Now that we're into July, the offseason action is starting to ramp up around the NHL.
Like last year, the league is conducting its media availability with the top prospects for the 2021 draft via Zoom, this Tuesday.
They've lined up the six top-ranked North American skaters, based on the NHL Central Scouting rankings, and the top two from Europe:
North America:
1. Owen Power
2. Mason McTavish
3. Kent Johnson
4. Luke Hughes
5. Dylan Guenther
6. Matty Beniers
Europe:
1. William Eklund
2. Simon Edvinsson
With the Canucks picking at nine, it could turn out that their selection will be the first from the "best of the rest" if these are the first eight players selected. But it's rarely that straightforward — and this year, perhaps even more than usual, there's bound to be plenty of variation in teams' draft rankings, depending on how they weight what they have been able to see.
It's funny, too — I've heard raves about Beniers, who is patterning himself after Patrice Bergeron as he works to build an effective two-way game. And I listened to a pretty fascinating interview with Michigan coach Mel Pearson earlier this week on the podcast of prospects writer Chris Peters, which you can find here:
Of course, Pearson coached Power, Beniers and Port Moody native Kent Johnson this year at Michigan — and has Luke Hughes set to follow in Quinn's footsteps next season. And while I feel like Johnson is often a bit of an afterthought in conversations about Michigan's Big Three prospects, I stopped in my tracks when Pearson said that Johnson was far-and-away his most improved player in the second half of last season. He said he figured that if that's an indication of the kind of strides that Johnson will continue to make, he believes Johnson might even end up at No. 1 on some teams' draft boards.
I thought that statement was particularly bold since consensus No. 1 Owen Power is also one of Pearson's players. I like that he added a bit of uncertainty to what we're all expecting to see on draft day.
Bob McKenzie had Johnson at No. 8 on his '
midseason' draft rankings. They were released in mid-April, after Michigan's season ended but before U18s or Men's Worlds. So Johnson hasn't added anything to his body of work since then — except, perhaps, more viewings on tape by scouts.
Power was already the consensus No. 1, even before the World Championship. I expect Mason McTavish's strong showing at U18s will bump him up from No. 11 on McKenzie's list, and I'm curious to see if there's room for Johnson to rise as well.
Another factor that could impact the order of selection on draft day: goalies. Sweden's Jesper Wallstedt and Canada's Sebastian Cossa are ranked No. 1 on their respective Central Scouting lists, and sit at No. 10 and No. 14 on Bob's list.
After a few years where teams shied away from taking goaltenders high in the first round, that trend has reversed in the last two seasons, with Nashville selecting Yasoslav Askarov at No. 11 last year and Florida grabbing Spencer Knight at No. 13 the year before.
And while just 12 goalies selected in the first round are currently
active i the NHL, it's interesting that the list includes all four from the last two rounds of this Stanley Cup Final:
• Marc-Andre Fleury - No. 1, 2003
• Carey Price - No. 5, 2005
• Andrei Vasilevskiy - No. 19, 2012
• Semyon Varlamov - No. 23, 2006
No goalie has been selected in the top 10 since Price, 16 years ago, although three have been chosen at No. 11 — Askarov, Jack Campbell (2010) and Jonathan Bernier (2006).
Also on the draft front, a sharp-eyed Patrick Johnston noticed earlier this week that the Canucks have
updated their website to show that Todd Harvey has now been assigned Judd Brackett's old title, Director of Amateur Scouting.
Harvey is entering his fifth year on the Canucks' staff. "It was formalized on the website because of the start of a new season and signing a new contract, but for us ever since Judd left he’s been filling that job," the team's assistant GM John Weisbrod told Johnston.
I have a tendency to get Todd Harvey confused with Todd Harkins, the North Vancouver resident. But Harvey is an Ontario boy — born in Hamilton, came up through the OHL and was drafted ninth overall by Dallas in 1993. He won two gold medals for Canada at the World Junior Championship, serving as captain in 1995 on a team that also included current Canucks assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner and a number of former Canucks players — Dan Cloutier, Bryan McCabe, Larry Courville, Denis Pederson and Ed Jovanovski.
Harvey played 671 NHL games for the Stars, New York Rangers, San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers. He had a hard time staying healthy, and retired with 223 career points. He served as an assistant coach for the OHL's Guelph Storm for four years before joing Vancouver's scouting staff.
"He has ability on both sides of the fence, a guy who’s good in the rink and knows players and knows attributes and what it takes to play in the league," Weisbrod told Johnston. "And he was involved in the OHL for a long time. So he’s got the hockey piece. And the other piece is he’s really good with the guys (the scouts). He’s really personable, he’s really good at getting everyone involved."
With just one draft under his belt so far — and just five picks — it's too early to judge whether Harvey will eventually earn the same type of praise that Brackett did from Canucks' fans.
Brackett, by the way, also had just five picks in his first year in his new job, with Minnesota. His first-rounder, Marco Rossi, endured a very tough bout of
Covid-related complications after World Juniors, but has managed to fight his way back to health. Hoping he has a full recovery!
This year, the Canucks are currently sitting with eight picks — a relatively high number for them. According to CapFriendly, it looks like the Wild will have 11, as they'll get to hang onto the conditional pick that they might have had to send Pittsburgh as part of the Nick Bjugstad deal.
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