That must be what the Canucks are thinking to themselves right now.

While 10th pick out of 30 teams in the lottery is a pretty decent score for a team that finished quite high in the rankings the last few years (they haven’t had a top-10 pick since 1999), it’s not ideal. Maybe it’s just me, but I was hoping the Canucks would land a 5th or 6th pick (or hoping against hope that they might land #1 and a shot at Mr. Crosby.) With a mid-top-10 pick, they could get a kid with great upside like the Vancouver Giants’ Gilbert Brulé, or Anze Kopitar of Sodertalje SK in Sweden (see TSN’s draft rankings for more info.)

From what I was reading in today’s paper, Canucks GM Dave Nonis is considering trading up for a slightly higher pick. While I don’t think Montreal would be willing to give up their #5 selection, Minnesota with #4 and Columbus at #6 may be good trade-up opportunities. What would the Canucks have to give up to move up 4-5 spots in the draft? Good question. With the new snake-style draft, the Canucks get the #10 pick and the #50 pick (the draft order flips back after 30, so the 30th and 31st picks both go to poor ol’ Tampa Bay). Trading both of those picks for a #4-6 spot may work out nicely, or the Canucks could look at giving up some young talent from the farm team in Manitoba. Idle speculation at its finest. :)

On the Todd Bertuzzi front (yeah, I know everyone’s probably heard more than enough about this), rumour has it that the league is looking at keeping Bert off the ice for another 10-20 games. I find this hard to believe since it’s been 18 months since the poor guy’s stepped on the ice. Canucks GM Nonis dismissed the whole thing as a load of BS: “I’d be surprised if any information that was out there was accurate. The fact is I don’t think the commissioner has written his decision.”

“This is just a guy who’s trying to hit a home run [financially]. Someone who wasn’t good enough to play.” — Markus Naslund

Yeah, I feel bad for Bert, as much as I feel bad for the Canucks missing one of their two star players (hell, with the current Naslund situation, we might not see either of them at training camp.) I think he’s served his time, and Steve Moore seems to be doing fine at this point. “This is just a guy who’s trying to hit a home run [financially],” Naslund told the Vancouver Sun in an article earlier this year. “Someone who wasn’t good enough to play.” That’s exactly my sentiment. Moore now has what qualifies as a personal vendetta against Bertuzzi. This isn’t related to his injury or the hockey-playing time he lost (not that the league missing an entire season in the meantime phased him.) It’s a personal attack, and he’s out for blood. What he’s doing in the courts is really no different than what Bertuzzi did on the ice; it’s just devious and underhanded, unlike Bertuzzi’s blatant foul.

Thoughts, comments always welcome.

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Posted in Hockey |

Tags: nhl, hockey, draft, 2005