The Vancouver Canucks know this year’s NHL Draft represents an important opportunity for the organization.
With 10 selections in the 2026 NHL Draft, and four picks in the top 41, the club’s amateur scouting staff gathered last week for May meetings ahead of the NHL Draft Combine and draft day on June 27th.
It’s a chance for the scouts to get together, discuss the information they’ve gathered on players over the last 12 months, debate, and firm up their list.
Director of Amateur Scouting, Todd Harvey, talked about what it means to the organization to have 10 draft picks to strengthen the organization for the future.
“We're very excited. Obviously, it's a big year for the Vancouver Canucks, and we're going to add some really good pieces to our pipeline here that should make fans excited,” Harvey said. “We’ve got some good picks in the top 50 there that we're going to get some really good prospects. I think our scouts right now are really excited about having three sixes and being able to maybe hit a nice gem in the late rounds, and that's how you win the draft.”
The meetings brought together scouts from across North America and Europe to build a framework of the Canucks’ final draft list. While the regional scouts spend the season covering their own territories, Harvey, Crossover scout Phil Golding, and Head European Scout Bobbie Hagelin travel extensively to ensure players are evaluated from multiple perspectives.
“We review what the regional guys are saying, and we will make our own assessments and then have discussions with our regional scouts about who those players are, what they're bringing, what kind of attributes they have,” Golding said.
The process continues throughout the season, with monthly virtual meetings and communication happening daily between scouts. Midterm meetings in January help establish the early list, but the final meetings are where the group begins shaping the draft strategy.
Between midterm meetings in January and then meetings before the draft in June, scouts are able to see which players are trending the right way in the back half of the season, and they’ve learned more about them to develop a clearer picture.
“At midterms, you've identified players through the first half, and you want to make sure all the names are there,” Hagelin explained. “At final meetings, as we get toward the draft and the actual event occurring, I think that the process changes, because now you're not looking at a draft ranking, you're looking at a draft list.”
With more early-round selections than they’ve had in recent years, the Canucks’ approach naturally shifts. Vancouver has two first-round picks, including the third overall pick, two second-round picks, a third, fourth, and fifth-round pick, and three sixth-round picks.
“The mentality changes a little bit, as opposed to the last couple years, and what we found [this year] is that you're really, really dialing in, on the players that we actually want to focus on,” Golding said. “We're targeting certain players or certain picks, and I think the process has been really good, and I think it has to be different, because you're looking at a different circumstance.”
The changes to the CHL and NCAA eligibility rules have been a new challenge for scouting staff this season. Golding says watching draft-eligible players in college is different than Major Junior, just as it is comparing players in European pro and junior leagues.
“What it changes is the path for those players, and it changes their timeline,” Golding said. “We've had to open our minds up to what's occurring here and realize that there are different timelines now on these players.”
The May meetings allow the staff to challenge one another and debate strengths, projections, and the long-term upside of prospects. Harvey said that the environment is essential to building the best possible list, and he poses a lot of questions to his staff during final meetings.
“I ask a lot of questions about character and all the checks that way,” Harvey said.
“We want debates and we've been together a few years here, this group, and I think everybody's come together and is a little more confident in their ability to speak their mind, and that's what we want. It's all good, healthy debates, and I'm there to moderate, I guess you'd say, and that's kind of what we look for.”
Hagelin said the trust throughout the room is what allows the process to work effectively, and everyone respects the decision Harvey ultimately makes.
Hagelin, Harvey, and Golding all spent significant time traveling between regions this season, ensuring they saw the top prospects firsthand before comparing players from different leagues and continents.
“For myself, I think I've been over here a total of over one and a half months this season to watch the top guys, and so have Harvey and Phil been over to Europe,” Hagelin said. “That's important when you're going to compare them now, when it's time to pick here, a month from now.”
The meetings also help shape the organization’s plans for the upcoming NHL Draft Combine, where scouts and executives will get face-to-face time with prospects.
“A lot of our action points coming out of these meetings filter towards how we approach the combine,” Golding said. “So, we've gone through this week talking about certain players and have made notes and specific action points as to what we want to ask at the combine, how we want to approach the combine, and we've already decided who we're meeting with at the combine.”
Although they make their picks ahead of time, the list stays fluid. Scouts will continue gathering information, conducting interviews, and refining the list before draft day arrives.
“We still have time between now, the combine, and the draft, where stuff changes,” Harvey said. "At the end of the day, we're here to see each other, get in front of each other, talk about the players, ask questions, debate, and come to a conclusion and put a list together the best we can.”
The scouts are as excited about their third overall pick as they are about finding a gem in the later rounds. The meetings in May laid the foundation for what the organization hopes will be a defining draft for the franchise’s future.
The last time the Canucks had 10 picks in the draft was 2003.
