Without question, there was a theme to this year’s National Hockey League draft for the Vancouver Canucks. They wanted their players to measure up. And the club’s director of amateur scouting, Todd Harvey, feels the hockey club found a solid mix of skill to go along with size in many of its selections.

Overall, the Canucks took nine players – seven forwards, a defenceman and a goalie. They picked two Canadians, an American, a Swede, a Norwegian, a Czech, a Slovak, a Russian and a Belarusian. So they finished with about as diverse a draft class as they’ve ever had when it comes to countries of origin of their selections.

For Harvey, the Canucks wanted to add a certain type of skill with their early picks when they took forwards Caleb Malhotra and Adam Novotný in Friday’s first round. The club opened the proceedings on Day 2 by taking 6’7” and 235-pound centre Brooks Rogowski from the Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa Generals.

“We had some direction from RJ and the staff and we wanted to get bigger, we wanted to get faster and we wanted to get harder,” Harvey explained of the club’s philosophy this weekend. “Obviously, we can say ‘oh we didn’t take any skill’, but let’s not underrate the skill on these guys. These guys have skill. I think they’re still developing, but we definitely won’t get pushed around.”

Five of the Canucks selections stand 6’3” or taller, and five already weigh in at 200 pounds. Harvey expects eight of the nine players taken this weekend to take part in Canucks development camp, which opens on Tuesday in Abbotsford.

Here are his thoughts on the top four players added to the prospect pool after Caleb Malhotra went third overall.

LW Adam Novotný – 1st round (24th overall) from OHL Peterborough

“We watched him a lot this year. He plays a very mature game. He’s got speed. He’s great on the wall. He’s detailed and you can tell he played pro as an underage. And he came over here and the start of the season everything is new and he kind of fumbled along, but once he figured it out – the pace of the play and the different size of the rink – he was fantastic. You watch him at the World Juniors; he fit in like a glove there. He’s the kind of guy you can move around and up and down the line-up. We were excited that he was still sitting there for us.”

C Brooks Rogowski – 2nd round (33rd overall) from OHL Oshawa

“Big, right-handed shot centreman. For a big guy, he’s pretty athletic. He moves well. He’s only going to get better when things come together. What I think is underrated about him is his touch with the puck. We looked at him being a guy we wanted down the middle and he has some good upside there.”

Harvey says the Canucks brass met after the conclusion of Friday’s first round and assessed what was left on the draft board heading into Day 2. He revealed that when the staff left the building, there was consensus that the Canucks would make Rogowski the first pick of the second round.

LW Niklas Aaram-Olsen – 2nd round (41st overall) from Orebro Jr

“He’s a machine in the gym. He’s a guy that’s pretty low maintenance. Direct player when he’s on the ice. He skates quick. He’s got that kind of explosive skating. He’s got a really good shot. He’s always kind of been a big game scorer. We were excited to get him there.”

G Dmitri Ivchenko – 3rd round (78th overall) from Omsk Jr.

“I watched video. Ian Clark is a big part of our process and he does such a great job and we all know how hard he works and he’s on top of things. He was excited. And when he gets excited, I get excited. We were really excited (Ivchenko) was there for us.”

You can watch the full Toddy Harvey availability below!