Draft Pick Trading: The Wrap-Up
It is not easy trading for big picks. C’mon. I didn’t even try to trade up into the top-three. As already mentioned on this site, the Canucks need draft picks but just simply do not have enough assets to kick around.
With the first two proposals, the Canucks would be getting a very solid player at the 18th~20th overall range. Defensemen like big Logan Stanley and powerful Charlie McAvoy will be hard to pass by, while forwards of varying levels of skill and speed like Julien Gauthier, Max Jones, or German Rubtsov look like good top-six material for the future.
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Even at 39th overall, the Canucks could draft a player like Kyle Clague or even a Victor Mete, a tremendous offensive defenseman. Massive defensemen like Sean Day may be available.
I would think that the Canucks draft a defender after drafting a forward at fifth overall.
To get a top-100 draft pick, the Canucks will have to sacrifice a line-up asset. Whether it be testing the market with a proven player like Jannik Hansen, an aging yet leading player like Alex Burrows, or a wild-card young defenseman with a potential to be a great top-four player like Luca Sbisa — the Canucks will have to sacrifice to get younger.
But this sacrifice will not only get draft picks to Vancouver, it will get free agents to Vancouver. With the amount of cash each of those aforementioned players carry, the Canucks are sure to have more than $10 million in cap space should they pull a deal through to acquire a top-100 pick.
And yet, I still wonder what the price is to move up two spots from the number five to the number three. According to the model that we have been using throughout the post, the difference is 10 “draft bucks” — equivalent to an early second round pick. The Canucks should do that.
Again, proves that analytics can be so useful at times but at the end of the day can end up sounding absurd, as it did with the Philadelphia trade.
Next: Free Agency Preview: 6 Strategies for July 1st
The Vancouver Canucks are going to make some noise on draft day. They have for years past and they will once again as the stars line up for a deal to be shaped. Sacrifices will be made. But when Trader Jim is at the helm and the former director of amateur scouting is making the calls, the fans can rest assured the club will continue to being in the thick of the action.