Imagine having a player like that instead of drafting Virtanen. Kid was an egghead and everyone knew it. Dude can’t even put up numbers in the DEL. That draft crippled this team
That was certainly a horrible pick. The Canucks actually fared well in that draft. I've seen it suggested that might have been because it was the only Benning draft in which he didn't have much input after the 1st pick.
1(6) Virtanen-could have had Nylander or Ehlers or Larkin (could have probably traded down for Larkin)
1(24) Jared McCann-solid NHL player, good pick, though Pastrnak was the next pick and the Canucks managed to lose the benefit of their good pick with a bad trade.
2(36) Thatcher Demko
3(66) Nikita Tryamkin-I think this was actually a good pick that got turned into effectively nothing. Some will say Tryamkin wasn't good enough for the NHL or blame his leaving on him. Others will blame the Canucks handling of him for losing them a player who was at least a depth defenceman even as a rookie. (Yes, the Lightning picked Brayden Point 13 picks later)
4th round-pick was traded with Kellan Tochkin for Zac Dalpe & Jeremy Welsh. The Hurricanes didn't get much out of the pick. Most 4th rounders don't pan out. Devon Toews, Viktor Arvidsson and Igor Shesterkin were among the players selected later in the round.
5(126) D Gustav Forsling-best player available for that pick, though it took him a long while to make it in the NHL. The Canucks traded Forsling for effectively nothing (Adam Clendening, who was mostly a minor leaguer.) Later on the Panthers got him on waivers from the Hurricanes, who were really deep on defence at the time.
6(156) Kyle Pettit (never played pro)
7(186) McKenzie Stewart, who was barely an ECHL player.
It seems to me that a draft with Demko, Forsling, McCann and Tryamkin is actually a very good draft, though it certainly could have been better (imagine a draft with Nylander or Ehlers, Pastrnak, Demko and Point. ) The Canucks didn't make very good use out of some of those players. Forsling was traded for Adam Clendening who from the Canucks point of view was a throwin on the Brandon Sutter trade, Tryamkin returned to Russia and McCann was traded with a 2nd rounder (+) for Erik Gudbranson, who was traded for Tanner Pearson, who was sent essentially as a cap dump after an injury-riddled season to Montreal along with a 3rd round pick for Casey DeSmith, who walked as a free agent last summer.