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donlever wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 4:45 pm

Aaronp18 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 4:15 pm Apparently it would be the first time in franchise history where we would have 3 first round pick (essentially) in a single draft.

Indeed.

We did have 3 of the top 23 in 1990 however.

Made a hiccup or 2 there.

Is that the Shawn Antoski draft?

Nedved
Antoski
Slegr

..picked directly after Antoski were Keith Tkachuk then Martin Brodeur.

TBH 2 out of those 3 became regular NHLers.

Obviously hindsight is 20/20 and other players would have been better picks though.

Did snag Gino in that draft later and stole Pavel the year before.

Imagine Bure and Jagr together with Gino keeping them safe!

Ah summer nights!

donlever wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 4:53 pm Nedved
Antoski
Slegr

..picked directly after Antoski were Keith Tkachuk then Martin Brodeur.

I have no issues with the Nedved pick, tbh. Everyone will say they knew about Jagr in hindsight, but the original Skinny Pete was quite the prospect coming out of the Dub.

The Antoski pick was the biggest blunder, IMO. Either one of those mentioned might have perhaps altered the course of our history.

Slegr? Looked to have physical tools but didn't really have the toolbox. There was Chris Simon, Doug Weight and Geoff Sanderson picked after him.

Hindsight.

I've told this story here before...or maybe at Central...but me and the boyz were all in on Nedved.

We had been down to Seattle a few times and he looked like Gretzky lite down there.

He had a decent enough career and scored some points.

And near 1000 games.

Jagr was going to Pittsburgh and only there...that was well known I do believe.

The Antoski pick was a bummer.

I was all in on Tkachuk at the time.

Slegr had the bloodlines to be a Canuck also...so be it.

I did some fist pumps when Quinn announced NeddyVed at BC Place (I was there). Was also stoked with the subsequent firsts. That's usually the way it goes until we learn exactly what we got.

The only time I was not excited after a 1st round selection was the moment we announced the other London Knights' player. I knew right then they committed the cardinal sin of drafting for position and sure enough.

donlever wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 4:45 pm

Aaronp18 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 4:15 pm Apparently it would be the first time in franchise history where we would have 3 first round pick (essentially) in a single draft.

Indeed.

We did have 3 of the top 23 in 1990 however.

Made a hiccup or 2 there.

I would argue 3 hiccups.

I think just average choices, i.e. the simplest, safest ones that could have been made with the information available at the time, as opposed to inspired genius choices, or re-drafts with the benefit of hindsight, could have set the Canucks up for much more success than they had. Looking back, it appears Quinn had an unjustified level of confidence in whoever was the Canucks' Czechoslovakian scout. (who yes, did at least appear to have correctly informed the Canucks that Jagr would not come over if they drafted him, so not counting him in the might-have-beens. Brodeur either.)

Yeah, I know Leves. I think I might have remembered your story from the old CC. I was physically at that draft. Scored some tickets to attend live. It was awesome for a young fan like me.

It was pretty certain that Nolan the power forward was going #1. I was pretty sure after all the scouting reports that we would target Nedved, he was just too skilled.

The place erupted. The fans were happy with the selection. Fuck the hindsight.

Primeau was himself a huge headcase, both physically and mentally. I don't think that would have worked out well for us either.

Everyone knew Ricci was more about "leadership" than actual skill.

I didn't know about the Jagr Pittsburgh only story at the time, but it seems nobody there had an idea who he was. I'm talking about the fans, not the teams doing the scouting.

Antoski, Stojanov... sigh. Tkachuk with a core of Linden, Bure, etal. in '94? Sigh.

Slegr bloodlines. Yeah, that just doesn't hurt as much I guess.

Nuckertuzzi wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 5:38 pm I did some fist pumps when Quinn announced NeddyVed at BC Place (I was there). Was also stoked with the subsequent firsts. That's usually the way it goes until we learn exactly what we got.

The only time I was not excited after a 1st round selection was the moment we announced the other London Knights' player. I knew right then they committed the cardinal sin of drafting for position and sure enough.

We twice had the chance to draft a Tkachuk. Both would have altered this franchise in a positive shit kind of way. We fucked it up twice.

Yeah.

Fuck...I was there too lads.

Cool.

Waddya mean Czech scouts RG?

Carl Yagro wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 5:08 pm I have no issues with the Nedved pick, tbh.

donlever wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 5:18 pm I've told this story here before...or maybe at Central...but me and the boyz were all in on Nedved.

Nuckertuzzi wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 5:38 pm I did some fist pumps when Quinn announced NeddyVed at BC Place (I was there).

The other picks that year I can only talk about now after internet research, but even at the time, I thought that taking the Czech kid -- who yes, was projected to have a chance to maybe be the next Gretzky -- when the 6'5" 220 lb. OHL scoring leader was still on the board was a risky reach.

It was a reasonable gamble that didn't pay as much as some other choices would have. So I suppose the other question is, at the time, did you think that the Canucks needed to roll the dice, or did you think that they could have gotten where they needed to go with the higher floor, lower ceiling option? Honestly I did not follow the team closely enough at the time to have an opinion about that.

donlever wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 5:55 pm Waddya mean Czech scouts RG?

I meant that they picked 2 Czechs with the first 3 picks, having forgotten that Nedved played a season in Seattle.

We had been looking for a highly skilled, point producing centre for YEARS.

Who did we trade Cam Neely for?

We arguably hampered Lindens career by moving him from wing to the middle of the ice due to lack of depth there.

Zero chance we were taking Primeau.

Ronning's Ghost wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 6:01 pm

donlever wrote: ↑Wed Jan 14, 2026 5:55 pm Waddya mean Czech scouts RG?

I meant that they picked 2 Czechs with the first 3 picks, having forgotten that Nedved played a season in Seattle.

Yeah...he didn't just play in Seattle...he dominated.

65G 80A in 71 games.

He was a stone cold Killah down there.

As I stated in my post we saw him down there several times.

He was so good.....