Blame it on the scouting staff for the Vancouver Canucks...

Thats the remedy for a futile perennial Vancouver Canucks team.

What have the Canucks lacked since the early 90's? Scoring...More specifically, scoring from their draft picks. Although the Canucks had a ton of scoring in the early 2000s, neither Morrison, Bertuzzi and Naslund were Canuck draft picks.

Here is a link to the history of the Canucks draft picks.

Lets think about who the Canucks have drafted in their 38 year existence that could be considered a prolific scorer...hmmmm Pavel Bure, with honorable mentions to Cam Neely (traded) and Rick Vaive (traded). The only player of those to go over 100 points in a season was Bure. Rick Vaive and Cam Neely each had three 50 plus goal seasons...but none with the Canucks....ouch!

Lets face it....The Vancouver Canucks organization has had an abysmal history of drafting its own scoring talent.

Pavel Bure. Vancouver Canucks only prolific goal scorer.

Their scouting team consists of:

Lorne Henning (director player personnel)
Stan Smyl (Director Player development)
Ron Delorme (Amateur Scout)
Jonathan Wall (manager scouting and player info.)

Were any of these guys on the scouting staff a big-time scorer/play maker in their career? NO.

Lorne Henning scored in Junior, but was a third/fourth line checking centre for the Islanders back in 70's who managed 13 goals twice.
Stan Smyl was not a big-time scorer ever. He was a good leader and captain that managed 38 goals one year for the Canucks in an era where some guys were scoring 60 plus goals.
Ron Delorme was a tough, fringe, grinder NHL player for the Colorado Rockies and Vancouver Canucks.
Jonathan Wall. No Bio. for him on the Canucks site. Nothing found in the internet.

To me it seems the best recruiter of talent is someone who possessed talent in abundance at the same level.


Note: One can argue that some of the Canucks rivals (eg. Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames) have plumbers for talent agents too, but both those franchises have won Stanley Cups in the past and both have drafted some serious scoring talent of their own.