Brooks Rogowski stands 6-foot-7, and the Vancouver Canucks may have found a center nobody saw coming this early.
Vancouver took him 33rd overall in the 2026 draft, the very first pick of the second round.
He's heading to Michigan State this fall, a program loaded with talent in its own right.
That means Rogowski will have to fight for real minutes from day one instead of being handed a role.
That's actually the point. Getting pushed against that level of competition is exactly what turns a big, skilled kid into a finished center.
Some evaluators watching the U.S. World Junior camp are already talking about him as a potential second line center at the NHL level.
That's a real projection for an 18-year-old picked in the second round, not the kind of hype usually reserved for a top-10 selection.
Why scouts already see second-line center upside
Size at that position is rare enough on its own. A right shot center standing 6-foot-7 who can actually skate is not something teams find often outside the first round.
Vancouver just finished dead last overall this past season at 25-49-8, and stories like this one matter more than usual for a fan base sitting through a full teardown.
A prospect making noise at a Showcase months after being drafted is exactly the kind of thing that keeps a rebuilding fan base engaged through a long summer.
Would a second-round pick this size and this skilled have gone in the first round in a different draft class?
Michigan State will be the real test. Junior camps and college depth charts are two very different environments, and Rogowski hasn't played a shift in either yet this season.
None of this guarantees anything at the NHL level down the line. Plenty of prospects who look good in July fade once real competition starts.
But for a Canucks organization stacking up young talent piece by piece, a 6-foot-7 center getting this kind of early buzz is exactly the reason a rebuild starts to feel real.
Will Brooks Rogowski develop into a legitimate second-line NHL center?
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