Vancouver Canucks: Jim Benning Overcame a Shallow Draft

A crude way of summarizing what the Vancouver Canucks accomplished in this year’s draft may be calling it a second-tier scavenger hunt.

On the second day of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, the Vancouver Canucks drafted five players, three of which were overage forwards. To imagine that half of the year’s draft class was a bunch of second-tier talent some of whom were passed over the previous year is certainly not a pleasant notion.

Perhaps it all started when Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jesse Puljujarvi swapped places on day one. But just as picking Olli Juolevi with the fifth-overall pick was a reach that the Canucks had to make to shore up the blue line, day two’s “reach” picks seem to be ones that the Canucks almost had to make.

Not drafting the best player for the club is always hard to justify, but looking at the kind of players the Canucks have and the ones the Canucks lack, day two may come to be a blessing in disguise hand-picked by the draft scavenger Jim Benning from the depths of a very shallow draft class.

Let’s look a little more in-depth at the five selections made on day two and see what the Canucks accomplished when the best prospects were off the boards already.

The Cup is Won by Bottom-Six Greatness

Of the five players drafted on day two, four of them are forwards who all project to be hard-working forwards who will never score 40 points in the NHL.

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William Lockwood and Jakob Stukel project as middle-six wingers while Rodrigo Abols and Brett McKenzie, the seventh-round selections, might have middle-six upside as well.

With the Canucks loaded for the future with scoring forwards Anton Rodin, Jake Virtanen, Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi, and Brock Boeser, the need for top-six help is non-existent.

While these scorers are the players who get the team the home advantage in the playoffs, the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoff has taught us that the Cup is won with bottom-six greatness pulling through in times of adversity. Just ask Bryan Rust, Matt Cullen, Tom Kuhnhackl and Conor Sheary.

The GM here is looking to do the same, adding identified bottom-six talent in hopes of creating an organization that is 15, 16 forwards deep when injuries strike and the gritty players need to plug in and prevent the leak.

Overcoming a Shallow Draft Class

The talk was that after the big three, there were the two Matthew Tkachuk and P-L Dubois. After them, there was a class of a dozen players with great upside. After, there was a hoard of 20 players who could crack the first round.

After a couple dozen picks on day two, not much was left of the 2016 draft eligible. So what did Benning do? Draft some from the class of 2015. He overcame the shortage of top prospects by drafting from another year’s prospects.

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McKenzie and Stukel were in their second year of draft eligibility.

Another great thing about drafting the bottom-six projects is that they are more likely to make the NHL than the ones who were expected to produce 20 goals in the NHL one day. Who from the fifth round is more likely to hit their ceiling — the top-six scorer or the bottom-six grinder?

Especially with Benning’s emphasis on work ethic and compete level, these hard-grinding men have a much better shot at making the NHL than the flashy seventh-round picks who have faults with their overall approach to the game.

Jim Benning may have redefined what it means to be “shallow” by drafting from a deep pool of determined prospects who were outcast from a league where the goals and the assists define the depth of the draft.

The 2016 Entry Draft: My Review

A lot has already been said of the not-so-tantalizing Canucks draft class of 2016. The fans have all the right reasons to be disheartened. The succession plan for Henrik Sedin didn’t come to fruition. The division rivals got a Matthew Tkachuk, a Jesse Puljujarvi, as well as a Clayton Keller.

The Utica Comets will not be so happy with the draft either. Although these players are overage for the draft, only Abols is eligible for the AHL as a 20-year-old. The Comets are being depleted of Canucks prospects, and although the blue line got some help with the signing of Troy Stecher and Tom Nilsson, the forwards are still in need in Utica.

Next: Draft Review: Grading the Pacific Division Rivals

GM Jim Benning, however, proved once again that he has his own plans for the club. Though he had little to work with in the draft, he has made the best of his limited opportunities. It will be interesting to see how these players perform at this year’s Young Stars Classic and if anyone makes the pro camp as a pleasant surprise.