For the second year in a row, the NHL draft lottery wasn’t kind to the Vancouver Canucks. Despite finishing 28th overall in 2016 and 29th in 2017, the Canucks fell down to the number five selection in both years.
2016 wasn’t the year to fall down, as the Canucks missed out on generational prospects Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine. Nonetheless, slick-skating defenceman Olli Juolevi was a nice consolation prize at No. 5.
However, the general consensus among many NHL scouts was that the 2017 draft class didn’t come with any generational talent.