Rather than take the best player available with the fifth-overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft, Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning went with an organizational need.
Thus, he selected defenceman Olli Juolevi, even though Matthew Tkachuk was widely regarded as the better player. But while Tkachuk has morphed into one of the better young power forwards in the NHL, Juolevi’s development has been slow, and the scouts haven’t been scared to point out the flaws in his game.
With that, Benning has gotten plenty of criticism for drafting Juolevi, even though he’ll only be 20 on May 5 and had a productive year for TPS in the Finnish Elite League.