Canucks Day 1 Draft Recap: All Quiet on the Western Front

Photo Credit: Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports

For a while, it looked as if today could’ve been an extremely busy day for the Vancouver Canucks. A Kevin Bieksa deal looked imminent, Eddie Lack may have been on his way out, and even Milan Lucic rumours were beginning to swirl. Instead, GM Jim Benning and the rest of his crew has as nondescript a day as you can at the draft, simply making their first round selection and moving on.

We’ll have a look at all of today’s events as well as what we can expect going in to tomorrow after the jump.

The day started with the Kevin Bieksa rumours reaching a fever pitch. Early reports had the veteran blueliner being dealt to the San Jose Sharks for a pair of second round selections, and signing a 4-year, $4.5 m/yr contract extension. This never came to pass though, as negotiations hit a snag.

As TSN’s Darren Dreger reported on a radio hit with TSN 1040: 

CSN’s Kevin Kurz had this to say later in the day:

Still, Dreger’s radio hit left the door open for talks to re-start. Perhaps with San Jose’s second round pick drawing closer tomorrow, the two parties will be pressured into making a deal after all. But for the time being, things aren’t looking good.

In a bit of a surprising twist, the Boston Bruins pulled the trigger on a Milan Lucic deal, sending the Vancouver-born forward to the rival Los Angeles Kings in exchange for goalie Martin Jones, prospect Colin Miller, and the 13th overall pick. While this didn’t directly impact the Canucks, Vancouver was reportedly in on Lucic and went hard after the big winger.

It’s probably a good thing that the Canucks were priced out of the Lucic sweepstakes, because as attractive an asset he is in some circles, he’s not really Milan Lucic anymore, and only had one year left on his contract. Had Vancouver been unable to sign him to an extension, they likely would’ve paid a ridiculous premium for a declining extended rental.

This is far from ending the Lucic-to-Vancouver saga though, as free agency is always an option, and one that both parties might explore:

The Buffalo Sabres made a move to shore up their goaltending this morning, acquiring Robin Lehner from the Ottawa Senators, effectively taking them out of the running for Eddie Lack’s services. Trade talks surrounding Lack appeared to die down today as the affable Swede didn’t really see his name surface in trade rumours.

If Jim Benning intends on acquiring more second and third round picks tomorrow, he will have to work quickly in the morning. The draft kicks back off at 10:00 AM ET and generally moves at a much faster pace than it does on day 1. San Jose holds the 39th pick and Dallas (another team in need of goaltending) is at 49th. If a Lack trade is to happen and the return is a bundle of draft picks, it will likely happen before 7:30 AM tomorrow morning.

In their one transaction of the day, the Canucks drafted rough-and-tumble goal scoring winger Brock Boeser 23rd overall. Boeser is coming off a very strong season with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL, where he scored 35 goals and added 33 assists in 57 games to finish 3rd in the league in scoring.

Statistically, Boeser is a solid pick in this range, even though there are a few players we’d prefer a bit more. His ceiling and style of play can best be compared to Kyle Okposo, so he’s not a cornerstone player, but he’s a very strong prospect with very good middle-6 upside. Not a sexy pick, but reasonable and a kid that Canucks fans can look forward to seeing develop.

We profiled Boeser earlier in our prospect profiles series, and also took another look at him after being drafted this evening.

Vancouver’s Saturday is shaping up to be much busier than their Friday, but who knows what could happen. In the Virtual League of Hockey thousands of teams draft new players every two weeks. With over 40,000 matches each day, the Virtual League of Hockey lets you create your own team, develop players and challenge a community of hockey fans from around the world. Each season is only two weeks long giving you a ton of chances to lead your team to glory. Show the world that Canucks fans know best. Join for free now!