't a bad thing! Backstrom is so soft-spoken, and plays in the shadow of Alex Ovechkin's giant personality, so his mad skillz tend to get overlooked—and we rarely see him play out here in Vancouver.
I got a chance to watch him work his magic on Sweden's run to the gold medal at the World Championship in May and came away convinced that it was him, not William Nylander, who was lighting the fuse for the Swedish offense after he joined the team once the Caps were eliminated from the playoffs.
Funny, too—I had always thought that Backstrom was on the small side, but he's now listed at 213 pounds. I'm not sure Pettersson will bulk up that much, but Backstrom was 183 pounds when he was drafted in 2006, according to his press release from the Caps website. If Pettersson adds the same 30 pounds, he'd be close to 200.
Also worth noting—Erik Karlsson was 5'11" and 165 pounds when he was drafted in 2008. He turned out all right!
Pettersson's a long way from being the smallest player drafted in this year's first round, too. That honour goes to Kailer Yamamoto—the smallest player ever drafted in the first round at 5'7" and 146 pounds. He was taken 22nd by Edmonton and is said to have speed and skill to burn. Pierre-Olivier Joseph, a defensman taken 23rd by Arizona, clocks in at 6'2" and 163.
Even my preferred pick, Cody Glass, is listed at 6'1" and 178 pounds—only 13 pounds more than Pettersson. So, maybe this will turn out to be OK...
If you have an hour and a half to spare, here's every Pettersson shift from every international tournament. Isn't the internet amazing?
The rest of Vancouver's picks:
33rd: RW Kole Lind from Kelowna of WHL
55th: LW Jonah Gadjovich from Owen Sound of OHL
64th: G Michael DiPietro from Windsor of OHL
95th: D Jack Rathbone from U.S. High School hockey in Massachusetts
135th: D Kristoffer Gunnarsson from Sweden
181st: RW Petrus Palmu from Owen Sound of OHL by way of Finland
188th: D Matt Brassard from Oshawa of OHL
By the way, the Canucks were finally able to add a pick in the draft when they moved their fourth-round pick (112th) to Chicago in exchange for 135 and 181. With that 112th pick, the Blackhawks took Swedish forward Tim Soderlund.
I'll go through the rest of these selections in more detail in the days to come. I'm really pleased about Michael DiPietro. Very unusual to see a draft eligible goalie perform so well at the Memorial Cup!
DiPietro fell, I think, because at 6'0", he's considered small for a modern goaltender. But he's 202 pounds, so he's a good-sized guy. And he seems to have a tremendous attitude. He'll be a great player to have in the system.
I was a little surprised that we didn't see more player movement during the draft. Just two moves involving NHL players on Friday, with Brayden Schenn going to St. Louis, then Ryan Reaves moving to Pittsburgh. Saturday, Travis Hamonic finally got his wish to come to Western Canada when he was dealt to the Calgary Flames.
It seems like the rhythms of the expansion draft caused ripples in how the rest of the player movement will unfold, but teams have time to make more deals before free agency. Remember, it wasn't until June 29 last year that we saw the big Subban-for-Weber and Hall-for-Larsson deals. Vegas will keep stirring the pot as it adjusts it asset base, and other big names that could still be moved include Alex Galchenyuk, Matt Duchene and Dion Phaneuf.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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