Vancouver Canucks 2021 draft results look extra sad after dumping two prospects
So long, Lucas Forsell and Hugo Gabrielson. We hardly knew you.
The Vancouver Canucks waved goodbye to a pair of prospects over the weekend. As CanucksArmy’s Dave Hall noted, the Canucks did not sign Hugo Gabrielson or Lucas Forsell to contracts by the June 1 deadline.
Gabrielson and Forsell were both late-round picks by the Canucks at the 2021 draft, so it’s not a shock that they didn’t crack the NHL lineup. What they do represent is more finality from what was a disastrous 2021 draft for the Canucks.
Jim Benning’s final draft as general manager in Vancouver began with a shortsighted trade with Arizona that quickly blew up in his face. The Canucks acquired Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland in the deal, and cleared a boatload of cap space by offloading Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel.
Ekman-Larsson’s contract proved to be an albatross that was bought out two years later, but that wasn’t the worst part of the deal.
The Canucks also gave up the ninth overall draft pick, which Arizona used to pick Dylan Guenther. The 22-year-old winger scored 27 goals and 60 points with Utah last season.
Vancouver also gave up a 2022 second-round pick and a seventh-rounder in 2023 in the trade.
All the players picked by the Canucks in the 2021 draft (Elite Prospects)
Danila Klimovich was Vancouver’s second-round pick (41st overall) in 2021. The 22-year-old Belarusian has failed to do much in four AHL seasons, though he did put together a 25-goal, 38-point season in Abbotsford in 2024-25.
It’s too bad they didn’t draft Kamloops’ Logan Stankoven instead, who was taken six picks after Klimovich by Dallas. Matthew Knies (57th overall) and J.J. Moser (60th overall) were the other second-round standouts.
Vancouver traded its third-round pick to Dallas for Jason Dickinson and moved a fourth-round pick to Chicago for Madison Bowey and a fifth-rounder.
It remains to be seen what becomes of Aku Koskenvuo (5th round, 137th overall), a 6-foot-4 goalie from Finland that the Canucks signed after three years at Harvard University. Jonathan Myrenberg (5th round, 140th overall) was traded as part of a deal with Boston to get Jack Studnicka.
Between the Gabrielson and Forsell picks, the Canucks chose Connor Lockhart (6th round, 178th overall). Lockhart had been cut loose by the Canucks two years ago, before the OHL suspended him indefinitely after he was being investigated by police in Ontario. He played last season in the ECHL.
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