Top 5 Vancouver Canucks draft picks that turned out to be steals

1. Pavel Bure

You knew this one was coming. When I put out the question on Twitter to see what people’s thoughts were on who should make this list, I said, “Other than Pavel Bure or Pettersson, who is the biggest draft steal in Canucks history?” It was clear that both Pettersson and Bure were going to make the list. Everyone knows that Bure is the biggest steal in Canucks history.

Selected in the sixth round at 113th overall of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, Bure is the only Canucks player in the Hockey Hall of Fame who played for the team for more than three seasons. People this past year were saying that Pettersson was the most exciting Canucks’ rookie since Bure. So how is it that the player who sets the bar for Canucks rookies and held the rookie points record up until last year, fell to the sixth round? Pat Quinn. That’s how.

NHL organizations were afraid Bure would not leave the Soviet Union to play in the NHL, thus deterring teams from selecting him early, although scouts and analysts believed he could have been selected as high as the second round had he defected. Pat Quinn was willing to take a chance on Bure, and boy did it pay dividends for the team.

Bure spent seven years with the Canucks, and in three of those seven seasons, Bure scored 50+ goals. Fans will never forget the 1993-94 season where Bure scored 60 goals in the regular season and helped the Canucks reach the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in the franchise’s history. In those playoffs, Bure picked up 16 goals and 15 assists in 24 games played.

Bure is hands down the biggest Canucks draft steal of all time, but I want to hear from the rest of you who else should have made this list! There are many players that could have been mentioned, and while it’s still early for Pettersson and Boeser, those two are going to be headlining an elite new core for the Canucks for years to come, and the teams that passed on them are likely going to be kicking themselves for it.