LIVE: Canucks pick Melvin Fernstrom in third round of NHL Draft

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It’s day two of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft in Las Vegas and the Vancouver Canucks are finally going to pick some players.

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But even then, not right away: Vancouver doesn’t have their first pick until late in the third round, 93rd overall.

We’ll provide live updates here of their picks, and if any other Canucks news develops.

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FINALLY

It took more than 100 minutes, but the Canucks have finally made a pick, adding skilled winger Melvin Fernstrom.

He led Sweden in scoring at the recent World U18s.

But there are, of course, questions.

“Slow, soft winger,” Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson tells Postmedia. He watched him six times this season.

“Knows how to produce, though.”

He lead the Swedish J20 junior league in goals, but that’s not a terribly strong league. He did score at the U18s, but Robinson said despite the production he didn’t impress him there.

“The offence is there at the J20 … but was super soft at the U18s,” Robinson said.

He’s a guy that the Canucks clearly think they can help get better to round out his game. Scoring talent is always hard to ignore and with this player, the Canucks are betting the talent can be moulded into more.

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We’ve reached round No. 3

Canucks don’t pick till late in the round, but the second round took just about an hour, so expect the Canucks’ pick to come in before 10:30 a.m.

CanucksArmy’s Dave Hall with a nice little list of options:

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Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson was hoping A.J. Spellacy would fall to the Canucks, but he just went off the board. Here are three other guys he likes”

Blake Montgomery – D+1 kid. 6-4, athletic, play-driving power winger. Great speed, has a shot, defensive ability. Teach him to be mean, and you’ve got Dakota Joshua.

Jack Pridham – BCHL kid, good feet, attacks hard, motor.. project though. Needs to fill out.

Elliott Groenewold – 6-2 LHD. Very strong rush defender, good pace, good feet, battles. Virtually no offence.

No Dillon

There was some suggestion that Brenden Dillon would be an alternative to Nikita Zadorov, who is going to explore free agency.

But CHEK-TV’s Rick Dhaliwal says the Surrey giant isn’t likely to come home.

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Forget Marino

There was some noise the Canucks could try to add Devils defenceman John Marino.

He was a Rutherford favourite when they were both in Pittsburgh.

Not happening: Utah added him in a trade, one that the Canucks couldn’t have managed because they don’t have a second round pick.

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Utah’s also added Mikhail Sergachev from Tampa, which makes you wonder if the Lightning will try to re-sign Steve Stamkos now.

For now, some reading:

• Who the Canucks might be looking at in the third round

• Teams are getting better and better at identifying NHL-likely prospects, which means there are fewer and fewer gems being found late in the draft

• Here’s what we’re hearing and what others are saying about the Canucks’ plans in free agency

• Nikita Zadorov is set to hit free agency

• Steve Stamkos and Rick Tocchet sure like each other a lot. Any chance the Lighting star signs in Vancouver?

• And for the second year in a row, the top draft pick came from B.C. Here’s a look at how B.C. became a hockey development powerhouse.

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More to come…

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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