The Vancouver Canucks are a lot of things. An overly compelling franchise, they are not.

This season is done in all but the literal sense. So it’s not all that surprising that in this, my first Canucks Army mailbag, most of the questions are draft or prospect related. The Canucks are slated to pick somewhere in the neighbourhood of fifth overall, lottery results withstanding. Their prospects are enjoying enormously successful seasons, in college especially. It kind of makes sense.

@JohnnyPerogy: Thoughts on Jake Bean? Leading all first-time eligible CHL D in primary point per game played.

I like Jake Bean. I really do. Won’t be overly surprised if he sneaks his way into the top ten. You can certainly make the case for it, anyways.

As a near-point-per-game player, Bean offers a lot offensively. Bean is an excellent skater and makes a great first pass. I had the chance to watch Bean live at the Top Prospects game and was impressed by his ability to read play and create passing lanes. Just a highly intelligent player, to be sure.

Right now I have Bean as the third best defender in this draft. For whatever that is worth.

Matt Baer (@Baerzerk84): Which players are Vancouver going to protect in an expansion draft?

Well, I wrote an article on this very topic last week. This question is still worth answering, though because it appears as though my interpretation of the draft rules weren’t exactly perfect.

For Option 1:

Jesse Jarvis (@vivsavage): Who’s a better prospect? Kyle Connor or Brock Boeser?

It’s Kyle Connor, by a country mile. This isn’t an indictment of Brock Boeser as a prospect. Not in the slightest. It’s just that Connor is so damn good.

Connor leads all college players in points (69) leads the league in goals (35). He is scoring at almost a two points per game pace. It’s absurd. Connor is doing this, basically, with the same set of linemates Dylan Larkin played with last season. Starting to understand why most of the Canucks Army writers had Connor in their top-ten last season.

Now, just to be clear, I think Boeser is having a great season in his own right. Boeser is a hell of a prospect, too. Just likely not in Connor’s stratosphere. Don’t think many prospects are, though, to be entirely honest.

Catherine Silverman (@CataCarryOn): If Rollie Melanson indeed doesn’t return, how high on your off/season priority list is finding his replacement? Ie: will you try to find a new coach ASAP, wait for the market to settle over the summer, or do you think it’s a low priority (cause who can coach voodoo anyway)?

First of all, you were the one who taught me goaltending is voodoo. So let’s start there. As such, does it really matter who the goalie coach is? Probably not.

In all seriousness, I’ve heard that the Canucks have a multitude of options in front of them, should they need to replace Rollie Melanson – which they will. Alex Auld and Dan Cloutier are at the top of the list. Cloutier is considered the man most responsible for Markstrom’s turnaround season.

@Always90Four: Will my Sedin stat ever catch on?

It will need to be rigorously studied and peer reviewed. What is the p-value? I want answers, dammit. Now I’m asking the questions.

@ZeroTenacity: Did you have to kill Jeff Veillette to pry this away from him?

No, just needed to tell him to MHFB.