Vancouver Canucks 2025 NHL Draft primer

It’s here, and it’s beautiful.

The 2025 NHL Draft is finally upon us, and teams are getting set to inject their respective pipelines with hopeful stars of the future.

For the Vancouver Canucks, the fun is just beginning. With a mid-table regular season finish, the team finds itself in the mushy middle, making the addition of a game-breaking prospect quite the challenge.

Instead, they will have to rely on their scouting staff to do their job and find value where others may not. The good news is that this staff, manned by Todd Harvey, has done a relatively good job at finding value in that mushy middle.

Whether they have found legit NHL talent remains to be seen, but they’ve taken some good bets over the last few drafts nonetheless.

After a disappointing 2024-25 season that saw them miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs by six points, Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford are under pressure to retool a roster that fell short of expectations.

With the 15th overall pick locked in and a handful of other selections, the Canucks have options to play around with. Do they keep their picks to bolster their prospect pool or trade them for immediate help to push for contention in 2025-26?

This is the question.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Canucks’ approach to the 2025 NHL Draft, breaking down the who, what, where, and why.

Where: The 2025 NHL Entry Draft

The 2025 NHL Entry Draft will take place at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, California, running from June 27-28.

The first round kicks off on Friday, June 27, at 4:00 p.m. PT and can be viewed on Sportsnet. Rounds 2-7 follow on Saturday, June 28, at 9:00 a.m. PT, airing on NHL Network, Sportsnet, and SN1.

How: Decentralized Draft

The big difference this year is that the teams will not be making the flight. With the new-look decentralized draft, each team will operate picks from their respective war room within the confines of their own rinks.

The event itself will be limited to media, fans, and a select group of top prospects.

What: The Canucks’ Draft Picks and Strategy

At the time of this writing, the Vancouver Canucks enter the 2025 NHL Entry Draft with six picks across seven rounds, having already traded away their fourth-round (117th overall) selection to acquire Evander Kane.

Their current draft picks are:

• 1st Round, 15th Overall
• 2nd Round, 47th Overall
• 3rd Round, 65th Overall (acquired from San Jose)
• 4th Round, no pick
• 5th round, 144th overall
• 6th Round, 175th Overall
• 7th Round, 207th Overall

Recent draft history

1st Round, 15th Overall

The Canucks haven’t had much history with the 15th overall pick. And with just two first-round picks over the last five years, they haven’t had much history in the first round, either.

Of course, the 15th pick was what landed one of the organization’s top prospects, Jonathan Lekkerimäki. The other? Tom Willander (2023), whom they selected with the 11th pick.

2nd Round, 47th Overall

The team has never picked in this spot. However, assuming they hold onto this pick, it will mark the first time this regime has selected in the second round.

If you can believe it, the last player to be selected in the second round was Danila Klimovich in the 2021 entry draft.

3rd Round, 65th Overall (acquired from San Jose)

While they’ve never dealt with the 65th pick, the third round has been somewhat favourable to this new regime. Since taking over, they have taken Melvin Fernström (2024), Hunter Brzustewicz (2023), Sawyer Mynio (2023) and Elias Pettersson (2022).

The former two have been dealt away from the organization, but are on a solid development trajectory. So, they picked them, but they just won’t get to enjoy their services. But it still counts.

4th Round, no pick

The Canucks recently traded away their fourth-round pick, which, historically, has been relatively positive for them. Since the new regime has taken charge, they have selected Riley Patterson (2024), Ty Mueller (2023), Vilmer Alriksson (2023), Matthew Perkins (2023), and Daimon Gardner (2022).

Three of those names offer legitimate intrigue within the system.

5th Round, 143rd Overall

The Canucks have had some misses in the fifth round, but then again, Kevin Bieksa, Frankie Corrado, Ben Hutton, and the one that got away, Gustav Forsling, were all fifth-round picks.

The Canucks have selected just one player at the 143rd spot over the last 25 years: Peter Andersson, 2009.

6th Round, 175th Overall

We just witnessed one of the club’s former sixth-round picks receive an AHL Calder Cup MVP award, with Arturs Silovs (2019) leading the Abbotsford Canucks to their first league title.

Last year, they found an offensive-minded overager in Anthony Romani (2024), so there is hope in this spot.

The Canucks have a small history of making selections in the 175th spot in the last 25 years:

• 2020 Entry 175 6 Dmitry Zlodeev
• 2019 Entry 175 6 Karel Plasek
• 2013 Entry 175 6 Mike Williamson
• 2010 Entry 175 6 Jonathan Iilahti

None of whom hit.

7th Round, 207th Overall

It’s not easy to find NHL-calibre players in the seventh and final round. However, Kirill Kudryavtsev, who was this regime’s first seventh-round pick, is quickly making an exception to that trend.

Could they find their next Kudryavtsev?

The Biggest Canucks Storyline

The Canucks’ draft week narrative is straightforward: Will they trade their first-round pick?

After missing the playoffs in 2024-25, Vancouver is stuck in “win-now” mode. Or, if we’re being brutally honest, stuck in “make Quinn Hughes happy” mode. As such, management is in a desperate search to boost their team’s chances of making a playoff run.

The dramatic and rather disappointing 2024-25 season exposed a glaring need for a top-six center, exacerbated by J.T. Miller’s departure and Elias Pettersson’s inconsistent performance.

Allvin has been aggressive, with reports suggesting the 15th overall pick is on the table for a centre who can elevate the lineup now. And on the eve of the draft, those talks appear to be alive and well: