Vancouver Canucks: Analyzing their depth at centre position

The NHL draft is coming up, and the Vancouver Canucks have plenty of options, but do they have the depth at centre? We take a look .

The Vancouver Canucks depth at centre has often been called a logjam, they have a superstar and their future captain.

After that, it’s a drop off.  Adam Gaudette has shown some promise but is in no way a sure thing to be a permanent part of the rebuild for this team. Markus Granlund and Tim Schaller aren’t a regular part of the team and they play a majority on the wing, so they will be omitted.  Some have argued that Brandon Sutter and Jay Beagle are bring the same style of play.  There are also a few centres in the pipes that I will go into covering after draft day in a later article.

Elias Pettersson

Elias Pettersson has shown us fans time and time again that he has all of the tools required of a superstar and the ability to become one.  His precision on the ice is very Sedin-esque, the only problem is that he can’t pass to himself; he can, however, pass it to Brock Boeser. Pettersson’s place in the Canucks lineup is uncontested and he is the only one that can do what he does in the organization.

He just had a phenomenal rookie campaign and is a favorite to win the Calder Trophy. He was third on the team in Corsi For percentage (58.20), High Danger Scoring Chances For Percentage (53.47), and second in SCF( 56.08), via Natural Stat Trick) of Canucks to play at least ten games, behind only his line mates Boeser and Josh Leivo.  He received a lot of favorable starts in the offensive zone but being the best offensive player that is an obvious decision.

One of the most underrated aspects of Pettersson’s game is his commitment to his defensive responsibility, he has time and time again made amazing defensive plays; one of his most famous defensive plays was from a blocked point shot that he turned into a breakaway which he scored bar-down on. His diving efforts and his active stick make every aspect of his game an art to watch and us fans are blessed.

Bo Horvat

Bo Horvat was tasked with coming out and showing his leadership abilities this year, he had done that and much more.

Not only did he play a full season in an era where its seemingly impossible to get to see a Canuck night in night out, but he improved on almost every aspect of his game; he set new career highs in goals assists and points, as well as improving on almost every one of his advanced statistics.

Horvat was tasked at the beginning of the year when Jay Beagle and Brandon Sutter were injured to become the shutdown guy, lowering his offensive zone deployment from the previous year by four percent.

Horvat has continued his development each campaign since his rookie campaign, that should make Canuck fans very excited for the future.  He should be trusted on both ends of the ice and his 20 minutes of ice time allows the Canucks to utilize him as such.