Details revealed of attempted Vancouver Canucks draft-day trade
There was a time when the Vancouver Canucks technically had three first-round picks, thanks to the Ottawa Senators.
That never actually transpired, thanks to the NHL readjusting its punishment to Ottawa. Instead of forfeiting their first-round pick, they were permitted to select 32nd overall.
Ironically, though, the Canucks nearly did get a third first-round pick, thanks to those Senators.
During a recent episode of Breakaway, published by the Senators, general manager Steve Staios was filmed before making the 25th overall selection.
Before making that pick, he was on the phone fielding trade offers for the pick.
“So you want 25 and 72 for 33 and 41,” Staios said. “I’ll text you right back here.”
Obviously, Canucks fans know that the 33rd and 41st overall picks belonged to Vancouver. But Staios wasn’t enamoured with the offer.
“No pick offers are good enough just yet, but Pittsburgh is interesting with a roster player.”
It wasn’t revealed which roster player the Pittsburgh Penguins were looking to deal, but a win-now trade would have realistically been more of what Ottawa was chasing following the Brady Tkachuk trade.
Similar draft-pick-only trades have been made in recent history during the late first round.
Here are three trades involving later first-round picks that were made during the 2025 NHL Draft:
- Nashville Predators acquire 21st pick in 2025 NHL Draft from the Ottawa Senators for 23rd and 67th picks in 2025 Draft.
- Pittsburgh Penguins acquire 24th pick in 2025 NHL Draft from the Los Angeles Kings for 31st and 59th picks in 2025 Draft.
- Chicago Blackhawks acquire 29th pick in 2025 NHL Draft from the Carolina Hurricanes for 34th and 62nd picks in 2025 Draft and a 5th-round pick in 2027 NHL Draft.
All of these trades (and other recent examples) involve teams trading some combination of early and late second-round picks in order to move up.
But since the Canucks’ two second-rounders were in the early portion of the round, it makes sense why they asked for Ottawa’s 72nd overall pick. If the Sens were interested, they could have countered with a later third-round pick, considering that they held picks 72nd, 87th, and 91st overall in that round.
All that aside, what’s more interesting is who were the Canucks targeting?
The Canucks selected Niklas Aaram-Olsen (left) and Brooks Rogowski (right) with the 41st and 33rd overall picks, respectively. (@Canucks/X)
Here are the players drafted between the Canucks selection at 24th overall (Adam Novotny) and 33rd overall (Brooks Rogowski):
25. Jonas Lagerberg-Hoen, RW (Senators)
26. Gleb Pugachyov, RW (Montreal Canadiens)
27. Maksim Sokolovskii, LD (Philadelphia Flyers)
28. Marcus Nordmark, LW (Anaheim Ducks)
29. Juho Piiparinen, RD (Vegas Golden Knights)
30. Jack Hextall, C (Calgary Flames)
31. Tommy Bleyl, RD (Nashville Predators)
32. Jaxon Cover, RW (Senators)
According to Elite Prospects’ Consolidated Rankings, Tommy Bleyl, Juho Piiparinen, and Marcus Nordmark were all rated as first-round picks.
Bleyl was the highest-ranked of the three, coming in at 24th overall on the consolidated list. The 6-foot defenceman is known for offence-first after leading the QMJHL among defencemen with 81 points in 63 games.
Nordmark was also a worthy first-rounder on talent alone, even if he was a high-risk, high-reward prospect.
The Senators video also didn’t reveal at which point the draft was in at the time Staois took Johnson’s call. Could the Canucks have been trying to snag the Ruck twins with picks 24 and 25?
It would have been a moot point considering Liam Ruck went 22nd overall to Pittsburgh.
Of course, the Canucks may have been targeting Rogowski in that spot, as the Canucks revealed in their behind-the-scenes video that the 6-foot-7 centre was ranked within their top-24 players. And really, he was higher than that, considering the Canucks picked him, and then Niklas Aaram-Olsen at 41st overall.
If Rogowski was the target, then the Canucks probably got lucky that Staios refused the offer.
If he wasn’t their target at 25th overall, then we’re left guessing as to whom the Canucks were actually coveting.