Article content continued

Photo by Bruce Bennett / PNG

“It’s what the player does over the course of the season, and with those particular guys (Hughes, Dobson), they finished off real strong,” Canucks general manager Jim Benning said Tuesday. “When we make evaluations, I don’t know if it changes that much just because a player has a good tournament.

“It’s more figuring out what he’s going to be four years from now when he’s fully developed. We’re trying to predict and that’s the tricky part of amateur scouting.”

It can be just as tricky to expect draft dominoes to fall in an expected order.

In a TSN mock draft, Hughes was tabbed to go fifth to the Arizona Coyotes, Bouchard sixth to the Detroit Red Wings, Dobson seventh to the Canucks and Boqvist 10th to the Edmonton Oilers. If the Canucks are really high on Hughes — a projected power play quarterback — they would have to trade up and that’s costly.

“We’ll see what it takes, but it seems like it’s hard to move up,” admitted Benning. “We’re confident we’re getting a good player at No. 7, but we want to do the exercise of seeing what it takes to move up or down and add another pick or prospect.”

If the projected pecking order stays the same on draft day, the Canucks are likely to land a defenceman they’ve been keen on in the 6-foot-3, 180-pound Dobson.

“It’s just his overall game,” said Benning. “He’s a good heads-up player and it’s his ability to read the game and move the puck up fast with good offensive instincts. He seems to find the holes and he’s got a good shot.”