The Vancouver Canucks walked into the 2006 NHL Draft with the 14th overall pick and came away with Michael Grabner. Eight selections later, the Philadelphia Flyers grabbed Claude Giroux. Nearly two decades later, that gap still looks like a missed opportunity.
Grabner was coming off a strong year with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, finishing the 2005-06 season with 36 goals and 50 points in 67 games. He had also posted 13 goals and 24 points in 58 games the season before, so the Canucks had reason to like the profile.
Giroux, though, was on another level with the Gatineau Olympiques. He put up 39 goals and 103 points in 69 games, added five goals and 20 points in 17 playoff games, and finished the regular season at plus-30.
Grabner did not play in the WHL Playoffs that season.
The difference between the two players only became clearer with time. Grabner eventually reached Vancouver’s roster in 2009-10 and recorded five goals and 11 points in 20 games.
The following season, at age 23, he was with the New York Islanders and erupted for 34 goals and 52 points in 76 games. His NHL career ended after 11 seasons with 640 games played, 175 goals, 101 assists and 276 points.
Of those goals, seven came on the power play and 22 were shorthanded.
Giroux’s path turned into something far bigger. He played 42 games in 2008-09 and finished with nine goals and 27 points, then followed that with 16 goals and 47 points in 82 games in 2009-10.
Now entering his 20th NHL season, he has 1,345 games played, 379 goals, 786 assists and 1,165 points. His totals also include 101 power-play goals, nine shorthanded goals and 60 game-winning goals.
Looking back at Vancouver’s 2009-10 roster only sharpens the case. On the right side, the Canucks had Mikael Samuelsson, Steve Bernier and Grabner.
On the left, they had Alex Burrows, Mason Raymond and Daniel Sedin, with the fourth left and right wingers interchangeable. Giroux would have fit on the right wing, and the pairing with Samuelsson stands out as a clean match.
Even without changing the rest of the lineup, Giroux’s 2009-10 production would have slotted in well. His 16 goals and 47 points would have made him the seventh-highest scorer on the Canucks that season and the second-highest right winger in points behind Samuelsson’s 53. Daniel Sedin led the team with 85 points, Burrows had 67 and Raymond finished with 53.
Grabner had his moments, but the Canucks only got 20 games out of him in Vancouver. When the Flyers took Giroux at 22, the better player was already sitting there eight picks later than where the Canucks stood. Giroux’s 103-point draft season with Gatineau dwarfed Grabner’s 50-point year in Spokane, and that makes the what-if pretty hard to ignore.
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