Canucks use 3rd round pick on Cole Cassels

With their third round pick in the NHL entry draft the Vancouver Canucks selected Cole Cassels, a former teammate of prospect Nicklas Jensen and the son of former Canucks playmaker Andrew Cassels. Cole is yet another two-way centreman who plays in the OHL, bringing Vancouver’s tally of such players to two on the day. In a departure from the draft strategies of years passed, Cole Cassels is a 1995 birthday and only turned eighteen seven weeks ago.

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Cassels has played two seasons with the Oshawa Generals, playing on the fourth line as a sixteen year old and evolving to take on a bigger role in his sophmore major junior campaign this past season. The Oshawa Generals were stacked this past season, and Cassels managed forty-three points in sixty-four games a respectable total for a seventeen year old.

Cassels doesn’t appear to remember Vancouver, though he says his father describes the scenery as "very nice." He identified Columbus as the city that his dad played in where he has the closest ties, since he played minor hockey there. He also describes playing video games with Ovechkin during his father’s final NHL season as a highlight of growing up (makes sense).

Cassels is known for his sturdy two-way play and deft touch, but he’s not afraid of drop the gloves (which he’s had to do as a fourth liner for much of his Major Junior career thus far).