When the Vancouver Canucks traded their No. 1 goaltender Cory Schneider for a draft pick in 2013, there was probably no Canucks fan whose thought was not “better not mess this one up, Gillis.” Then, Canucks Assistant GM Laurence Gilman walked up to the podium and announced the club’s selection: from the OHL’s London Knights, centre Bo Horvat. Horvat? Was he not ranked 15th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting? Yes, he was.
Luckily, rankings do not always tell the whole story. Scouts thought Horvat’s style was very similar to that of Ryan O’Reilly, who is now the No.