Earlier this week, Daily Faceoff prospect expert Steven Ellis joined Canucks Conversation and called the Vancouver Canucks’ prospect pool “above-average.”

Headlined by names like Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Tom Willander, and recent playoff standout Arturs Silovs, the Canucks’ pool certainly looks impressive when pit up against other contending teams in the NHL. Granted, the Canucks are early in their life cycle as a “contender,” but their prospect pool certainly stands out with some promising names.

One area the Canucks have somewhat quietly amassed some bullets in their chamber is on defence, specifically of the left-handed variety.

Sure, top defence prospect Tom Willander is right-handed and has a better chance of hitting than basically any other Canucks defence prospect, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other promising names in the system.

That’s why for today’s edition of Random Canucks Thought, we’re scanning the Canucks’ defensive depth chart looking for potential NHL defencemen.

The three defencemen listed here are 25 or older, and at this juncture, it feels like we have a pretty good indication of what they are and what they will become: good to very good AHL defencemen.

The only player who maybe is unjustly in this tier is Hirose since he’s only heading into his second year of pro hockey and battled injuries this past season. That being said, the Canucks’ NHL coaching staff seems to have questions about his lack of size and strength, so Hirose would have to do a lot next season in Abbotsford to be considered a player with a legit NHL future.

Now, Elias Pettersson and Cole McWard certainly have the clearer path and overall better shot of playing NHL games over Jett Woo at this juncture, but Woo is still a player the Canucks somewhat believe in, as the organization re-signed him to a one year deal on the eve of free agency 2024 when it looked like a real possibility that Woo’s time as a Canuck could be coming to an end.

For Pettersson, he is the second player the Jim Rutherford-Patrik Allvin management group ever drafted (behind Lekkerimäki) and is clearly a prospect they’re hoping to develop in Abbotsford. A defence-first defenceman, Pettersson got into eight AHL games last season and should spend the entirety of the 2024-25 season with Abbotsford. Keep an eye on him.

Similarly, Cole McWard. Although he signed as a college free agent as opposed to being drafted, McWard got a long and hard look next to Quinn Hughes during training camp ahead of this past season. With the Canucks being fairly open with the fact they’d like to split up Hughes and Filip Hronek, McWard immediately becomes a player worth following in his age-23 season in 2024-25.

Are there any NHL players in this group of three? Maybe, but it’s not necessarily likely. For any of these players to log over 200 career NHL games would be a smashing success.

As mentioned, Akito Hirose is an honourable mention for this category, although it does feel like he’s closer to the category before this one than “worth keeping an eye on.”

There’s no way around it. Dave Hall had Kirill Kudryatsev and Sawyer Mynio in his top ten of Vancouver Canucks prospects and that makes these two left shot defencemen interesting in my books. Kudryatsev has put up great numbers in the OHL, especially for a seventh round pick. Nearly every prospect watcher/CHL observer I’ve talked to has had something very good to say about both Kudryatsev and Sawyer Mynio.

Both players are headed back to their junior clubs and could turn pro in the spring. There could certainly be at least one future NHL player in this category.

When you’re a high first round pick, the expectation is that you will become an NHL player. For Tom Willander, the real question will be if he can flourish as a top four defenceman or if he spends his career as a bottom pairing defenceman. Most agree he’s got NHL chops, and now it’s up to him and the Canucks to see his development through. It cannot be understated how massive it would be for the Canucks’ ability to contend for a Stanley Cup to have Willander come in and be an impact defenceman on his entry-level contract.

Look, when you take home run swings in the later rounds of the draft, you’re hoping you make contact on at least one and hit it out of the park. That’s what the players above are: home run swings the Canucks took that we’re still waiting to see the end result of.

Nothing is ever for sure, but if I’m giving you a prediction of who on this list will become NHL players (play at least 200 career games), I’m going to say there are four: Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson, Sawyer Mynio, and one wild card.