Tony Ferrari

Do they end up going off the board and they go get Viggo Bjork, who I think is the best center in the draft, even though it is really close with him in Malhotra?

Do they go completely off the board and go something crazy and take a Malte Gustafsson or a Tynan Lawrence who has a ton of upside?

It's going to be really interesting to see what the Canucks do because they have a ton of options at their disposal, and they really do seem to kind of be the first point in the draft where we're going, who's going here?

If I'm in the Canucks situation, I look at the situation and I go, I have to go for the highest upside because as much as everyone wants the Canucks to be successful, I think the NHL is better when the Canucks are good.

there's still a couple of years, they're still really just getting started in this rebuild and kind of building back up.

So I think you, you can't focus on, we need a center because you're going to have opportunities to draft centers over the next couple of years, because you're still going to be pretty high up in the draft in all likelihood.

So.

Who is the best player available?

The best player available, in my opinion, is either Albert Smith, if you want to go on the blue line, or Viggo Bjork up front.

He is a center, but he's a smaller center, and there's questions around him.

With Albert Smith, the reason I go him is because there's a ton of really good defensemen in this draft, but you have to swing on the one guy, in my opinion, that has the potential to be a number one defenseman.

There aren't many more outsider types in the NHL draft over the years, but this could be the guy that ends up being the more outsider of this draft class, and we could see him in Vancouver being a really, really important piece in the long term, and Viggo Bjork's in the same boat there.

It's a really interesting draft because you have some guys who I think could keep their head relatively above water next year.

I think if Viggo Bjork was playing in the NHL next year, he could be a solid bottom six center because he's just smart enough, works hard enough, and if you kind of shelter him a little bit, it can work out.

Albert Smith is kind of in the same boat.

I think Keaton Verhoff.

isn't really necessarily there.

Tynan Lawrence is close maybe.

But I think once you get past Smith and Bjork, I think you're probably looking at at least a year with guys like Lawrence, Gustafson, Verhoff, maybe even Reed.

But after that, it's probably two years realistically.