All eyes are on the Vancouver Canucks today as the team picks third overall at the NHL Draft and tries to capitalize on 10 picks in the first six rounds.
10 total picks. The most since 2003.Who’s excited? ????Tune into the #NHLDraft presented by @UberEats on Friday, June 26 on Sportsnet or at our Watch Party at Rogers Arena.DRAFT HUB | https://t.co/yWjSXhdxYW pic.twitter.com/yFemu7Gway
Sportsnet 650 host Mike Halford says from everything he’s hearing and experts who are weighing in, it looks like the team will go with Caleb Malhotra, if he’s available when the Canucks get to the stage. The teen is the son of newly-minted head coach Manny Malhotra.
“It seems like it’s a very complex dynamic. I think the one saving grace that if Caleb Malhotra is taken third overall, which I expect to happen, is he probably won’t be rushed right away to the National Hockey League. So, at least you get that first very trying year of the rebuild out of the way, and Manny Malhotra gets his first year on the job without that added dynamic at play.”
Halford explains Malhotra has risen up draft boards and, given where the team is at right now, everyone has the skillset to fit into this process.
“They’re at this stage of the rebuild where it doesn’t matter what position you play or where you’re at, in terms of your growth as a player. If you have talent, and they do believe that Malhotra does, you are a big part of this because they are starting from as ground zero as you can. This managerial group isn’t inheriting anything really, outside of Zeev Buium, Braeden Cootes, and a couple of other somewhat interesting prospects, they don’t have a lot.”
He says the key to getting someone like Malhotra in the door is to develop him and ensure he reaches his talent ceiling.
“I think there are some valid concerns about him being a late bloomer in his draft eligible year. He really took in the second half of his season, in terms of his scoring profile and the numbers that he put up. I think a lot of people see the upside in the pedigree, being the son of a former player, coming from a family with strong athletic backgrounds. There is something about guys who grew up the sons of NHL players that they have a certain insight into what it takes, in terms of hard work and what professionalism looks like. That’s the big one I think a lot of people don’t talk about.”
And it is one that is critical for a franchise keen to change the culture following a couple of drama-filled years.
“They realize it is a job at a younger age before getting to the league and realizing you need to work at it like it’s a job. That’s why a lot of the players and second-generation NHLers have a different kind of pedigree and a different kind of work rate and a different kind of approach when they get to the professional level. I think that will benefit Malhotra, whenever he gets to the NHL. So, I can see why some people are enamoured with the growth potential.”
Halford says having a dad who’s a former NHLer and, given his uncle is NBA Hall of Famer Steve Nash, Malhotra is likely better prepared than his counterparts to enter the league.
“When you hear him in pre-Draft interviews, he’s very well spoken, he’s thoughtful in his answers, and the fact his dad has been able to coach him through a lot of different scenarios. And I think when you’re talking about building a culture, you should never draft on personality and attitude, unless there are huge red flags, take the best player available and the highest talent level. But the Canucks are in a unique set of circumstances in that whoever they draft is also going to be responsible down the road for building a culture, which completely eroded.”
Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg are expected to go first and second overall, respectively.
Halford stresses there is a lot riding on this draft for team, and quite frankly, its fans.
“More chips at the table, more opportunity you have to play hands and be aggressive and take changes and take swings — that’s why this is fundamentally important. They’ve got a lot of picks, they’ve got a lot of capital, they can make things happen.”
There really is nowhere for the team to go up but, but don’t expect much to change in the fall.
“They’ll be a bottom five team. They’ll lose more than they win. How they lose will be important and the x-factor in the whole thing is Thatcher Demko. If he can come back and be healthy and reclaim any of the past form he had, they’ll win more games than they’re expected to. If he can hit that sweet spot of where he gets back to form and he stays healthy, it’s also the added benefit of now you can look to potentially move him.”
He says the team has to be open to getting rid of anyone to start fresh.
“Tear it back to the studs, even burn it to the ground if you can and move everybody who has term on their contract and would be of value to somebody else. If you can get an asset for anybody, you should be willing to entertain that trade.”
There have been a lot of big trades flying around the league this week, but none involving the Canucks.
On the eve of the Draft, general manager Ryan Johnson commented on the apparent push from American players to leave Canada.
“You’d be crazy to not think everybody in the league is not thinking or talking about it,” Johnson said Thursday, just days after now-former Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk bolted for Florida.
“As an organization, you talk about it. At this point, is it something that I would say we are going to shy away from drafting a player because he’s from a certain nationality? Not at this point. But it is a situation that has put some teams in a pretty tough spot, and that’s unfortunate.”
The Tkachuk trade struck similarities to former Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, an American, who informed the team he wouldn’t be re-signing with two years left on his contract before being dealt to the Minnesota Wild last December.
Despite calls for the team to sell, sell, sell, Johnson maintains they won’t be making any harsh decisions.
“But it’s not a selloff. Get as young as you can, get your teeth kicked in, and think that things are just going to naturally (improve). You want to insulate (young) players not just with good players, but with great people. I’ve been very clear that the people that will walk into these doors are great people — that have the engine, that have the professionalism and the room-awareness that we’re looking for. It’s not just about stripping it down as fast as you can and it’ll automatically grow on its own. That’s not the approach here.”
The first-time NHL GM confirmed the same group from last season won’t be returning, but he’s not forcing veterans out the door.
“I do want to slowly chip away; I don’t want to just sit with the same group,” he stressed.
“I think by even small changes, you add a different energy and an excitement. Do I want to keep just rolling it back with the same? Preferably not, but you can’t rush the process. But I do want to add… whether it’s via trade or via free agency, even if it’s a small piece, to start the rollover of people that I think are going to help us short- and long-term.”
The NHL Draft gets underway at 4 p.m.
Listen to Mike Halford and Jason Brough on Halford & Brough on Sportsnet 650 Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.