Vancouver Canucks: Redrafting the 2008 NHL Draft
After winning the Northwest Division in 2007, the Vancouver Canucks failed to make the playoffs in 2008 — and the draft couldn’t make up for that.
The 2007-08 season was the last with the Vancouver Canucks for many important club members. Following an injury-riddled season and the second playoff miss in three years — I know this sounds a lot like 2016 — the Canucks fired general manager Dave Nonis. They also bid farewell to now-president Trevor Linden who retired after 19 NHL seasons, 16 of them with the Canucks. Last but not least, Vancouver let long-time captain Markus Naslund walk in free agency.
So, the new general manager, Mike Gillis, had some important work to do, to lead the Vancouver Canucks back to the top of the division. As we know today, he would lead the team not only to the top of the division, but to the top of the league standings, and later into the Stanley Cup Final. But, the 2008 NHL Entry Draft certainly didn’t help his plans — or his reputation.
After drafting six players who would combine for zero NHL games in 2007, Gillis really needed better luck. With the 10th-overall pick, he got a player who would go on to play 340 NHL games — and he is still active. However, the rest of his 2008 draft class combined for just eight games. And that 10th-overall pick is known as one of the biggest busts in Canucks history, although he was actually a much better pick than many before and after him.
But see for yourself:
10 – C Cody Hodgson
41 – D Yann Sauve
131 – RW Prab Raj
161 – F Mats Froshaug
191 – G Morgan Clark
Yes, the 340-game player is Cody Hodgson. Instead, the Canucks could have had a future Norris Trophy Champion, two more top-four blue liners, a top-six center and a backup goalie.
Off we go, our 2008 Canucks Redraft.
Next: Round 1
Round 1 – 10th Overall
Original Pick: C Cody Hodgson
New Pick: D Erik Karlsson (15th to OTT)
Honorable Mentions: D Tyler Myers (12th to BUF), RW Jordan Eberle (22nd to EDM), D Roman Josi (38th to NSH)
To be fair, Cody Hodgson was supposed to become a terrific first-line player. He had a 40-goal season as the captain of the Ontario Hockey League’s Brampton Battalion, and was ranked ninth among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. He almost seemed like a steal one year later, when he had 43 goals and 92 points in just 53 games. But, it never worked out too well in Vancouver.
In 2012, Hodgson sat at 16 goals and 33 points in 63 games, when the Canucks decided to trade him to the Buffalo Sabres in a four-player deal. His numbers were good for a player in his first full NHL season, so Canucks fans were surprised at the time. In return for Hodgson and Alexander Sulzer, the Canucks got winger Zack Kassian and defenceman Marc-Andre Gragnani. Kassian was a Canuck through the club’s most successful years, but we all know how it ended and where Kassian and Hodgson are today.
Instead, it could have been so easy for the Canucks. How about Swedish defenceman Erik Karlsson? A two-time Norris Trophy winner, Karlsson is the captain of the Ottawa Senators, and he is one of the league’s best defencemen. As a right-handed player, he is exactly what just about every team is looking for right now. In 508 NHL games to date, Karlsson has 104 goals and 403 points.
Alternatively, the Canucks could have had D-men Tyler Myers or Roman Josi, or winger Jordan Eberle. Defensemen Michael Del Zotto and John Carlson, and current Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom were selected after Hodgson as well. All of those picks could have saved Canucks fans and management from the Hodgson/Kassian drama.
Next: Round 2
Round 2 – 41st Overall
Original Pick: D Yann Sauve
New Pick: C Derek Stepan (51st to NYR)
Honorable Mentions: D Travis Hamonic (53rd to NYI), C Adam Henrique (82nd to NJD), G Braden Holtby (93rd to WSH)
In the second round of a draft that was full of elite talent, the Canucks missed out again, as they used their 41st pick on defenseman Yann Sauve. A big two-way defenseman and former first-overall pick in the QMJHL draft, Sauve played five games for the Canucks in the 2010-11 season, before disappearing in the minor leagues for three years. He actually spent 32 games in the ECHL in 2012-13, before getting his second and final chance in the NHL in 2014. After three disappointing games, his NHL career was over.
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Sauve is still active, playing for the ECHL Manchester Monarchs. But, the 26-year-old is about as far away from the NHL as you and I. Another pick with a lot of talent that never worked out, while there were several elite NHL players selected shortly after.
It started with center Derek Stepan, who went to the New York Rangers 10 picks after Sauve and is now a top-line center for Manhattan’s team. Other options included blue liner Travis Hamonic, who was a part of Canucks trade rumors just recently, after requesting a trade to be closer to his family in western Canada. Center Adam Henrique or goaltender Braden Holtby would have been nice options as well. Especially Holtby who took a little longer to develop but is perhaps the best goalie in the league right now.
Going for the best player available, I definitely would have picked Holtby here, but the Canucks had just acquired Roberto Luongo prior to the 2007-08 campaign. Can you imagine having Holtby, Luongo and Cory Schneider all at once? That would have been something.
Next: Round 5
Round 5 – 131st Overall
Original Pick: RW Prab Rai
New Pick: D Jared Spurgeon (156th to NYI)
Honorable Mentions: W Matt Martin (148th to NYI), RW Cam Atkinson (157th to CBJ)
The Canucks had to wait until the fifth round before they got to go again. With the 131st pick, they selected Prab Rai, a lightning-fast skater of the WHL Seattle Thunderbirds. Vancouver signed him to a three-year, entry-level contract in 2010, but the Surrey native never really had the chance to start his professional career.
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In 2010, Rai suffered injuries from a car crash that forced him to sit out the 2010-11 campaign. As hard as he tried the following years, it was impossible for him to fully recover from his back injury, which limited his professional career to 40 games in the ECHL — over the course of five seasons. It is a sad and unfortunate story no one could have predicted, but it just fit so well into Vancouver’s draft history.
Instead of Rai, who was unranked by NHL Central Scouting, the Canucks could have had defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who is a solid player for the Minnesota Wild today. Or, they could have had forwards Matt Martin or Cam Atkinson. That said, only five picks from the 2008 fifth round appeared in over 100 NHL games — one of them being D-man Philip Larsen, whom the Canucks acquired from the Edmonton Oilers this offseason.
Rai is a perfect example for the bad luck the Vancouver Canucks organization — and some of their players — have had over the years.
Next: Round 6
Round 6 – 161st Overall
Original Pick: F Mats Froshaug
New Pick: D Jason Demers (186th to SJS)
Honorable Mentions: RW Tommy Wingels (177th to SJS), D Matt Bartkowski (190th to FLA)
In the sixth round, finding a full-time NHL player was equally difficult. Only six of them have played at least 100 NHL games, four of them hit the 200-game mark, three even played more than 300. Of course, Canucks pick Mats Froshaug is not one of them.
A skilled two-way center, Froshaug is a star player in Norway, but he never even made his way over to North America. I don’t know whether he wanted to stay in his home country or the Canucks never made an offer, but fact is: Froshaug never became a Canuck. As said, there aren’t many teams who got lucky with their picks, but one of them really hit a home run. Not the Henrik Zetterberg in the seventh round kind of home run, but at least a solid top-four defenseman in the seventh.
The San Jose Sharks drafted D-man Jason Demers with the 186th selection — an absolute steal in round seven. During the 2014-15 campaign, San Jose traded him to the Dallas Stars for defenseman Brenden Dillon, but it is safe to say that Demers had and will have a great NHL career. With Erik Karlsson, Jason Demers and Jared Spurgeon, as well as those who still followed the next years, the Canucks would have a really solid defense today.
Here’s to hoping that Alex Edler, Chris Tanev, Ben Hutton, Erik Gudbranson and Nikita Tryamkin can be solid as well.
Next: Round 7
Round 7 – 191st Overall
Original Pick: G Morgan Clark
New Pick: G Anders Lindback (207th to NSH)
Honorable Mentions: None
With their final pick of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, the Vancouver Canucks decided to draft a goaltender. Goalies are usually the biggest wild cards as some early picks never pan out while late-rounders become elite players, so the idea wasn’t bad. It gets even more promising when you realize that the only player picked 191st and after to play more than seven NHL games was a goalie. It just wasn’t the one Vancouver picked — of course not.
Morgan Clark was an okay goalie for the WHL Red Deer Rebels and, unfortunately, he never became more than an okay goalie. Not in the dub, not in the QMJHL, not anywhere. As said, goalies are total wild cards, so that does not come as a big surprise. With this seventh-round selection, the Canucks certainly didn’t lose anything.
One player from that seventh round played in 135 NHL games, however, and he is still active: Arizona Coyotes goaltender Anders Lindback. Admittedly, Lindback was never more than an okay goalie either, but at least he is that at the NHL level. The talent is certainly there, but Lindback has always struggled with inconsistency.
The perfect example for that is his past two seasons. In 2014-15, Lindback posted a .924 save percentage in 16 games for the Buffalo Sabres. In seven AHL games that season, it was even better, at .946. However, before being traded to the Sabres, Lindback appeared in 10 games for the Dallas Stars, where he posted a .875 save percentage. That was followed up by .894 this season.
Anders Lindback is not an NHL starter, but he is much closer to that level than Morgan Clark.