Jason Bukala

I think I can plug this guy in to play top four minutes.

Now, San Jose's probably got a longer trajectory, but certainly if I was a team like Florida, what can Florida do if they have a ready-made NHL top four guy with a three-year run in the midst of a cup window on an ELC?

That's a huge weapon.

I would highly value that if I was Florida, whereas if I was a team like Vancouver, I'd really struggle to make the case for Schmitz to myself just because one of the things that I like best about him is that he's ready now, and I'm not sure that he has the long-term upside case of some of those other defenders.

So that's why he'd be in his own group.

And I would say this, too, like... You know, a lot of my reporting...

mostly prior to the management change, was about the Canucks being really high on Malhotra and Reid.

Yep.

And for me, those are like the late risers, toolsy guys, you know, check your eye test.

Scouts love them.

The profiles make me a little nervous.

Type bets that I generally have associated with like the last six years of Canucks scouting and that I generally have been...

lukewarm on and I and I think that's unfortunate because I think both are really good prospects and I want to be so clear about that I don't think taking Caleb Malhotra at third overall is quote-unquote a bad bet but I don't think it's an optimal choice probabilistically speaking given the profiles you'd be passing on

And that doesn't mean that he's not going to be the right pick either, right?

Like, I would have said the same about Beckett Seneca.

I would have said the same about Kael McCarr, right?

I think Pettersson was a higher probability bet of being an impact player.

I would have said that at the time, and I would have been right for a minute and then wrong.

Right?

Yep.