Canucks' Benning: Improving draft position costs too much

Heading into Friday's NHL draft, the Vancouver Canucks don't expect to pick any higher than fifth.

General manager Jim Benning has been doing his due diligence the last couple weeks, but isn't optimistic about improving his draft position.

"The cost of moving up is too much," Benning said. "We're happy at five; we've got six players we'd be thrilled to get and one will be there at five.

"As of right now, I'd say we'll keep the pick and we're going to draft a really good player."

While the prospect of moving up appears unlikely, it hasn't necessarily closed the door on moving down the draft.

"We've had a lot of calls, there are a lot of teams interested in the fifth pick," said Benning.

Looking towards free agency, the team should have more cap space to play with as Benning stated the club will not re-sign forward Radim Vrbata or defensemen Matt Bartowski and Yannick Weber.