Will the team be active on the trade front over next few days in Nashville?
Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Roberto Luongo. Bo Horvat. JT Miller. Conor Garland and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. All became members of the Vancouver Canucks as part of blockbuster trades in and around the National Hockey League draft.
Over the past quarter-century, the Canucks have been as active as any team in the league in terms of pulling off notable deals at this time of year.
No trade had a greater impact on the franchise than the 1999 draft day deal in Boston in which general manager Brian Burke secured the second and third overall picks in the draft and landed the Sedins. In 2006, then GM Dave Nonis set the foundation for the best seasons in franchise history when he plucked Roberto Luongo from Florida on the eve of the 2006 draft which was held in Vancouver.
In 2013, the Canucks dealt Cory Schneider to the New Jersey Devils, the host team for that year's draft, in exchange for the ninth overall selection which they promptly used to select future captain Bo Horvat.
In 2019, when the draft was again in Vancouver, the Canucks started the second day of activity pulling off the JT Miller trade acquiring the power forward from Tampa Bay for a first round pick the following year and a third rounder which the Lightning used hours later.
And in 2021, in the hours ahead of a virtual draft due to COVID, the Canucks shocked many in the hockey world by sending a package of high picks along with the final year of the bloated contracts of Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel in exchange for Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland.
For now, the Canucks are sitting with the 11th overall selection heading into the first round of this year's draft on Wednesday night. Based on the team's history over the last 25 years, don't be shocked if the Canucks are again in the middle of significant draft day deals.