Vancouver Canucks first-round picks since 2006: Where are they now?

Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning talks about meeting with Thatcher Demko and Brock Boeser.

The Vancouver Canucks made a big trade with the Florida Panthers Wednesday night, moving 2014 first-round pick Jared McCann and two picks in the 2016 draft for Erik Gudbranson and a 2016 fifth-rounder.

For the most part, the trade received major negative reviews from the Canucks side for a number of reasons. McCann is not only a recent first-rounder, but he only has one professional season under his belt and untapped offensive potential.

Gudbranson, meanwhile, is a physical defenceman with one more year under contract and limited puck skills. The second-rounder the Canucks gave up will be 33rd overall, which on its own has considerable value.

On the other hand, some people love the physical game Gudbranson will bring to Vancouver’s back end.

Most onlookers believe the Canucks should be a team engaged in a full rebuild. And it’s hard to argue that, since they just finished 28th overall in the NHL this season. Can a team in that situation afford to move a recent first round pick? We decided to take a look at Vancouver’s first-round picks since 2006 to get an idea of their track record and see where all these players are now:

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2006: Michael Grabner, 14th overall
After spending a few years in the AHL, Grabner played 20 games for the Canucks in 2009-10, scoring five goals and 11 points. That’s where his career with Vancouver ended. At the 2010 draft, the Canucks traded Grabner in a package deal, with Keith Ballard being the biggest piece coming back.

Grabner went on to play five seasons with the New York Islanders and was with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. His career high production was 34 goals and 52 points, which he scored with the Islanders the year after Vancouver traded him.

2007: Patrick White, 25th overall
White was selected out of the University of Minnesota, but he’s never played a pro game in North America. After finishing at Minnesota, White went to play in Germany and has bounced around between there, Russia, Slovakia, Austria and Sweden ever since.

2008: Cody Hodgson, 10th overall
Hodgson was a very highly regarded prospect the year after the Canucks picked him, but a back injury in 2009 slowed him down. Soon after, the relationship between team and player seemed to deteriorate. Hodgson was playing his first full NHL season in 2011-12 and scored 16 goals and 33 points in 63 games for the Canucks when he was shockingly traded to the Buffalo Sabres for Zack Kassian.

Hodgson topped out at 20 goals and 44 points in 72 games with the Sabres in 2013-14, but has never reached his potential. His production fell off considerably and the Sabres bought him out after the 2014-15 season. He signed on with the Predators this season, but when he failed to bounce back, the team placed him on waivers and Hodgson ended up in the AHL.

2009: Jordan Schroeder, 22nd overall
Schroeder never cracked the Canucks’ lineup for a full season; the most time he spent with the Canucks was 31 games in 2012-13 when he scored three goals and nine points.

Now 25, Schroeder played 40 games for the AHL’s Iowa Wild this season, scoring 14 goals and 34 points. He also played 26 games with the Minnesota Wild, but only posted four points.

2011: Nicklas Jensen, 29th overall
Jensen was about a point-per-game player in junior, but regarded as more of a defensive forward at the NHL level than a prolific scorer. He also failed to stick with the Canucks for a full season. In total, he played 24 games with the Canucks over three seasons and in January 2016, was shipped to the New York Rangers in a trade that brought Emerson Etem to Vancouver.

2012: Brendan Gaunce, 26th overall
Once a centre, Gaunce was moved to the wing after graduating from junior hockey. With his size (six-foot-two, 207 pounds) he projects more as a power forward.

He had great year-over-year growth in the AHL, increasing his production from 29 to 38 points in 28 fewer games. So he has that potential to score. Problem is, he saw 20 games of action with the Canucks this season and managed only one point, so the jury is still out. But it’s too early to label him a bust. At 22, Gaunce still has time to develop.

2013: Bo Horvat, ninth overall
This guy is the best of the bunch. The pick Vancouver used to select him was acquired in the Cory Schneider trade, which was certainly questionable at the time, but today the Canucks have a very nice-looking prospect on their hands.

With the injuries dealt to the Canucks this season, Horvat was thrown into some very difficult matchups through most of the season, but he hung in there. He scored 16 goals and 40 points in 82 games, increasing his output from his rookie season.

2013: Hunter Shinkaruk, 24th overall
A great and flashy scorer in junior, Shinkaruk was an exciting pick by the Canucks, but he only ever played one game with the NHL team. This was his second pro season and he had 21 goals and 39 points for AHL Utica in 45 games this year before being traded to division rival Calgary at the deadline for Markus Granlund, a 2011 second-round pick.

Granlund scored three points in 16 games for the Canucks down the stretch, while Shinkaruk got three points in seven games for the Flames.

2014: Jake Virtanen, sixth overall
Virtanen was another great goal scorer at the junior level and the Canucks hope he develops into a hard to handle power forward. Virtanen made the Canucks out of camp this season as a 19-year-old and managed seven goals and 13 points in 55 games. That may seem low for a prospect picked so high in the draft, but remember, it tends to take power forwards a little longer to find their footing. It’s way too early to judge Virtanen.

He joined Team Canada at the world juniors in December and scored one point in five games. That was probably the biggest disappointment for him this season.

2014: Jared McCann, 24th overall
McCann joined Virtanen in cracking the Canucks’ roster out of camp and he scored nine goals and 18 points in 69 games for the Canucks this season. But that’s where his Canucks career will end, as he was shipped off to Florida Wednesday night.

2015: Brock Boeser, 23rd overall
Canucks fans are excited about this guy, and rightfully so. He led North Dakota in scoring this season with 60 points in 42 games as that team went on to win the NCAA Championship. In the championship game, Boeser scored a goal and three assists.

The Canucks will have to wait a bit longer to see Boeser in action though. After winning the national championship, he said he’d be back at North Dakota next season.

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