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Canucks’ 2026 Draft: A recent history of the 24th overall pick
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Photo credit: © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Stephan Roget
May 18, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: May 17, 2026, 23:24 EDT
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The Minnesota Wild being eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs was a win for the Vancouver Canucks and their supporters in a few different ways.
It prevented the pain that would have been caused by seeing former captain Quinn Hughes find success with his new franchise in the same year as the blockbuster trade that sent him to Minnesota. It also prevented the first round draft pick returned from that trade from moving any further back in the selection order.
The Wild’s first round pick, now belonging to Vancouver, started out the playoffs slotted in at 24th overall. Had the Wild advanced to the Western Conference Finals, however, it would have been bumped back to either 28th or 29th overall. Had the Wild made the Stanley Cup Finals, the pick would have been bumped all the way back to 30th or 31st.
But the Wild didn’t make it to the Western Conference Finals or the Stanley Cup Finals, and so the pick stays at 24th overall. (For a moment, there was also a brief chance that the pick could be bumped up, via the Anaheim Ducks making the Western Conference Final, but that dream died when the Vegas Golden Knights eliminated them in six games.)
The last time the Canucks had a pick locked in for this draft, at third overall via the Draft Lottery, we drew up a recent history of that particular selection slot, so as to provide a rough idea of the quality of player the Canucks could hope to be getting there.
Today, we’re doing the same for the recent history of the 24th overall pick, though with the caveat that the first round becomes more of a crapshoot the later one gets into it, and that the only real trend we’re going to show here is that the quality of a 24th overall pick can range wildly.

2010: Kevin Hayes (RW) at 24th overall to the Chicago Blackhawks

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
805
185
260
445
Current Status: Bottom-six forward
Peak Status: Top-six forward
We’ll start in 2010, both because we did last time, and because Hayes makes for a pretty good ‘average’ 24th overall pick. He’s still in the NHL after all these years – though he’s approaching the end – and has settled into a depth role after being up-and-down as a top-six talent for a while. Hayes was never a star, but in his best season, he scored 54 points in 71 games. As you’ll see throughout this list, that’s more than most 24th overalls can say. 

2011: Matt Puempel (LW) at 24th overall to the Ottawa Senators

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
87
11
5
16
Current Status: Retired
Peak Status: NHL call-up/AHL star
Our list of third overalls featured only one player that could be properly called a bust, and even that was a little iffy. That will not be the case with this list. Puempel is an outright bust who maxed out at 27 NHL games in a single season, and he’s not even close to the least successful pick on this list. The fact that he played in five different NHL seasons for four different NHL teams, all the while starring in the AHL, puts him in the upper-tier of 24th overall busts, at least.

2012: Malcolm  Subban (G) at 24th overall to the Boston Bruins

 
Record
GAA
Save Percentage
Career
36-34-9
3.10
.898
Current Status: Czech League goaltender
Peak Status: NHL backup
There are going to be a lot of familiar names on this list, starting with the brother of a one-time Canucks prospect. Malcolm Subban was the second-most successful of the Subban siblings, having crafted a short-term career as an NHL backup over a span of about four years. He then went back down to the AHL level for a stint, and then, this past season, went overseas for the first time, where he won a championship with Paradubice HC.

2013: Hunter Shinkaruk (LW) at 24th overall to the Vancouver Canucks

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
15
2
2
4
Current Status: Retired
Peak Status: Top-six AHL forward
This one, you know. The first of two consecutive 24th overall picks by the Canucks was a true bust, who only ever really managed top-six production at the AHL level on a few occasions. Shinkaruk seemed to get worse with each passing year, and is now retired from hockey after a four-game stint in the EIHL to round out his career. At least the Canucks got a good run out of Markus Gralund in exchange for Shinkaruk.

2014: Jared McCann (C) at 24th overall to the Vancouver Canucks

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
720
204
234
438
Current Status: Top-six forward
The Canucks did significantly better on their second try at 24th. Well, at least in terms of the pick. After taking a while to get going, McCann eventually turned into a top-six forward, albeit an inconsistent one. He’s scored as many as 40 goals and 70 points in a single season, but tends to hover more around that 50-60 range in most years. The Canucks didn’t wait for that, however, and flipped McCann (and a second round pick) to Florida for Erik Gudbranson, the man who led off our recent history of third overalls.

2015: Travis Konecny (RW) at 24th overall to the Philadelphia Flyers

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
727
225
319
544
Current Status: Top-line forward
There’s really no doubt about who is the best player on this list. It’s Konecny, and it’s not particularly close. His stats don’t exactly jump off the page, but he’s topped out at 33 goals and 76 points in a single season, and plays the sort of well-rounded game that helped him make Team Canada for the 2025 Four Nations Faceoff. He probably can’t be called a true superstar, but he’s as close as anyone else on this list will come to that distinction.

2016: Max Jones (LW) at 24th overall to the Anaheim Ducks

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
305
35
34
69
Current Status: Depth forward
Jones was drafted with the profile of a hard-hitting depth winger who could maybe chip in some offense, too. In the end, he’s mostly skipped on the offense, and settled into a long-term depth role. The last two seasons have seen him spend more time in the AHL than the NHL, but he’s still getting plenty of big league minutes along the way, and on some decent teams, so that qualifies him better as “depth” than a “call-up.”

2017: Kristian Vesalainen (LW) at 24th overall to the Winnipeg Jets

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
70
2
3
5
Current Status: Overseas depth player
Another bust. Vesalainen got plenty of opportunities to make it in Winnipeg, but never even really found much success at the AHL level. On top of that, he’s bounced around Europe after heading back overseas, and has gone from near-point-per-game status in the SM-Liiga to just four points in 16 games in the Czech league last year. He cannot even be properly called a “top-six Czech league forward right now,” and that’s saying something for a former first rounder.

2018: Filip Johansson (RD) at 24th overall to the Minnesota Wild

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
0
0
0
0
Current Status: SHL top-four defender
If there’s a worst pick on this list, it’s Johansson. He developed so poorly that the Wild did not even sign him, instead allowing him to become a free agent and taking a compensatory second round pick in exchange. That led to Johansson signing with the Canucks, where he spent some time in Abbotsford before heading back to the SHL, where he remains to this day. Other than the very recent picks, he’s the only player on this list to have never played an NHL game.

2019: Philip Tomasino (RW) at 24th overall to the Nashville Predators

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
218
34
61
95
Current Status: NHL call-up/depth forward
Tomasino is a player who started his career with great promise, notching 32 points in 76 games as a rookie. Unfortunately, he seemed to peak there. Tomasino has only managed as many as 50 NHL games in any season since, and has mostly yo-yoed between the NHL and AHL as a regular call-up, but not someone who can find a regular spot in the lineup. 

2020: Connor Zary (C/W) at 24th overall to the Calgary Flames

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
191
39
47
86
Current Status: Bottom-six forward
Technically, Zary is still trying to find his way as a Calgary Flame. But it’s been diminishing returns for him through three NHL seasons, going from 34 points in 63 games to 27 points in 54 games to 25 in 74 this most recent campaign. By the end of 2025-26, Zary was receiving healthy scratches. His $3.775 million AAV contract is one the Flames might even consider buying out. He’ll probably be most remembered for his sucker-shot on Elias Pettersson.

2021: Mackie Samoskevich (RW) at 24th overall to the Florida Panthers

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
156
27
36
63
Current Status: Middle-six forward
Samoskevich is a hard player to define. He’s embraced a depth role on two championship teams in Florida, but it has also seemed like he could do more if given more opportunity on a lesser roster. But then, that didn’t really happen in 2025-26, when the Panthers themselves took a step back and Samoskevich was able to grab more minutes. He’s well-rounded enough to call him more of a middle-six forward than a depth piece, but if he’s going to be more than that, he’ll have to show it soon.

2022: Danila Yurov (C) at 24th overall to the Minnesota Wild

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
73
12
15
27
Current Status: Burgeoning middle-six forward
We are now approaching the ‘too-soon-to-call’ territory. Yurov just completed a fine rookie season and a decent playoff run with the Wild, and looks poised to develop into a middle-six centre with a good blend of size and skill. But as others on this list have demonstrated, a strong start doesn’t necessarily mean all the much in the long run.

2023: Tanner Molendyk (LD) at 24th overall to the Nashville Predators

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
0
0
0
0
Current Status: Top-five prospect
The last three names on our list are all too raw to have made it to the NHL yet, but all remain high-quality – if not blue-chip – prospects. If we had to pick out a best of the three, it’s Molendyk, who made the Canadian WJC squad in 2025-26 and just had a fine AHL rookie campaign.

2024: Cole Beaudoin (C) at 24th overall to the Utah Mammoth

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
0
0
0
0
Current Status: Top-five prospect
Beaudoin is another good prospect who just had a breakout in the OHL in his Draft+2 season. He’ll probably have a tougher time breaking into the NHL lineup than will Molendyk, just because of the young forward depth within the Utah organization, but he’s trending well all the same.

2025: Will Horcoff (C/W) at 24th overall to the Pittsburgh Penguins

 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
Career
0
0
0
0
Current Status: Top-five prospect
Horcoff is massive, talented, the son of a long-time NHLer, and just put up a near-PPG season with the University of Michigan the year after he was drafted. He seems like he’s well on the way to an NHL career of some sort, though it’s far too early to say for sure.
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