Vancouver Canucks: Redrafting the 2005 NHL Draft

With the 2016 NHL Draft just around the corner, we take some time to look back at the Vancouver Canucks’ past drafts, starting in 2005.

The Vancouver Canucks are preparing for the 2016 NHL Draft. But since we still have some time before June 24th, we will take a look at past drafts as well. Some like to look back and think about what could have been, others don’t give a damn, with their eyes on the future. Since you decided to give this post a shot, you probably care — so off we go.

The system is simple: any player drafted after the Canucks’ given draft pick and before the next one, is eligible to be redrafted. In other words, for Vancouver’s 10th-overall pick, I could not select 105th-overall selection Keith Yandle, because Yandle was drafted after the Canucks’ 51st pick. However, Yandle would be eligible to be redrafted by Vancouver with that 51st pick, as he was originally drafted before Vancouver’s next pick, the 114th selection.

Too complicated? Then let’s just go and you’ll see.

In 2005, the Vancouver Canucks selected:

10 – D Luc Bourdon
51 – LW Mason Raymond
114 – G Alexandre Vincent
138 – C Matt Butcher
185 – D Kris Fredheim
205 – C Mario Bliznak

Will those players be selected again? You are about to find out.

Next: Round 1

Round 1 – 10th Overall

Original Pick: D Luc Bourdon
New Pick: C Anze Kopitar (11th to Los Angeles)
Honorable Mentions: LW James Neal (33rd to DAL), D Marc-Edouard Vlasic (35th to SJS), C Paul Stastny (44th to COL)

Looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft got sad right with the first pick. Not because the Canucks selected a total bust, but because Luc Bourdon died after a motorcycle accident in 2008. At the time, Bourdon had just turned pro, and it is impossible to predict where Bourdon would be today.

One thing we know for sure is that Anze Kopitar is one of the best two-way centers the NHL has seen in recent history. A two-time Stanley Cup Champion with the Los Angeles Kings, Kopitar has 243 goals and 684 points in 764 regular-season games to date, and added 20 goals and 64 points in 75 playoff contests. Kopitar is a three-time NHL All Star, was nominated for the Selke Trophy three times, and for the Lady Byng trophy twice, though he hasn’t won either award yet.

After drafting the Sedin twins in 1999 and Ryan Kesler in 2003, Vancouver could have had absolutely outstanding center depth. Perhaps that is what would have taken the Canucks to a Stanley Cup during their dominant post-lockout era.

Next: Round 2

Round 2 – 51st Overall

Original Pick: LW Mason Raymond
New Pick: D Kris Letang (62nd to PIT)
Honorable Mentions: G Jonathan Quick (72nd to LAK), D Keith Yandle (105th to ARI), D Niklas Hjalmarsson (108th to CHI)

Mason Raymond, the Canucks’ 51st-overall selection in 2005, is on an active 605 NHL-game career — not too bad, eh? True, but despite his decent 6-foot-1 frame, he always lacked the strength to become a legitimate top-six scorer. Compared to some other picks that were made in the second and third rounds of this draft, Raymond was a good pick. But Vancouver could have had better.

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Kris Letang, Jonathan Quick, Keith Yandle and Niklas Hjalmarsson were all picked between 51st overall and the Canucks’ next selection, and all four would have been better picks than Raymond. For me, the decision was between Letang and Quick, and I opted for Letang because the Canucks drafted Cory Schneider in the first round in 2004.

Letang is an elite all-around defenseman and two-time Stanley Cup Champion, and a player the Canucks would love to have right now. While Letang won his second Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, Mason Raymond played in the American Hockey League for the first time since 2007-08.

Vancouver has a chance to make Keith Yandle a Canuck this summer, as he is an unrestricted free agent who will most likely not be re-signed.

Next: Round 4

Round 4 – 114th Overall

Original Pick: G Alexandre Vincent
New Pick: C Darren Helm (132nd to DET)
Honorable Mentions: None

Alexandre Vincent, Jordan Smotherman, Jeremy Duchesne, Ray Macias, Tomas Popperle, Darren Helm. Those are the players selected between picks 114 and 138 — the next Canucks pick — in 2015, who played at least one game in the NHL. If you only know one of them, Darren Helm, you are not alone.

Excluding Helm, the listed players combine for 14 games played. Helm alone has 443 in the regular season and 82 in the playoffs. The 29-year-old just played his seventh full season with the Detroit Red Wings and is still a valuable bottom-six player. He is not one who scores every other game-winning goal, but he is a hard worker who can help any team in a bottom-six role.

Helm won the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2008 and is having an overall successful career. For a fourth-round pick, that is all you can ask for. Especially compared to the other players picked in his area, Helm’s career is quite successful. Of course, one can also argue that his career is among the most successful ones overall, simply because of the Cup.

Next: Round 5

Round 5 – 138th Overall

Original Pick: C Matt Butcher
New Pick: F Nathan Gerbe (142nd to BUF)
Honorable Mentions: D Mark Fayne (155th to NJD), RW Ryan Reaves (156th to STL)

You don’t know Matt Butcher either? That’s because the 138th-overall pick spent four seasons playing and more importantly studying in the NCAA, before playing one ECHL season and retiring in 2008. Things worked out decently for him, as he has a college degree as someone who didn’t make the NHL, but the same cannot be said about the Canucks.

Instead of Butcher, Vancouver should have selected Nathan Gerbe. The 5-foot-5 (!) forward can play all three offensive positions and is having a decent career despite his small frame. So far, Gerbe has 403 NHL games for the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes, where he recorded 61 goals and 142 points. Nothing great, but better than most in the 2005 fifth round.

Other NHL regulars are Mark Fayne and Ryan Reaves, though neither one of them can be said to have a more successful career than Gerbe. However, Gerbe only had three goals and seven points in 47 games for the Hurricanes this season, and is on the decline.

Next: Round 6

Round 7 – 205th Overall

Original Pick: C Mario Bliznak
New Pick: RW Patric Hornqvist (230th to NSH)
Honorable Mentions: D Anton Stralman (216th to TOR)

Mario Bliznak played 261 games in the Vancouver Canucks organization, including six in the NHL. However, he failed to make the big league full-time, and left for his native Czech Republic in 2011. He is still active there, and will play the 2016-17 campaign with Bili Tygri Liberec.

Meanwhile, Patric Hornqvist won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Who knows, maybe he could have achieved the same thing with the Canucks in 2010 or 2011. Maybe before, maybe after. Fact is, Vancouver didn’t win it, Bliznak didn’t either, but Hornqvist is. Lucky him.

Next: How Mike Gillis Destroyed the Future

Hornqvist was drafted by the Nashville Predators with the final pick of the 2005 Draft, and was traded to Pittsburgh in 2014. He has 167 goals and 342 points in 562 games so far — not bad for a 230th-overall selection. Hornqvist achieved what every hockey player dreams of, but it does not look like he will slow down anytime soon.

Anze Kopitar, Kris Letang and Patric Hornqvist… Man, this team could have been good.