The Vancouver Canucks\u00a0know this year\u2019s NHL Draft\u00a0represents\u00a0an important opportunity for the\u00a0organization.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
With 10 selections in the 2026 NHL Draft,\u00a0and\u00a0four picks in the top\u00a041, the club\u2019s amateur scouting staff gathered last week for\u00a0May\u00a0meetings ahead of the NHL Draft\u00a0Combine and\u00a0draft day on June 27th.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s\u00a0a chance for the scouts to get together,\u00a0discuss\u00a0the information\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0gathered on players over the last 12 months, debate, and\u00a0firm up\u00a0their\u00a0list.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Director of Amateur Scouting, Todd Harvey,\u00a0talked about what it means to\u00a0the organization to have 10\u00a0draft\u00a0picks\u00a0to strengthen the\u00a0organization for the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re\u00a0very excited. Obviously,\u00a0it’s\u00a0a big year for the Vancouver Canucks, and\u00a0we’re\u00a0going to add some\u00a0really good\u00a0pieces to our pipeline here that should make fans excited,\u201d Harvey said.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve\u00a0got some good picks in the top 50 there that\u00a0we’re\u00a0going to get some\u00a0really good\u00a0prospects.\u00a0I think our scouts\u00a0right now are really excited about having three sixes and being able to\u00a0maybe hit\u00a0a nice gem in the late rounds,\u00a0and\u00a0that’s\u00a0how you win the draft.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The meetings brought together scouts from across North America and Europe to build a framework of the Canucks\u2019 final draft list. While the regional scouts spend the season covering their own territories,\u00a0Harvey, Crossover scout Phil Golding, and Head European Scout Bobbie Hagelin\u00a0travel extensively to ensure players are evaluated from multiple perspectives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u00a0review what the regional guys are saying, and we will make our own assessments and then have discussions with our regional scouts about who those players are, what\u00a0they’re bringing, what kind of attributes they have,\u201d\u00a0Golding said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The process\u00a0continues\u00a0throughout the season, with\u00a0monthly\u00a0virtual meetings\u00a0and communication happening daily between scouts. Midterm meetings in January help\u00a0establish\u00a0the early list, but the final meetings are where the group begins shaping\u00a0the draft strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Between midterm meetings in January and then meetings before the draft in June, scouts\u00a0are able to\u00a0see which players are trending the right way in the back half of the\u00a0season,\u00a0and\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0learned more about them to develop a clearer picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt midterms,\u00a0you’ve\u00a0identified\u00a0players through the first half, and you want to make sure all the names are there,\u201d Hagelin explained.\u00a0\u201cAt final meetings, as we get toward the draft and the actual event occurring,\u00a0I think\u00a0that the process changes, because now\u00a0you’re\u00a0not looking at a draft ranking,\u00a0you’re\u00a0looking at a draft list.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With more early-round selections than\u00a0they\u2019ve\u00a0had in recent years, the Canucks\u2019 approach naturally shifts.\u00a0Vancouver has two first-round picks, including the third overall pick, two second-round picks, a third, fourth, and fifth-round pick, and three sixth-round picks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mentality changes a little bit, as opposed to the last couple years,\u00a0and what we found\u00a0[this year]\u00a0is that you’re really, really dialing in, on the players that we actually want to focus on,\u201d Golding said.\u00a0\u201cWe’re\u00a0targeting certain players or certain picks, and I think the process has been\u00a0really good,\u00a0and I think it\u00a0has to\u00a0be different, because you’re looking at a different circumstance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The changes to the CHL and NCAA eligibility rules\u00a0have\u00a0been a new challenge for scouting staff this season.\u00a0Golding says watching draft-eligible players in college is different than\u00a0Major\u00a0Junior,\u00a0just as it is comparing players in European pro and junior leagues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it\u00a0changes is the path for those players, and it changes their timeline,\u201d Golding said. \u201cWe’ve had to open our minds up to\u00a0what’s\u00a0occurring here and realize that there are different timelines now on these players.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0May\u00a0meetings allow the staff to challenge one another and debate strengths,\u00a0projections, and\u00a0the\u00a0long-term upside of prospects. Harvey said that\u00a0the\u00a0environment\u00a0is essential to building the best possible list, and he poses a lot of questions to his staff during final meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI ask a lot of questions about character and all the checks that way,\u201d Harvey said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want debates and\u00a0we’ve\u00a0been together a few years here, this group,\u00a0and\u00a0I\u00a0think everybody’s\u00a0come together and is a little more confident in their ability to speak their mind, and\u00a0that’s\u00a0what we want.\u00a0It’s\u00a0all good, healthy debates, and\u00a0I’m\u00a0there to\u00a0moderate,\u00a0I guess you’d\u00a0say, and that’s\u00a0kind of what\u00a0we look for.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hagelin said the trust\u00a0throughout the room is what allows the process to work effectively, and everyone respects the decision\u00a0Harvey\u00a0ultimately makes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hagelin, Harvey, and Golding all\u00a0spent\u00a0significant time\u00a0traveling between regions this season, ensuring they saw the top prospects firsthand before comparing players from different leagues and continents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor myself, I think I’ve been over here a total of over one and a half months this season to watch the top guys, and so have Harvey and Phil been over to Europe,\u201d Hagelin said. \u201cThat’s important when you’re going to compare them now, when it’s time to pick here, a month from now.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The meetings also help shape the organization\u2019s plans for the upcoming NHL Draft Combine, where scouts and executives will get face-to-face time with prospects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of our action points coming out of these meetings filter towards how we approach the combine,\u201d Golding said. \u201cSo,\u00a0we’ve\u00a0gone through this week talking about certain\u00a0players\u00a0and\u00a0have made notes and specific action points as to what we want to ask at the combine, how we want to approach the combine, and\u00a0we’ve\u00a0already decided who we’re meeting with at the combine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although they make their picks ahead of time, the list stays fluid.\u00a0Scouts will continue gathering information, conducting interviews, and refining the list before draft day arrives.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have time between now, the combine, and the draft, where stuff changes,\u201d Harvey said.\u00a0“At the end of the day,\u00a0we’re\u00a0here to see each other, get in front of each other, talk about the players, ask questions, debate,\u00a0and\u00a0come to a conclusion\u00a0and put a list together\u00a0the\u00a0best we can.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The scouts are as excited about their third overall pick as they are about finding a gem in the later rounds.\u00a0The meetings in May laid the foundation for what the organization hopes will be a defining draft for the\u00a0franchise\u2019s future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The last time the Canucks had 10 picks in the draft\u00a0was\u00a02003.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Vancouver Canucks\u00a0know this year\u2019s NHL Draft\u00a0represents\u00a0an important opportunity for the\u00a0organization.\u00a0\u00a0 With 10 selections in the 2026 NHL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-683318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}