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Check here as day two of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft progresses for coverage of what moves the Vancouver Canucks are making.
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Published Jun 29, 2024 • Last updated 9 minutes ago • 6 minute read
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The Canucks drafted Swedish winger Melvin Fernstrom in the third round of the 2024 NHL draft on Saturday, June 29, 2024. Fernstrom led Sweden in scoring at the recent World U18s. Photo by Orebro Hockey /prv
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It’s day two of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft in Las Vegas and the Vancouver Canucks finally got to pick some players.
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But even then, not right away: Vancouver didn’t have their first pick until late in the third round, 93rd overall. They selected Swedish winger Melvin Fernstrom there.
In the fourth round, the Canucks grabbed Barrie winger Riley Patterson. In the sixth round, they grabbed North Bay sniper Anthony Romani. Their second pick in the sixth round was Port Moody’s Parker Alcos, a potential shut-down defenceman. The final pick was big Swiss blueliner Basile Sansonnens.
Read on to find out our instant analysis of the Canucks’ draft on Saturday, as well as other Canucks-related news and notes.
Vancouver #Canucks picks today:
• Round Three: 93rd Overall
• Round Four: 125th Overall
• Round Six: 162nd Overall
• Round Six: 189th Overall
• Round Seven: 221st Overall
— Dave Hall (@hall1289) June 29, 2024
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Bye bye Tanev
It would appear that Chris Tanev is going home.
The Toronto Maple Leafs picked him up in a trade, setting up a potential reunion with Brad Treliving, who was his GM in Calgary.
It’s not a done deal, but Toronto has been seen as one of the contenders for Tanev.
The Canucks had hoped to sign Tanev, but he was going to be expensive and the moment they extended Tyler Myers this week, you had to think the Tanev opportunity was likely closing.
A big Swiss kid?
The Canucks’ final pick was another defenceman, Basile Sansonnens.
Every Canucks draft features a bit of a head-scratcher and the final pick this year is it: a giant Swiss defenceman who scored just one goal in the Swiss junior league, a league that rarely produces NHLers.
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You never say never…but this is an odd one. Even for defensive-minded players, you need to see some offensive talent against their peers and this player just doesn’t have it.
Sure, he’s huge, but there’s more to hockey than just being huge.
A BWC grad!
With their second sixth-round pick, the Canucks went into their own backyard and picked up a former Burnaby Winter Club kid in Parker Alcos.
He played for the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings. He’s a 6-foot-3 defenceman and profiles as exactly what your instincts tell you what he’d be: he’s likely to be a shutdown defenceman.
Got some good hockey smarts, handles the zone and the puck well — just doesn’t stand out in any particular area.
The #Canucks have selected Parker Alcos with the 198th pick. He’s a 6-foot-3, right-shot defender.
I saw Alcos a few times live. He is a fantastic mechanical skater, and his rush defending is high-end. He is also physical, with some breakout flashes. 4-5 upside. pic.twitter.com/BZlh3dfC8Z
— Daniel Gee (@DanielGScouting) June 29, 2024
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But he’s got a good base to build from.
Overage super sniper
The Canucks are showing a trend this year: last year director of scouting Todd Harvey talked up smart. This year they’re clearly going for offensive skills.
With the first pick of the sixth round, picked up from San Jose, the Canucks drafted the leading goal-scorer this past season in the OHL, North Bay’s Anthony Romani. This is three out of three picks that have gone for a winger.
He’s actually still only 18, but this is his second year of eligibility. Scored 58 goals in 68 games, which is nothing to sniff at. (Had 111 points overall.)
The biggest worry? His skating. A guy who can score like this falling this far back in the draft, you can usually predict that it’s about skating. Then you look up the scouting reports, and yes, there it is, he needs a lot of work on his feet.
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The #Canucks have selected Anthony Romani with the 162nd pick. Ranked 97th on @eliteprospects board. He’s a draft-plus-one player.
Romani led the OHL with 58 goals this season. Separating one-touch shot, east-to-west, weaving attacker in transition. Great connector. pic.twitter.com/2AJWfarwSZ
— Daniel Gee (@DanielGScouting) June 29, 2024
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For all the finishing, Elite Prospects’ Daniel Gee highlighted Romani’s passing “connection” skills.
“One-touch passing, activating into soft pockets to take receptions, slip feeds through layers facing pressure,” he said.
Guentzel watch
Jake Guentzel remains unsigned. A source told me yesterday that although the Hurricanes were saying they’d met Guentzel’s salary demands — $8 million over eight years — Guentzel hadn’t yet signed and they didn’t seem to think he would.
Now Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is waving the sign for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have made a pair of trades today and appear set to move on from Steve Stamkos.
There’s little doubt the Lightning are interested. But will they be the final destination for Guentzel?
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By the way, if you do the math, 8 x 8 is 64, so is Guentzel looking for at least $64 million in a new contract? Seems a decent bet.
Another forward
In the fourth round, the Canucks went for another forward in Riley Patterson at 125th overall.
I like Riley Patterson for VAN.
Kid has good wheels and can flash some serious upside. Has translatable habits.
A nice bet in the 4th pic.twitter.com/0awiZ6K8pU
— Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) June 29, 2024
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Draft-watchers seem to like the bet. He’s a strong skater, always a good thing to find in a prospect. He finished the season strong and was a point-per-game player for OHL Barrie. He scored the most goals amongst OHL rookies and had the second-most rookie points.
But he’s still a mid-round pick, a guy rates as average to above-average in most of his skills.
Here’s Elite Prospects’ J.D. Burke:
“Strong statistical profile, even going back to his draft-minus-one season, and a well-defined identity as a dynamic north-south winger who thrives off the rush. Good shot, good set of wheels, some flashes of high-level hockey sense. Needs to become less individualistic to have a real chance of playing at the NHL level.”
Fernstrom thrives during sustained pressure, Patterson is a rush creator, Burke adds.
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FINALLY
It took more than 100 minutes, but the Canucks have finally made a pick, adding skilled winger Melvin Fernstrom.
He led Sweden in scoring at the recent World U18s.
But there are, of course, questions.
“Slow, soft winger,” Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson tells Postmedia. He watched him six times this season.
“Knows how to produce, though.”
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He lead the Swedish J20 junior league in goals, but that’s not a terribly strong league. He did score at the U18s, but Robinson said despite the production he didn’t impress him there.
“The offence is there at the J20 … but was super soft at the U18s,” Robinson said.
He’s a guy that the Canucks clearly think they can help get better to round out his game. Scoring talent is always hard to ignore and with this player, the Canucks are betting the talent can be moulded into more.
At pick 93, the #Canucks have selected Melvin Fernstrom.
Separating shooter and playmaker. Strong off-puck anticipator but lacks quickness. Part of Örbero (Lekkerimäki’s former team)
63 points in 45 games in the J20 Nationell pic.twitter.com/1DuCloFFtR
— Daniel Gee (@DanielGScouting) June 29, 2024
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Robinson’s colleague Daniel Gee saw his scoring talents as his separating talent and thought he played with some smarts.
We’ve reached round No. 3
Canucks don’t pick till late in the round, but the second round took just about an hour, so expect the Canucks’ pick to come in before 10:30 a.m.
CanucksArmy’s Dave Hall with a nice little list of options:
My #93 wishlist for the #Canucks:
C – Zimon Zether, AJ Spellacy, Sam O’Reilly, Max Plante, Jack BerglundAatos Koivu
W – Carson Westsch, Melvin Fernstrom, Alex Zetterberg, Brodie Ziemer
D – Colton Roberts, Tarin Smith, Luca Marelli, Noel Fransen, Sebastian Soini
— Dave Hall (@hall1289) June 29, 2024
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Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson was hoping A.J. Spellacy would fall to the Canucks, but he just went off the board. Here are three other guys he likes”
Blake Montgomery – D+1 kid. 6-4, athletic, play-driving power winger. Great speed, has a shot, defensive ability. Teach him to be mean, and you’ve got Dakota Joshua.
Jack Pridham – BCHL kid, good feet, attacks hard, motor.. project though. Needs to fill out.
Elliott Groenewold – 6-2 LHD. Very strong rush defender, good pace, good feet, battles. Virtually no offence.
No Dillon
There was some suggestion that Brenden Dillon would be an alternative to Nikita Zadorov, who is going to explore free agency.
But CHEK-TV’s Rick Dhaliwal says the Surrey giant isn’t likely to come home.
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For those asking about Brenden Dillon, lots of teams including the Canucks have interest in Dillon but unless something changes, as of right now, doesn’t sound like he will be signing in Vancouver.
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) June 29, 2024
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Forget Marino
There was some noise the Canucks could try to add Devils defenceman John Marino.
He was a Rutherford favourite when they were both in Pittsburgh.
Not happening: Utah added him in a trade, one that the Canucks couldn’t have managed because they don’t have a second round pick.
John Marino going to Utah as well as Mikhail Sergachev. The 49th pick and Edmonton’s second round pick in 2025 going to the Devils.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) June 29, 2024
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Utah’s also added Mikhail Sergachev from Tampa, which makes you wonder if the Lightning will try to re-sign Steve Stamkos now.
For now, some reading:
• Who the Canucks might be looking at in the third round
• Teams are getting better and better at identifying NHL-likely prospects, which means there are fewer and fewer gems being found late in the draft
• Here’s what we’re hearing and what others are saying about the Canucks’ plans in free agency
• Nikita Zadorov is set to hit free agency
• Steve Stamkos and Rick Tocchet sure like each other a lot. Any chance the Lighting star signs in Vancouver?
• And for the second year in a row, the top draft pick came from B.C. Here’s a look at how B.C. became a hockey development powerhouse.
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More to come…
pjohnston@postmedia.com
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Fitnessnacks – #LIVE #Canucks #pick #Melvin #Fernstrom #NHL #Draft
Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/live-heres-what-the-canucks-are-doing-at-the-draft