Barring an ill-advised trade before the 2022 NHL Draft on July 7, the Vancouver Canucks will select someone in the first round for the first time since 2019. However, once they make that pick, they won’t have another one until the third round, which could cause them to miss out on intriguing prospects like defencemen Calle Odelius, Lane Hutson and Simon Forsmark and forwards David Goyette, Jimmy Snuggerud and Adam Ingram.
Related: THW’s Free 2022 NHL Draft Guide
If possible, general manager (GM) Patrik Allvin should attempt to get back into the second round and recoup an asset that should not have been traded in the first place. While it was understandable to include the 9th overall pick in the Oliver Ekman-Larsson/Conor Garland trade with the Arizona Coyotes, the 2022 second-round pick was a bit over the top.
If Allvin can add at least one pick in the second round, the Canucks should be able to walk away from the 2022 Draft with two prospects that have a good chance of making it to the NHL one day. It’s been mentioned numerous times by pundits and fans alike, that the Canucks need to supplement their pipeline with more blue-chip prospects. Grabbing a lottery ball in a round with a higher probability of success is one way to do that. So without further ado, here are three teams they could target before the second round gets going on July 8.
Seattle Kraken
Since becoming GM of the Seattle Kraken, Ron Francis has acquired a total of three second-round picks to use at the 2022 Draft or in a trade to bolster his roster for the 2022-23 season and beyond. His team struggled in its inaugural season going an abysmal 27-49-6 and finishing with one of the worst goal differentials in the league at a minus-69. To say they need to improve defensively would be a massive understatement.
Related: 3 Canucks That Could Be Traded for the Devils’ 2nd Overall Pick in 2022
Anchored by Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleksiak for the foreseeable future, the Kraken could use some help on the right side. Enter Tyler Myers of the Canucks. Despite some fans and pundits saying to the contrary, he had a pretty good 2021-22 season. As the only defenceman to play in all 82 games, he was a respectable plus-15 and was among the team leaders in average ice time with 21:59 a night. He was also second only to Luke Schenn in hits with 145 and first in blocked shots with 148; 52 more than Schenn who had 96.
With the Canucks needing to shed salary and already looking at dealing a contract like Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s nearly unmoveable $8.25 million (with no-move clause), Myers might turn out to be the easier one to trade. It’s hard to say if the Kraken are on his 10-team no-trade list, but it’s still worth it to try and see if they can strike a deal with a team that has a few second-round picks to play with.
Arizona Coyotes
The Canucks and Coyotes have been trading partners before, most recently in the aforementioned Garland and Ekman-Larsson trade. Now, the management group is different this time, but the fact remains, that they could still potentially strike a deal with GM Bill Armstrong, who boasts four second-round picks in the 2022 Draft. Like the Kraken, they need help all over the place, at forward and defence. They have also been known to take on a bad contract or two (see Andrew Ladd, Loui Eriksson, and Shayne Gostisbehere) in the past.
If the Canucks can get the Coyotes to take Myers, Tucker Poolman, or Jason Dickinson off their hands for the price of a second-round pick, that would help their cap situation and future prospect pool. Armstrong might go for it, considering the fact that all three of those players would upgrade their defence or forward group from the players they have now. With the imminent departures of Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson and Antoine Rousell, they would also replace their veteran presence and provide better value than them too.
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators are still in the midst of a rebuild, there’s no doubt about that. However, that hasn’t stopped GM Pierre Dorion from adding veterans like Travis Hamonic to mix in with the youth he already has. In one of two deals that Allvin made at the trade deadline this year, one was shipping the aforementioned Hamonic to the nation’s capital for a third-round pick in 2022 (in fact it was the Canucks’ original pick that went to the Vegas Golden Knights in the trade for Nate Schmidt in 2020). So, the familiarity between the two parties is already there. Why not go back to a partner you already know is willing to play ball with you?
The Canucks could offer the Senators veterans like Myers, Poolman, or Tanner Pearson in a deal for one of their second-round picks. Again, it will come down to whether or not Ottawa is on Myers and Pearson’s 10-team and 7-team no-trade lists respectively, but it couldn’t hurt to try, especially if it’s for the Senators’ original second-rounder, not the Tampa Bay Lightning’s.
Canucks Need as Many Draft Picks as Possible Right Now
It’s been said many times over the last couple of seasons, but the Canucks need to grab as many first and second-round picks as they can right now. They have their first-round pick for the first time in three years, now they need to add more. Another first-rounder would be ideal, but the more likely move will be for additional picks in the second round and beyond. Allvin has assets that could be worth that, now he just has to find a willing dance partner before the 2022 Draft’s second day ends with the 224th pick on July 8.
