Canucks might have just suffered a 2004-level historical misfortune in draft lottery originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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There’s been an old draft ranking circulating on hockey social media recently. It depicts the top prospects in the 2004 NHL Draft.
Your brain likely came up with the first two: Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.
The problem comes with what happens after them. It’s not pretty.
“Oh sick, we’ve got the 3rd pick in the 2004 NHL draft. Should be able to get a franchise player. Neat.” pic.twitter.com/Mu0hm5VfHU
— ⱼₐₛ (@j_a155) May 3, 2026
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There has to be at least some feeling like that among the Vancouver Canucks‘ leadership on Tuesday night.
In a draft with probable top pick Gavin McKenna and right-behind-him Ivar Sternberg, the Canucks entered the lottery with the best odds at the No. 1 pick.
Instead, they didn’t get the first pick, and they missed out on the second, as well.
They landed at No. 3, where it’s very possible they don’t get either McKenna or Sternberg.
It’d be quite the feat if that duo turned into Ovechkin and Malkin, two of the all-time great hockey players.
But it’s also safe to expect them to be very good, and if they’re the first two picks, Vancouver will genuinely have to figure out how to make the most of a situation that didn’t work out in their favor at all.
The Canucks were likely dreaming of McKenna. Even when they woke up, they would’ve been happy with Sternberg.
And now there’s a chance Vancouver gets neither.
They did what they could to tank, trading away lots of competent players to make sure they had the fewest points in the league this season.
But the lottery means they weren’t guaranteed one of those top-two picks, and in the end, it shook out against them.
It’s just another negative in a Canucks era full of them.