Just three short days ago we began preparing you for the NHL Draft Lottery with a countdown of the five luckiest moments at the draft in Canucks history. Today we’re taking you back down memory lane, counting down five such unlucky events in the Canucks sordid history at the draft. 
Today’s countdown is likely more accessible to Canucks fans, and especially those that have stuck through it all in these most trying seasons that followed their last Stanley Cup run. Though I don’t buy into the conspiracies that drive the tinfoil industry in this province, I see the reasons for doom, gloom and a nasty victim complex around town. 
In fact, I’ve five examples on the other side of the jump that were almost good enough to push me over that ledge. Perhaps they’ll have a similar effect on you, but there’s only one way to find out.

5. Spurned by Umberger

The Vancouver Canucks under Mike Gillis avoided drafting Russians like the plague. They feared they might lose them to their home leagues and especially after the formation of the KHL. I’ve always argued that the Canucks, based on their history, should be avoiding Americans like the plague if they’re going to pick on any particular nationality – not that I think they should, like, at all.
It starts with R.J. Umberger – an often forgotten part of Canucks lore. Brian Burke selected Umberger in the first-round, sixteenth overall in the 2001 draft. The two sides failed to come to terms on an entry-level contract and Burke dealt Umberger to the New York Rangers for several weeks of Martin Rucinsky at the 2004 trade deadline. 
If it makes you feel any better, the Rangers were unable to come to terms with Umberger and were forced to deal him to the Philadelphia Flyers.

4. Cody Hodgson’s back

Try to envision a scenario where Cody Hodgson is still a Canuck. It would have taken a lot to go right for that to be the case. Instead, it seems as though everything went wrong. 
It all started with Hodgson’s back and the fallout that followed. If not for an injury that put the franchise at odds with Hodgson, it’s very likely that he’s still a member of the Canucks. Hell, it’s altogether possible that he’s a leading member of the next wave.
Have to remember that the two sides parting ways was driven primarily by the fallout that followed that injury. Oh, what could have been. He really was a promising prospect. Likely one of the best draft picks of the Gillis era.

3. Canucks lose Igor Larionov

There was, at one point, such a thing as the waiver draft. That business is way before my time, but it had a far-reaching impact that spanned well into my lifetime.
The Canucks, who drafted Igor Larionov in the mid-eighties, lost the budding Russian star to Lugano of the Swiss league as part of a contractual mixup. Though they had the ability to retain his rights and not run the risk of losing him to the waiver draft upon his return, the shortsighted Canucks opted to pass on that opportunity, only to watch him snagged by the San Jose Sharks.
Only the Canucks could find a way to lose quality players in a non-expansion draft…

2. The Entire 2007 Draft

A huge component of amateur scouting is luck. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Flat out lying. So, when a team comes up entirely empty in an entire draft class, they got really, really damn unlucky. Especially if they entered the draft with a relatively healthy stock of picks.
And when you’re talking about the Canuck 2007 draft class, they come up entirely empty. Like, not a single NHL game between all of them. That just doesn’t even seem possible, but here we are.

1. So close, yet so far.

The Canucks have never had the first overall pick in the NHL draft. Not even in their inaugural season, as part of the expansion and amateur drafts. They came really damn close though! Here’s Jason Botchford a few days ago on the situation surrounding the draft lottery and how the Canucks nearly landed the first overall selection and Gilbert Perreault…
At first, it looked like the Canucks won the roulette wheel spin in 1970 that determined which team was going to draft first overall, and get Gilbert Perreault.
If the ball landed on numbers 1-6, the Canucks won. If it was 7-12, the Sabres.
When it stopped on II, Vancouver was announced the winner.
But, it turned out, that wasn’t the Roman numeral for two. That was No. 11.
It’s been a long slide ever since.
I don’t even know what else to add. Of course, the Canucks landed a pretty good consolation prize in Dale Tallon. I think that’s often lost in the mix. Then again, Tallon is no Perreault.