Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet simultaneously taking place in the past, present, and future.

Speaking of the future, it’s the sci-fi-sounding year of 2025. And speaking of the past, the National Hockey League has marked the occasion by naming an official NHL Quarter-Century Team, recognizing the top 25 players since the year 2000.

Only one player to have played for the Vancouver Canucks made the list: Roberto Luongo, who one of six goaltenders alongside Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Henrik Lundqvist, Carey Price, and Marc-Andre Fleury.

It’s hard to argue with this particular selection. Luongo was the best at his craft for a number of years and maintained a high level of play throughout his entire career. And as much as we’d like to see the likes of Henrik and Daniel Sedin recognized, there’s really not a forward on the list we’d cut in favour of them.

But this doesn’t necessarily mean that Luongo is the best Canuck of the past quarter-century. Just that he was the best by the specific standards of this list. And it certainly doesn’t mean that he was your favourite Canuck since 2000. That’s up to your own specific standards, and those are what we’re more interested in tapping into today.

This week, we’re simply asking you:

Let it be known in the comment section.

You answered below!

IMO, you keep the 15th overall draft pick because even if you trade it, you will never get a tier-1 player in return. The 15th overall draft pick is like playing the lottery, it gives you the remote chance of drafting the next Mike Bossy, Al Macinnis, Joe Sakic, Erik Karlsson, JT Miller, Dylan Larkin, etc, even though the chances are much higher that you’ll draft the next Brannstrom or Forbort.

I don’t really see a path to the team accomplishing what it has set out to accomplish without them trading 15 OA. Given that reality, I’d rather see them trade 15 OA than next year’s first.

Of course they should trade it, Canucks have no use for first round picks.

Based on management’s plan, I guess they should trade the pick for a top-six center.

A non-playoff team repeatedly trading first rounders is a lack of vision and mismanagement at it’s finest. This is a recipe to never actually get younger or better. The return would only be a mid-line caliber player, so it’s not worth it.

The Canucks should not trade the pick, they need to amass more. But if you ask me if they will trade the pick… yes, they will.

Keep the pick.

Make the pick.

One dreadnought C, please.

Follow other successful teams and keep your first round picks. There are too many “what if” questions to determine any clear strategies at the moment until we know if QH wants to stay and a “long term” coaching plan is secured. Fill the cupboards with size, skill, talent, motivated, premium positions (centres and RHD) and give yourself options. You can always trade prospects if you have to.

I kind of want McQueen if he falls to us.

The question of whether to trade or keep the first round pick is not really answerable. It all comes down to what you can get for the first round pick, and whether the pick turns into an impact player which you won’t know for years.

As an absurd example, If you could trade the first round pick straight up for Cale Makar, then obviously you would jump on it.

But if you could trade the first pick for some 4th line plug then obviously you would not do it.

If you could trade the first round pick for a 3rd line centre, then that is fine if the draft pick doesn’t pan out, but if the draft pick turns into a superstar then the GM looks foolish.

At the end of the day, everything depends on the return you get for the first round pick. If the Canucks can get a young second line centre for the pick, then they should jump on it.

Probably trade it. There may be a very high-ceiling forward available but not likely. The best, biggest, and fastest are usually gone.

The pick should go as part of a package for an emerging high-end player with three or four years of development since he was drafted. Probably costs more than just the first but the Canucks can’t afford to miss and can’t wait four years for a pick to have an impact.

Depends on who’s available. Seems like the talent drops off considerably around 12 or 13, and it’s not a strong draft to begin with. Roger McQueen will go in the top 10. Martin and Cootes will likely be gone before the Canucks pick as well. I like Jack Nesbitt, but even he might get scooped up early.

Also depends on what available in trade. If the Canucks can package their 15thOA pick to get either Larkin, Barzal, or Norris, I’d probably do that.

Keep the 15th overall, our prospect cupboard is quickly becoming barren yet again.

Accumulate draft picks rather than getting rid of them.

Keep it for an offer sheet.

First thing to see if Hughes will resign. If yes, management will trade the pick. If no, then trade Hughes, EP40, Garland, and others to start the rebuild. Fans don’t want another retool. The Canucks are still paying the price for the last retool. I don’t see how teams can compete long-term with bad contracts and no elite-tier prospects in the farm system.

Cutting corners is the MO of the current ownership. They’re not willing to endure short-term pain for long-term gain.

Without a doubt they should be keeping it.

The last ten Stanley Cup winners all have one thing in common: At least TWO top 4OA picks on their rosters. The team with the most is Colorado with SIX when they won!! Even Las Vegas had two and they are an exception here as they were constructed via expansion.

The Canucks, on the other hand, have none. Fans can gripe about bad luck etc, but the truth is the Canucks have consistently got in their own way and have almost avoided drafting high.

During Covid, the Canucks let valuable players walk for nothing instead of moving them at the TDL.

This year they did it again. The Canucks were not contenders in either year. Trading those players would not only have gained the organization very good assets, but maybe even have changed their lottery placing.

Sure the Canucks can package off the first and at least two more very good assets for Larkin, but that will only serve to keep them in the mushy middle where they will no doubt do their very best to remain for the near future.

Look at the teams in the playoffs this year, there are lots of first and second round picks on good teams. The Canucks like to trade picks for a today guy. Look how it is working out.

TL;DR: If you have been spending your weekly paycheque on lottery tickets all your life and never won anything, you might as well keep buying lottery tickets when you get close to retirement, because it is too late to start saving.

There are phases of every team’s cycle when it should be retaining picks to stockpile future assets, and phases in the cycle when it should cash in those futures to supercharge a roster that is on the verge of being a true contender.

The Canucks should have started amassing draft picks and prospects after the Bubble, when it became apparent that the team had an excellent core of young players at each position. Had they done that, the team could have built up a stockpile of picks and prospects to convert into a strong roster that could slingshot the core of Demko, Hughes, and EP40 into their prime years (i.e. now!).

Sadly, the team kept chasing short-term success, such that the prime years of the aforementioned core are going to be wasted. There is no longer enough runway to make draft picks and develop prospects in time to exploit Hughes in his mid-to-late-20s prime, and not enough in the piggy bank (cap space, draft picks, or prospects) to move the needle over the next couple of years. So that makes this the worst time for the Canucks to change the strategy and start to responsibly build a prospect pool.

This all leads me to the opinion that the Canucks might as well offload any and all futures for immediate benefit. The only thing we can hope for now is for a playoff miracle. Might as well go all-in now, even with a shitty hand, and in a couple of years, when Hughes is done with the shitshow and leaves as a UFA, there is no other choice but to begin a methodical rebuild/renovation.