In the 1st century, the Vancouver Canucks haven’t been one of the NHL’s strongest drafting teams. Mind you, all those years of making the playoffs meant that Vancouver had to draft between the 20-30 slots.
But drafting late in the first round doesn’t mean it’s okay to draft busts. A handful of NHL superstars were selected after the first round. For example, future Hall of Famer Henrik Zetterberg was a seventh round draft choice in 1999!
Unfortunately for former general manager Mike Gillis, his inability to find gems in the draft led to his firing in 2014.