VANCOUVER, BC – The Vancouver Canucks have missed the NHL playoffs three of the past four seasons after making the playoffs in five straight. To add insult to injury, the Canucks had the league’s second worst record and still only managed to drop to the fifth slot in the upcoming NHL Draft. Although Vancouver will not have a shot at the consensus top two players, there are plenty of quality players the team could use with the fifth pick. 
In PHN’s mock draft, the Canucks could use their pick on a variety of top scorers, especially with the Sedin twins getting up in age. Gabe Vilardi, Cody Glass, Michael Rasmussen, and Owen Tippett are still on the board along with two of the top rated defenseman in the draft are still on the board of the Canucks decide they need someone to anchor their blueline for the next 10 years.
Tippett is probably the best scorer in the draft while Rasmussen has a huge size advantage that very few players in the draft have. Vilardi has size and skill on his size and is probably the top rated player left on the board. Glass has a very good hockey IQ and has speed to burn. Passing on any of the four players will be difficult.
Defensemen Cale Makar and Miro Heiskanen would look very good in a Canucks uniform and passing on a blueliner is always a tough call for any team considering they are far and few between. Vancouver has quite a few offensive minded defensemen in their system so we will look for the Canucks to go after more depth on the blueline since they will pick second in the second round.
With that said, Vancouver will go for offense, not just because of the Sedin factor but the Canucks will take the opportunity to address the center of the ice. With so much talent left on the board, expect to hear the following announcement come draft day.
“With the 5th overall selection in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft the Vancouver Canucks select, from the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, Gabriel Vilardi.
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