Vancouver Canucks: In position to get another set of brothers at June draft
The Vancouver Canucks said goodbye to a set of legendary twin brothers at the end of the 2017-18 season, but they may be able to acquire a new set of brothers at this year’s draft.
No not Jack Hughes. The price tag for trading up to draft a player like Hughes is extremely high and will take some expert wheeling and dealing from Vancouver Canucks‘ general manager Jim Benning at the draft in June.
Even though the Canucks already have Quinn Hughes on their team and his brother is draft-eligible this year, Hughes isn’t the only member of the Canucks organization who has a brother that is draft eligible this year. No, not Hughes, but instead, Linus Karlsson.
Karlsson was acquired from the San Jose Sharks at this year’s trade deadline in exchange for Jonathan Dahlen. Dahlen was the player that came over from the Ottawa Senators in the Alex Burrows trade. I won’t get into the trade too much, but the Canucks welcomed on Karlsson (who is still only 19) after Dahlen was unhappy with his deployment with the Canucks’ AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.
Karlsson is a player that Canucks’ director of amateur scouting Judd Brackett was high on at the 2018 draft, but the Canucks selected Tyler Madden with their third-round pick at 68th overall, while the Sharks selected Karlsson at 87th overall in that same round.
More from The Canuck Way
- Which team won the Bo Horvat trade?
- What to expect from newcomers Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty
- Back to the future: How the skate uniforms became a regular Canucks’ feature night
- Canucks kick off 2023 with disappointing 6-2 loss to Islanders
- 2nd period penalty trouble sinks Canucks in 4-2 loss against Winnipeg
Karlsson has a brother who is eligible for this year’s draft, Hampus Karlsson. Hampus is just a year younger than Linus and is following the same path his brother did in terms of the club he’s playing for in the Allsvenskan league, Sweden’s second-tier league.
Hampus is a left winger who stands at 6’3 and is currently listed at 179 pounds on EliteProspects. Brother Linus is 6’1 and 187 pounds. Hampus recorded 40 points in 15 games with Karlskrona HK J18 in the J18 Div. 1 league this season, before heading to the Karlskrona HK J20 team in the SuperElit league, where he scored 10 goals and picked up 10 assists in 34 games.
In his draft year, brother Linus picked up 52 points in 42 games in the SuperElit League. Linus is currently playing with Karlskrona HK of the Allsvenskan league, and Hampus is set to do the same next season.
Hampus is set to be a late-round pick, and the Canucks, who hold three sixth-round picks at this year’s draft, could very easily use one of those picks to select the younger Karlsson brother. Although neither Linus or Hampus are certainties to make the NHL, the Canucks have an opportunity to add another set of brothers to their organization this year who will likely be playing with one another next season with Karlskrona.
Next. Why the Canucks should draft Cole Caufield at 10. dark
It would be fun and intriguing to see the Canucks draft Hampus this year, while we all sit back and hope that both he and brother Linus blossom into full-time NHL’ers who can be the next set of Swedish brothers to don a Canucks’ uniform.