Too little, too small.

The Vancouver Canucks fail in drafting almost every year.

Why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9mV-CpolGc

"Drafting the best talent available."

While this may work in other markets it certainly doesn't work in Vancouver.

Why?

Have you ever looked at a map?

It's pretty far from other NHL cities, isn't it?

And so they have to travel... a ton. And travelling causes fatigue.
Combine this with the inability to practice
A) due to travel
B) due to CBA constraints.

So what does it mean?

It means playing in Vancouver takes a massive physical toll on players that you don't find anywhere else in the NHL.

Pat Quinn is considered to be Vancouver's best GM.

What did he say when he got to Vancouver?
"We're too small."
What did he do?
Draft size.

You can't draft strictly on talent and expect Vancouver to succeed.
It can't.

The Canucks have been decimated by injuries continuously for the past three years.
Why?

They're too small.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9mV-CpolGc

They are in fact the smallest team in the NHL.

Jake Virtanen and Nikita Tryamkin were home runs for GM Jim Benning.
And yes, Virtanen is a home run.
I have no idea why they let a coach they fired dictate that Virtanen, who was an impact player in his last 20 games in the NHL, get screwed around by Desjardins the following year. That's baffling.

Virtanen and Tryamkin were impact players for the Canucks. That's a fact.
Size, speed, grit.

In this year's draft the Canucks avoided anyone over the 200 pound mark.

In last year's draft they drafted a D man with weight problems - again, too small.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9mV-CpolGc

If you're starting from an issue of being too small, well... good luck with that.

Jolevi and Petterrson may be the best talent available - but they're too small for the Vancouver market, let alone the NHL.

There's a minimum size requirement in Vancouver.
There just is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9mV-CpolGc

They're a hated team because of jealousy.
They're a Canadian market which puts a target on their backs.

They're loaded with Swedes - which puts a target on their backs.

And they don't have any protection - which puts a target on their backs.

And so they're constantly injured.

Yes, in theory, Jim Benning's picks could help the Canucks - if the season was 40 games long.

But it's not.

It's 82 games.

And it's the NHL.

And they're violently hated.

YOU CAN'T BE THE SMALLEST TEAM IN THE NHL - ESPECIALLY IN VANCOUVER.

This only works when you're the biggest team in the NHL.

And let's face it, the fans have spoken.
They hate the team.
And I mean

H
A
T
E

the team. Despise the team. Hate it. Disgusted by it.
They're sick and tired of seeing Canucks lying on the ice after a hit.

Sick of it.

It's demoralizing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9mV-CpolGc

And what they do?

Keep adding tiny hockey players.
And we all know how that ends.

Stretchers, hospitals.