According to the general manager, the front office team solidified their draft strategy during an extensive organizational meeting the night before the event.
"We had a long discussion last night — with the amateur staff and our management team — about what's important, about the vision of what we're trying to build here, and I think when we walked out of there, I said to them, if that's who we end up with tomorrow at number three, we've taken a big huge step in accomplishing that," said Ryan Johnson.
Canucks Also Select Adam Novotny at 24th Overall
Later in the first round, Vancouver utilized the 24th overall selection to draft Czech winger Adam Novotny from the Peterborough Petes, emphasizing a desire to add competitive character to the roster.
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"Part of our discussion into late last night was drafting winners, and he was a guy that we targeted," said Ryan Johnson.
Johnson praised Novotny for his physical maturity, skating ability, and established professional habits at a young age.
"He exudes winner, compete, along with obviously a skill set, the amount of goals he scored, his size, he's already very physically mature the way he skates.
It was a player that we felt that at 24 we were extremely lucky to get, and again he's got pro habits at a young age.
So we just excited to continue to grow, watch him, he'll head back to Peterborough next year and continue his development," said Johnson.
