Draft day has arrived.On Friday evening, the Vancouver Canucks will find themselves on the clock with the No. 3 pick.Assuming Vancouver keeps that pick, an overwhelming likelihood at this point, it will represent the highest the Canucks have selected at the draft in 27 years.The fun will just be getting started once that pick is in. Having sold a variety of players down the stretch run this season — from Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood to Tyler Myers and Lukas Reichel — the Canucks enter the 2026 draft with 10 picks. That includes two first-round picks and four among the top 41.For the rebuilding Canucks, this draft represents a critical opportunity. This is a team devoid of star power on the roster, which finished in 32nd place in the NHL by a significant margin and currently boasts a roughly average prospect pipeline.The journey back to relevance, much less contention, is likely to be an arduous one for new Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson and the franchise. This draft, however, will provide the Canucks with both a significant volume of incoming lottery tickets and, regardless of who Vancouver ultimately selects with the third pick, the best individual prospect in its system in a decade.We’ve been busy covering the draft class at length over the past few months, but in case you’re just catching up, here’s a primer featuring everything you need to know about the Canucks at the 2026 NHL Draft.Which picks does Vancouver own?The Canucks own 10 picks, beginning with the third selection, the result of the franchise getting unlucky, because of course, and dropping down to spots at the draft lottery in early May.Here’s the full gamut of selections the Canucks enter draft day holding.Round 1: Nos. 3 and 24, the latter of which was acquired from the Minnesota Wild in the Hughes trade.Round 2: No. 33, the top pick of the second round. It’s always an interesting pick given that the Canucks will effectively have the opportunity to spend about 12 hours on the clock after the conclusion of the first round.The Canucks also own the 41st pick as a result of the trade that sent Sherwood to San Jose.Round 3: No. 78, acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Conor Garland deal.Round 4: No. 97, the top pick of the fourth round.Round 5: No. 129, the top pick of the fifth round.Round 6: Nos. 161, 176 and 184.Who will the Canucks select with the No. 3 pick?The Canucks have been closely associated throughout the draft process with both OHL centre Caleb Malhotra, the son of new Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra, and top OHL defender Chase Reid.Malhotra is a rangy playmaking centre who authored a stunning offensive breakout during the second half of his first OHL season with the Brantford Bulldogs, and managed to raise his game impressively in the OHL playoffs. The case for taking Malhotra rests on the fact that he’s a highly competitive, high-character centre with a bundle of NHL traits. And when OHL centres are this productive and are selected in the top 10 at the draft, they nearly always hit as top-six calibre centres, historically speaking.Reid, on the other hand, is a 6-foot-2, slick-skating offensive defender who was cut from his USHL team, made his way to the Soo Greyhounds, and cemented himself as the top blueliner in the draft class with an electric season in his draft year. The case for selecting Reid is largely based on traits and talent. Reid has the “That boy nice” it factor in spades.He has the size and skating ability that beguile scouts, but there are reasonable concerns about whether or not he may project as a future first-unit power play option, given that his production was more good-than-great as a late birthday 18-year-old in a rapidly shifting OHL landscape in his draft year.While Vancouver has seemed somewhat fixated on Malhotra for much of this process, there’s a growing sense of doubt around who the Canucks will actually select with the third pick in the final 24 hours before the draft. That uncertainty is matched by a dramatic swing in the futures odds market on Thursday, as the odds shifted from Malhotra being heavily favoured, toward a dead heat with Reid.