VANCOUVER — In a week when another American star on a Canadian team orchestrated his trade back to the United States, Vancouver Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson said Thursday he won’t be influenced by nationality when he picks third in the National Hockey League draft.

“You’d be crazy to not think everybody in the league is not thinking or talking about it,” Johnson told reporters in a pre-draft press conference, three days after Brady Tkachuk was traded to the Florida Panthers by the Ottawa Senators. “Is that a trend that ... in the last year or so has caught fire? Is it coincidence ... that certain players are involved in? As an organization, you talk about it. (But) at this point, is it something that I would say we are going to shy away from drafting a player because he's from a certain nationality? Not at this point. But it is a situation that has put some teams in a pretty tough spot, and that's unfortunate.”

As with Canucks captain Quinn Hughes this past season, Tkachuk approved his trade to an American team after informing his Canadian club that he didn’t intend to re-sign when his current contract expires.

Hughes was traded in December to the Minnesota Wild, which steered the Canucks sharply into a rebuild.

For several years, the Canucks have had one of the most American-heavy rosters in the NHL. Among regulars, only four Vancouver skaters this past season were from Canada.

Historically, the team has always been proudly multinational. It has a particularly rich history with Swedish players, but in its early decades also helped pioneer the migration to the NHL of players from Russia and the former Czechoslovakia.

Retired jerseys at Rogers Arena include those worn by Swedes (Daniel and Henrik Sedin,........

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