Article content continued

What these kids will turn out to be is a great unknown and there are questions, particularly about the three lottery picks Virtanen, Juolevi and Pettersson. But based on the sheer laws of arithmetic chance, a number of them are going to hit and given their backgrounds anumber of them should hit big.

Photo by NICK PROCAYLO / PNG

Who are they? Well, you can guess but the real issue here is the depth of the Canucks’ prospect pool. Think of the competition that creates within the organization. Think of the flexibility it gives general manager Jim Benning in the trade market. While we’re at it, think of the impact on the Canucks’ payroll when you’ve got four or five players in the lineup on entry-level deals.

The above list, moreover, doesn’t include names like Jonah Gadjovich, this year’s second-rounder who scored 46 goals with Owen Sound and can already grow a beard; Will Lockwood, who recorded 20 points in 30 games at Michigan as a freshman or goalie Michael DiPietro, who backstopped Windsor to the Memorial Cup. Nor does it account for Petrus Palmu, Guillaume Brisebois, Zack MacEwen or the eternal Jordan Subban. And who knows, Maybe one day Nikita Tryamkin will make it back to Vancouver.

All this doesn’t mean much for next season but these kids are the only relevant story with the Canucks. We’ll know what they have in three, four more years.

In the meantime, it will be more interesting following these kids than following the NHL team.

• Solomon Elimimian made 15 tackles in the Lions’ win over Montreal on Thursday which is impressive enough. But six of those tackles were for gains of five yards or less and three more were for eight yards or less. Not sure if you’ll see a better game from a linebacker.