TLDR: Canucks jump picks in '15, get Chabot, pick Tkachuk instead of Juolevi, still get Pettersson, and then drop in 2018 and draft Dobson. Canucks create a dynasty.
(Disclaimer- this is hypothetical for a reason. It's obviously based in the Canucks favour.)
Hypothetical -
What if the Canucks sucked a bit more in 2015?
So let's say Pick 23 up to 14 (lowest lottery spot).
I'm just going to ignore every other pick's possible changes and push all picks back 1 spot. (14 is now 15, 15 to 16, so on.)
1. No Boeser. Obviously. Unless they were very high on him, there was some better talent (seen at the time) going ahead of him. Albeit, he was still projected in the 15-25 range, so not too far of a stretch.
2. Who then? My guess is going to be between Chabot (LD), Connor (LW, RW), and the biggest faller of them all, Barzal (C). Others would be Zboril (LD), Merkley (C, RW) and Konecny (RW). It's a coin flip between Barzal, the BPA at the time, or Chabot, the bigger need at the time. I'm just going to pick Chabot, which leads us into the next hypothetical: what happens in the 2016 draft?
Let's say all the picks stay the same, but we don't draft Juolevi because we already have a projected Top 4 LHD.
3. So who do we pick? Tkachuk (LW), Keller (C, RW), A. Nylander (LW, RW) or another LHD in Sergachev and Juolevi because it's Jim Benning.
Matthew Tkachuk would be the obvious pick here. 107 points in 57 games, jeez. Clayton Keller wouldn't be too bad of a pick either, but putting a PWF star beside Horvat for the future would dominate the NHL.
Now the big question is: Do the Nucks get Pettersson next year? What about Hughes? Yes, and no. I think that knowing what management tends to do, Tkachuk stays with A. the Knights for one more year or B. Utica for one year, maybe half the season. I don't think they rush him because the Sedins are still playing and knowing that they are committing to a rebuild, they want to tank. Now Hughes is another story. With Tkachuk and Chabot ready for the rookie seasons, and Sedins holding in for one last year, the Canucks aren't going to be a 7th worst team, IMO. I project the pick to be around 12-14. So who do they pick in the 2018 draft?
3. Pick 12. Smith (LD), Denisenko (C), Miller (LD), Dobson (RD), and Farabee (LW) are all the best options at the time.
I say Dobson is the best pick here because A. pretty much BPA B. compliments Chabot as a RHD.
So that's the core up till 2019. I'll ignore the 2019 picks because none of them matter, and I'll keep all trades and signings the same, including Toffoli and Domingue trades. All besides Loui. he can get payed on LTIR.
So my main question is: is this team better than the one currently?
McDavid, Connor
250 000 $)
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