It was an interesting two days at the NHL draft for the Vancouver Canucks. For the first time in four years, the Canucks made seven selections at the draft, albeit not with the original seven picks they were given.
The focus on the day was clearly on restocking the prospect pool on defence, particularly on the right side. Four of their seven picks were defencemen, three of them right-side defencemen, including top pick Tom Willander at 11th overall.
“Defencemen? Yeah, we got a few,” quipped Todd Harvey, the Canucks director of amateur scouting, but he insisted that their approach at the draft was not to pick for need: “We’re taking the best player on our list.”
That means the Canucks’ list was very different from anyone else’s list. That in itself isn’t surprising. The draft boards put together by NHL teams seldom resemble those of other teams, particularly after the first ten picks or so, and rarely match the draft rankings put together by those in the public sphere.
Betting on over-agers and a late-blooming behemoth
What stands out about the Canucks draft, however, is just how far afield most of their picks were compared to the public consensus.
Few outlets saw fit to rank Seattle Thunderbirds defenceman Sawyer Mynio and those that did thought he’d be a sixth or seventh-round pick. The Canucks took him 89th overall in the third round.
Ty Mueller wasn’t ranked by anyone as a 20-year-old centre in his third year of draft eligibility when the Canucks used the 105th pick in the fourth round to select him. You have to wonder if he even wanted to be drafted — he could have signed anywhere as a free agent after next season if he decided to leave college but now he’s part of the Canucks system.
Matthew Perkins was similarly unranked as a 19-year-old centre in his second year of eligibility. He was well under a point-per-game in the USHL but the Canucks liked him enough to take him 119th overall in the fourth round.
Vilmer Alriksson landed on just one public draft ranking — FC Hockey had him 193rd — but the Canucks took a chance on the 6’6” winger taking a big step in his development in the years to come and drafted him 107th overall in the fourth round.
Aiden Celebrini, drafted 171st overall in the sixth round, only made two public draft rankings, landing 235th on FC Hockey’s list and 223rd with Draft Prospects. The draft is notably only 224 picks long.
“We like everything about him.”
Even Willander was a reach at 11th overall according to most outlets. Only TSN’s Craig Button had Willander in his top ten, ranking him eighth overall, while most rankings had him in the back half of the first round. It’s not that those scouts were low on Willander but that they were higher on other players, such as Zach Benson, Colby Barlow, or Oliver Moore, all of whom the Canucks passed up to draft Willander.
To the Canucks, however, Willander wasn’t a reach at all. He was the best player available.
“Tommy [Willander], we think very, very highly of him,” said Harvey. “We like everything about him: the compete, the character as a person is phenomenal — he doesn’t give you the old hockey player answers. I think he’s a really intriguing person to start with and he’s going to be a heck of a player for us.”
The Canucks felt the same way about all of their picks and firmly said that they focused on the best player on their board throughout the draft, even if it just so happened that they filled needs in their system in the process.
And, if they took players that scouts in the public sphere weren’t high on? So be it.
Disagreeing with the consensus isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A lot of successful teams became successful by going against the grain. But it is a gamble. When you break with consensus, you’re betting that you know something the others don’t. Maybe you do and you end up looking like a genius.
Or maybe you don’t.
Maybe the scouts in the public realm that looked at Mynio, Mueller, Alriksson, Perkins, and Celebrini and didn’t see a prospect worth picking were right. Maybe future Canucks fans will look back at the 2023 draft and see it as a massive missed opportunity to not take Benson or Moore or some other star player taken in the picks after the Canucks selected.
But the Canucks believe they got it right.
“We’re happy we got him where we got him.”
Scouts stake their reputation on these picks, sticking their neck out for prospects they believe in during draft meetings in order to get them on the board. The stakes are higher for an NHL team than they are for public scouting services and content creators. If an NHL team gets a draft board right, they come away with the future of their organization. If they get it wrong, they could lose their jobs.
The Canucks’ most off-the-board picks came in the fourth round, which is where the odds of finding an NHL player are already exceedingly low. With that in mind, it’s understandable that the Canucks took chances on prospects in their second or third year of draft eligibility or gambled on a 6’6” prospect being a late bloomer.
Reaching for Willander will look like a brilliant move if he develops into a top-pairing, right-side defenceman. Going off the board to take Mynio will pay off if he becomes an NHL regular down the line. And the scouts that pushed for those picks will make — or potentially break — their reputations based on those calls.
Not all of the Canucks’ picks were off the board, of course. Hunter Brzustewicz, taken 75th overall in the third round, was projected to go much higher in the draft, with almost every public draft ranking seeing him as a second-round pick. On that, the Canucks and the public sphere agree.
“We feel we got good, second-round value there,” said Harvey. “Solid player, moves pucks very well. Smart, smart player and we’re happy we got him where we got him.”
If the Canucks and draft experts are both right about Brzustewicz and assuming Willander becomes the top-four defenceman he’s projected to be, then the Canucks will get at least two NHL players out of the 2023 draft, which is about what you expect.
If that’s the case, going off the board with their other picks may not matter much. And if one of those off-the-board picks hits, then the Canucks could look brilliant in retrospect.
TORONTO – Reigning PWHL MVP and scoring champ Natalie Spooner will miss the start of the regular season for the Toronto Sceptres, general manager Gina Kingsbury announced Tuesday on the first day of training camp.
The 33-year-old Spooner had knee surgery on her left anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal series on May 13.
She had a goal and an assist in three playoff games but did not finish the series. Toronto was up 2-1 in the semifinal at that time and eventually fell 3-2 in the series.
Spooner led the PWHL with 27 points in 24 games. Her 20 goals, including five game-winners, were nine more than the closest skater.
Kingsbury said there is no timeline, as the team wants the Toronto native at 100 per cent, but added that “she is doing really well” in her recovery.
The Sceptres open the PWHL season on Nov. 30 when they host the Boston Fleet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
