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Chapter 1: What is the significance of the Vancouver Canucks' draft lottery?
Today is the day we're going to find out where the Vancouver Canucks pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. Will it be the first overall pick, the second overall pick, Or the third overall pick. It is Canucks Central coming to you live from the Shark Club today in the mobile Kintec studio. It's Satyar Shah with Bic Nizar. And as always, get in touch with us on the Dunbar Lumber text inbox, 650-650.
Trusted by contractors and DIY champions across Metro Vancouver. Four generations. Find them at three convenient locations or visit Dunbar Lumber online today. And this hour of Canuck Central is brought to you by BC Liquor. Until May 30th, save $4 on Villa Maria Private Bin Sauvignon Blanc and $7 off Steamworks John Oliver Lager 15 packs. Visit your nearest BC Liquor today, 19 plus.
Enjoy responsibly. And man, oh man. It's a big day for the Vancouver Canucks. And I know there's some existential dread across the market because a lot of talk around who might be the next GM of the Vancouver Canucks. We'll get to that coming up in a little bit here. But obviously, the star of the show is the draft lottery. It's finally happening.
Chapter 2: How might the Canucks' pick impact their future?
We're going to find out in less than two hours, Bick, where the Vancouver Canucks are picking in the 2026 draft.
The stars of the show. 14 lottery balls. Yeah. Boy, oh, boy. But, look, 82 games of carnage. 58 points of solace and 57 losses over the course of the year is meant to build to this moment an hour from now. It has been... For my money, the toughest season in Canucks history. Yes. But this is meant to be the reward for all the Canucks fans.
Yes. And there's been a lot of pain and suffering through the year and for really eternity for Canucks fans. They've been around for long enough to go through a lot of the ups and downs. A lot of actually more downs than ups throughout this entire process. And, you know, we're broadcasting live from the Shark Club tonight for the ultimate draft lottery party. We're here until 6 p.m.
You have time. Please swing by. The Canucks, they could be making history here, potentially getting the first overall pick. $5 classic cocktails and more. See you at the Shark Club. It's 180 West Georgia. And a number of our listeners are already here. I saw Derek. He had a good chance with him. Good chat with them as I walked into the building here.
Saw Pedram and a bunch of other of our listeners getting geeked up here to watch the draft lottery, and we'll see how it all goes. But the vibe at the Shark Club, Vic, is fantastic, especially considering it's a stone's throw from the stadium. It's one of the best places to be to watch a game and to be part of an event like this if you're not actually at the game itself.
Also getting ready for the summer with the soccer. They can see they got Canada House set up behind us as well. So it is going to be a popular spot come the World Cup.
It really will be. And in terms of the food, we have some Rogers. A Rogers team is here as well to watch a draft lottery party. They're having some of the happy hour items, which are fantastic.
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Chapter 3: What are the concerns about Pierre Dorion as a GM candidate?
The burgers look really good. The quesadillas, the wraps, everything looks really fantastic. Can't wait to dig into that food as well. So a lot of great deals. Come by, swing by the Shark Club. We'll have some fun. We'll either be celebrating together or commiserating together. And either way, Canuck Nation stands strong and together. We're going to have a lot of fun here tonight.
And hopefully, just hopefully, the Canucks get that top pick. And, you know, Bick, we'll be delving into this a lot. We're going to have Randy join us in a little bit. We'll talk about all the big picture things with the Vancouver Canucks. But the draft is really the star of the show, especially for a rebuilding team.
Before we get through the odds and go through that whole process, there's a real big prize at the top, and that's Gavin McKenna this year when it comes to the top overall pick, if the Canucks are fortunate enough to get it. After the first overall pick, there was an assumption that Ivar Stenberg goes number two, but there's been enough...
I'd say buzz and momentum from other players behind Stenberg, that even the second spot is somewhat up for grabs. So a really fascinating draft class here in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, but the big prize remains Gavin McKenna if you get the first overall pick.
He's been the anointed one for some time, right?
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Chapter 4: What are fans saying about the potential GM appointment?
There was a lot of buzz many years ago for Conor Bedard, and that starts when you're 14, 15 years old. A lot of buzz for Macklin Celebrini. That carries on when you're 14, 15 years old. For Gavin McKenna, he was 14, 15 years old, and there was already a thought, hey, come 2026, is he going to be the number one guy? And it only continued to mount over the years.
He has a fantastic year at Madison Hat, puts up well over 100 points. You think, all right. He's the next guy, goes to Penn State, and it continues, right? It took a bit of a slow start, but once it got going, it became the thing of like, okay, that guy's probably going number one.
He's kind of living up to the hype, and here we are on a day-to-day that, you know, there's going to be 14 execs in the room hoping the lottery ball combination goes their way because for Gavin McKenna, he's been viewed as the guy. I would say more so than maybe Matt Schaefer was last year. Yeah, because he kind of had some late momentum as well.
Now, it's obviously been a big reward for the Islanders, but it really just underscores the importance of this day. This is a franchise-changing day, and for a couple of years, it's been thought that Gavin McKenna is going to be the franchise-changing player.
Yeah, and his start to his season in the NCAA with Penn State was a bit, I'd say, underwhelming by the standards and the hopes that people had for Gavin McKenna. And then at about the halfway point, he turned on the afterburners. And when it became a bit of a conversation about Stenberg and McKenna, maybe it's Stenberg that goes one over McKenna since then, it seems like.
there's been a big separation between the two players, and a lot of it is how well Gavin McKenna's played, like he went on a tear at the NCAA level, we know there's been a lot of things going on off the ice as well for him, but those things have also kind of been quieted down a little bit considering how the charges against them have been minimized to some degree.
So the off-ice concerns with McKenna have been mitigated to some degree, but more than anything else, his play on the ice, especially in the second half of the year, really solidified his footing as the top prospect in this year's draft.
I think post-World Juniors, right? You had some big, big games for Penn State. Pushed them up in the conversation, obviously. Maybe separating a little bit for Stenberg. Look, it's a big credit to Stenberg because it was basically October, November, December was, whoa, this is going to be a two-horse race now. Because the positional value wasn't there.
earmarked for, hey, these guys are true centers. One guy's clearly going to separate himself. It was two wingers. And credit to Sandberg, made this a very, very close push. I personally think he's going to be an exceptional player as well. And to me, they are graded neck and neck. I think it's just going to come down to personal preference.
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Chapter 5: How does Gavin McKenna fit into the Canucks' draft strategy?
And are there going to be franchises that pass on Gavin McKenna if they win the lottery?
I have a hard time seeing it right now, but again, we still have some time before we get to the June draft, so perhaps to some degree anything is possible when it comes to the first overall pick, but if a Canadian team, especially Vancouver, gets the first pick, I will be stunned, shocked, bewildered if they don't take Gavin McKenna with the first overall pick.
We have a lot of reaction on the Dunbar Lumber text inbox. Siegel and Kit says, love the show. This is a day we have all been waiting for in Canucks content land. This is the highlight of the 2026 season for Canucks fans. We all know that we're picking third, so enjoy the ride today. But we do get a chance to draft the top D-men in this draft class.
And if there are some beauties when it comes to the D-men as well. LJ says, think three. Then if it's more, be happy. And a lot of them are also asking, would you rather have McKenna or DuPont? I mean, obviously, you can always go back and forth in terms of who you'd rather have. Why not both? Why not both? But also, if you get the first overall pick this year, just be happy you got it.
There's no guarantee if you don't get the first pick this year, you're getting it next season, regardless of where you finish in the standings.
No, certainly. All right. And I would also like solve the first thing first. Right. There's people trying to win multiple lotteries here down the road. But I do think there's a sentiment of what you were messaging there from from LJ. Like I got messages today from fans saying like, I'm terrified. It's the big day now. Right.
We've done 68 draft lottery simulators, not just to kind of see what the percentages would be. And that worked out, obviously, for the favor of the Vancouver Canucks, as we've been doing this from late January. But it was also like, hey, prepare yourself for this day. And we can hear people like, oh man, I'm so concerned. I'm still concerned that this might not go well.
And look, let's be clear, like 25.5% chance of ending up first overall, but that means 74.5% chance of not.
No, but it's still a 45% chance of finishing second, top two, and a 55% chance of finishing third. So almost a coin flip between finishing top two and third. They have the best odds, but that does not guarantee anything. Having the best odds doesn't mean you have the greatest odds or great odds.
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Chapter 6: What are the odds of the Canucks securing the first overall pick?
And that's already a big question that people have. So then when you hear a name like Pierre Dorian, who if you just remove any inside knowledge, your knee-jerk reaction as an average fan is, wasn't that one of the worst GMs in the National Hockey League?
We went through the whole Jim Benning process here in Vancouver, so we're talking about the solution being the one guy that we would ridicule in this market and say, hey... Benning might have his problems, but at least he's not Dorian. And when you kind of bring that guy into the equation, I can understand why there was a lot of anger from the fan base.
And I'm not saying the organization has backed off because of how fans feel about it, but I would imagine that they have heard what people are saying right now.
And you do have to have some level of trust with your fan base because if you're asking them to buy into being season ticket holders, buy into the long-term approach, you have to have people in place that they have faith in being able to execute that plan. And Pierre Dorian doesn't have the public cachet to convince people that he's the right man for the job.
You know, we talked yesterday about just the details aspect of it, right? With the Evgeny Dadunov trade and them losing a first round pick and ultimately getting it back but getting pushed to the end of the first round like we'll see this year. And there's that aspect of it, too.
But right now, on top of public trust, one of the things that we've talked a great deal about with the Vancouver Canucks right now is culture.
Yeah.
When you look at the previous group of the Ottawa Senators... Do we talk about what a great culture set that group was? They're having some success now, but that's also part of it. Who were your leaders, not just in the locker room, but as an organization? And what direction was the organization trending? And you can go through a list of trades they obviously had to make to send players out.
But just generally speaking, did it feel like that was a good culture of a franchise? And that to me speaks to also what direction this team needs to go in. Because you need to find... prominent Iron Will leaders right now, and on top of the mistakes that were made, which, look, GMs can always learn from that, but personality traits and
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Chapter 7: What has been the public reaction to Pierre Dorion's candidacy?
That would be a cynical way of looking at it. I guess the less cynical way is, hey, this might be somebody who is willing to eat the fire in a tough Canadian market where you need that sometimes.
Yeah, essentially take the body shots while you try to work towards something in terms of, you know, I go back to that. Remember that kind of strange conversation you had with Mark Borovetsky? It was essentially between the two ferns, Ottawa Senators edition, where they're sitting there and having that chat. Yeah.
I get what you're saying in terms of sometimes you have to do that, but why are we having a conversation about Pierre Dorian and his reputation? It's because of moments like that. Ultimately, I believe in second chances in the league, right? Whether you're a coach, whether you're a GM. but some records are ones that you have to look at twice to say, are you sure?
And I think with the top job in a Canadian market, if he was going to, let's throw up another American market, and he's the GM there in a small market team, It's a different story, guys. You're not talking to media every single day. You're not talking into media after every transaction. Here in Vancouver, you guys know as well as I do, there's going to be a scrum.
There's going to be a one-on-one conversation with you. Every level is scrutinized. So I think when you have that reputation of potentially playing that role in Ottawa, it doesn't put you in a good position because kind of like John Chayka, like he's in a way seen as a certain type of GM right now where, you know,
The criticism's going to be quick on the first mistake he makes, and I think Dorian kind of walks into that next job, wherever it is, with a similar mentality because of that past track record.
Yeah, and also just the notion, too, of, oh, he eats bullets. Like, he's eating bullets. Look, that's part of the job. Like, whoever you hire, you are the most prominent person executive on a very big franchise. Just because you have experience eating bullets doesn't mean I want you to take more. Whoever you hire is going to have to know how to do that.
So I don't look at that as like, oh, he's got experience doing it, and so that's why he's ahead of everyone else. The people you're interviewing should be capable of handling whatever bullets are coming your way.
Yeah, no doubt. And OK, what I have heard, and again, I would not hire Pierre Dorian, right? Sure. But apparently, he was impressive throughout the process. That's kind of been the word, where he showed up prepared, he showed up with good ideas, and he impressed people within the organization.
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Chapter 8: How does the Canucks' rebuild strategy affect their draft decisions?
If you listen to the show, you're not going to miss anything. So stay tuned to us here on Sportsnet 650. We'll tell you exactly what's going to be happening with the lottery itself. The picks are not going to be in in terms of where they're going to be landing right at the top at 4 o'clock. It will be a bit later on, but we'll be here.
The next segment is coming up, and we'll be delving into the draft a lot more. We'll talk with the top players, and we'll find out truly where the Canucks will be selecting in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. It's that and big coming to you live from the Shark Club on the home of your Canucks, Sportsnet 650.