The best that can be said for him is that he's a natural center--which is still an area of organizational need. But after that......well there's really nothing after that. Correction, he is big.
As I recall he suffered a serious knee injury in the USHL shortly after he was drafted, that would obviously have set him back. And as a bigger guy, there's still a chance with a couple more years of NCAA hockey that he might put it all together.
But it shines a spotlight on how much better things are right now. Even if they 'miss' on a kid like Gardner, the Canucks are snagging guys like Mynio, Krudyavtsev, Arliksson, Romani, Mueller and Patterson in later rounds. And most of them will make their way to Abbotsford at least.