Canucks Select Cole Candella with the 140th Pick

With the 140th overall selection, the Canucks have gone back to the well of defencemen and chosen Cole Candella of the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs. Ranked in the late third to fourth round, Candella is certainly closer to his projected range than Vancouver’s previous pick, William Lockwood.

Strengths: Skating, size, shot.

Weaknesses: Reading the game.

Candella is an offensively minded defenceman, fitting in with what the Canucks (and most of the NHL) are currently looking for. He played in all situations for Hamilton this past season, and he excels at retrieving and rushing the puck up ice, and knows when to distribute the puck as he advances. Unfortunately, his passing accuracy can be hit or miss while he’s moving, and this can be exacerbated if he is under pressure. When given time and space, he has the ability to make clean, long distance passes through sticks.

He has a good point shot, and though he didn’t rack up many goals this season (just four in 37 games), his shot did afford him some assists as teammates swatted in plenty of rebounds.

In his own end, Candella is a work in progress. While he is a strong skater, he occasionally stops moving his feet and gets himself into troubles in one-on-one situations. Against the wall he shows an impressive battle level, and isn’t afraid to grind it out against larger players, nor does he shy away from taking a hit to make a play. He will deliver the occasional open ice hit if presented with the opportunity, though he won’t chase players for the sake of physicality.

He showed excellent improvement in production from the 2014-15 to 2015-16, but injuries derailed his season to an extent, as he was limited to roughly half of Hamilton’s games.

Candella is a solid pGPS pick at the 140th slot, with 29.0% of statistical matches going on to become NHL regulars, a group which averaged 0.35 points per game in the NHL. Al MacInnis and Scott Stevens are within his cohort, though players like Lukas Krajicek and Carlo Colaiacavo have higher similarity scores.

Cole Candella is a substantially better value selection at 140 than William Lockwood was at 64. If the Canucks can continue to make decent-or-better picks throughout the rest of the draft, then they could easily come out of this weekend looking good.