The 2026 NHL Draft will be one of the most important days in Vancouver Canucks history.

For the first time this century, Vancouver will have a top-three draft pick. This is also the first time ever that the Canucks have multiple picks in both the first and second rounds.

But, in typical Canucks fashion, there’s some potential underlying drama ahead of the season’s most important day.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported earlier this week that a large portion of the Canucks scouting staff is without contracts heading into next season. A precarious spot to be in, considering the importance of the 2026 draft.

Todd Harvey was promoted in 2020 to Director of Amateur Scouting when Judd Brackett left the Canucks for the Minnesota Wild. While the announcement became official in 2021, former assistant general manager John Wiesbrod confirmed Harvey has held the role ever since Brackett left.

Brackett was widely viewed as a positive influence on the Canucks organization, even if some of the shine has worn off of Vancouver’s picks under him in the years following.

Since his departure, the Wild have built one of the league’s most highly-touted prospect pools, even though they haven’t been bad enough to draft in the top five. Heck, their drafting under Brackett armed them with enough assets to acquire Quinn Hughes.

But for the Canucks, how have they done in the draft since Brackett departed? Does the Canucks scouting staff deserve to be on the hot seat?

Awkward post-Brackett beginning

Harvey and the Canucks scouting staff were left in an awkward spot following Brackett’s departure, and Jim Benning and John Weisbrod reportedly had a bigger role on the draft floor.

The Canucks had no first-round picks during Benning’s last two drafts in 2020 and 2021. Players from those drafts are now between the ages of 23 and 24, theoretically entering their primes. Vancouver hasn’t had a single player from those drafts play an NHL game.

Thank you, Jim.

Joni Jurmo was the highest player selected by the Canucks in 2020 (third round, 82nd overall). While you can never bank on a third-round pick, it does sting to see three of the five players drafted after him turn into NHL players. That includes Richmond, B.C., native and former Vancouver Giants forward Justin Sourdif.

Danila Klimovich was the first player taken by the Canucks in 2021 (second round, 41st overall). While lots of teams whiffed in a draft hampered by COVID-19 shutdowns, the Canucks did pass on another talented local product in Logan Stankoven (second round, 47th overall).

How have Canucks drafted under Allvin?

Much like Benning, Allvin was a longtime amateur scout before becoming an NHL general manager.

But unlike the end of Benning’s tenure, there have been fewer misses for the Canucks on the draft floor.

The Canucks haven’t had a top-10 pick during Allvin’s tenure, thanks to dreadful starts in 2022 and 2023 that were buoyed by late-season runs.

When gauging how they’ve done at the draft, it has to be viewed through two lenses:

How did they do considering their draft position?
How many potential later-round gems did they unearth?

Jonathan Lekkerimäki was a defensible pick at 15th overall in 2022. While other players taken after him in the first round have performed better, Lekkerimäki’s scoring profile at the AHL level still suggests he has top-six potential. Injuries have also played a factor in his development.

Vancouver also unearthed two quality, young defencemen in Elias Pettersson (third round, 80th overall) and Kirill Kudryavtsev (seventh round, 208th overall).

Much like Lekkerimäki, you could also say Tom Willander was defensible at 11th overall. Now, there was potentially some value left on the table there, mainly because other forwards (Zach Benson, Matthew Wood, Gabriel Perreault, Calum Ritchie, Easton Cowan, and Bradley Nadeau) have all flashed top-six potential. Still, Willander projects to be a solid, if unspectacular, second-pairing defenceman.

Once again, Vancouver seemingly found two more defencemen outside of the first round in Hunter Brzustewicz and Sawyer Mynio, who were both drafted in the third round.

The Canucks had to rely on the scouting prowess in 2024, since they didn’t have a pick until the third round. However, their first three picks (Melvin Fernström, Riley Pattersson, Anthony Romani) have all flashed some NHL upside. The best of the bunch, Fernström, was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Marcus Pettersson trade. He has eight points in 14 AHL games since coming to North America back in February.

That brings us to 2025, where the Canucks drafted Braeden Cootes 15th overall, confirming reports that suggested their interest in the player.

Cootes impressed Canucks brass enough to get an NHL look at the beginning of this season. However, like Willander, he may have been a safer pick. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked six players from the 2025 draft ahead of Cootes, in terms of guys who were drafted after him. Three of them (Viktor Eklund, Kashawn Aitchenson, and Cole Reschny) were selected immediately after and seem to have higher ceilings.

Cootes may encapsulate the Canucks drafting under Harvey and Allvin. They deserve credit for finding NHL players with their first-round picks, and for unearthing later-round gems. You could also argue that they’ve been a bit safe with some of their first-round picks, something Canucks fans probably don’t want to see as Vancouver projects to have multiple top-10 picks in the coming seasons.