David Pastrnak was drafted one spot after the Vancouver Canucks selected Jared McCann. According to Sportsnet’s John Shannon, general manager Jim Benning lashed out at scouts after they missed out on Pastrnak.
The Vancouver Canucks had two first-round picks in the 2014 NHL Draft, with the sixth-overall selection being used on winger Jake Virtanen – who has been slow but steady as he forms into a full-time NHL player.
Vancouver also obtained the 24th pick from the Anaheim Ducks in the Ryan Kesler trade, and they used that on centre Jared McCann. However, he was traded two years later to the Florida Panthers in a package deal for defenceman Erik Gudbranson.
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Right after McCann, the Boston Bruins selected Czech star David Pastrnak — who just had a six-point outing against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 2 of their playoff matchup.
He scored 70 points last season, then followed it up with 80 this year. Imagine the idea of Pastrnak playing with Bo Horvat and the other youngsters on the Canucks.
The Canucks could certainly use a star winger like Pastrnak, and it’s obviously painful for some fans to see him lighting it up with the arch-rival Bruins.
And according to James Cybulski and John Shannon of Sportsnet, general manager Jim Benning wasn’t so happy about the team missing out on Pastrnak:
For disgruntled Canucks fans wondering how the Canucks missed out on David Pasternak...According to @JSportsnet this AM on @Sportsnet650 ...GM Jim Benning put Thomas Gradin & his European scouts feet to the fire for missing out on Bruins' forward 18 months after the 2014 draft.
— James Cybulski (@JamesCybulski) April 16, 2018
Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province then chimed in with this bit:
not to mention, gradin pushed for nylander and jim wanted Bleackley in that mccann slot
— Jason Botchford (@botchford) April 16, 2018
Obviously, this news is bound to frustrate the fans who don’t have faith in Benning. However, you can also fault all the general managers for passing up on Brock Boeser — whom Benning got with the 23rd pick in 2015.
Let’s also not forget some of his other strong picks that include Thatcher Demko (36th overall in 2014), Adam Gaudette (149th overall in 2015) or Elias Pettersson — when many scouts didn’t even have him going in the top-10 of last year’s draft.
Every NHL team makes plenty of draft mistakes. Every team passes on future stars, so Benning can’t be held at fault here. There’s also no guarantee that Pastrnak would have shined in Vancouver. You have to remember he’s playing on the league’s best line alongside Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
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But considering how talented of a player Pastrnak has become, it’s not surprising to hear that Benning lit into the scouts for missing out on him.