The Official NHL Entry Draft Thread

[Monty]

What is gonna happen? Who will go Number 1? Who will trade for who? Will Jay Feaster eat the entire lunch buffet? Talk about it here!

[DRIZ]

The Blues have 3x2nds and 2x3rds going into the draft. Doug Armstrong has made it known that he is ready go trade some of these before the draft.

Could be an interesting 24 hrs!

[Azzy Luongo]

There are going to be a LOT of trades tomorrow. Plenty of movement. The Flyers HAVE to have something up their sleeve after today's debacle.

As for the Nucks, I'm hoping we can snatch a puck-moving D man; I've seen that Joe Morrow could fall that far - we drafted his Dad, so a bit of continuity would be great

[DRIZ]

Late trade drama...

The Village Bike has let me down at the 11th hour...Fortunately Old Thumper has stepped in to join me, the Bombadier and the Hobgoblin, on the couch , for tonights proceedings.

[mc_homer]

Stars are looking to trade down apparently. I am secretly hoping for Arnia or McNeill

[Calamity Jane]

Hey, has anyone reminded the Leafs that they actually have a couple of first round picks this year? I can just picture Burkie sat at home watching the draft on TV and then shouting "d'oh!" when they get to no. 25.

[DRIZ]

Bloody ESPN...Going to have to cancel the boys tonight. Wednesday, the draft was listed as as being shown. Just checked again to clarify start time, its been replaced by Aussie fucking rules or poxy college kid baseball

Not happy

[BuffonIdol]

Watch it online

[Paddywan]

I know you guys are all well versed in getting links online but here's the one I have for this evening, hoping it will be good if anyone finds anything better please post. i've been spoiled by ESPN player last season haven't had to do this in over a year

http://miscmishmosh.yolasite.com/ch-2.php

[Jonzee]

Won't the NHL stream it themselves on NHL.com?

[Paddywan]

Will they? I can't remember what happened last year but I didn't think they did :S

[Calamity Jane]

Ah no, Burkie's up to his usual tricks and has traded a second round pick (acquired from Boston) for John-Michael Liles of the Avs.

[Jonzee]

I liked JM Liles. 7 years ago.

[BuffonIdol]

I'll take that. Good work Mr Burke. Consistently puts up about 40 pts a season and still got a few years left- just what we needed on the blue line

Only downside is this probably means no Stastny but then I always thought that would be a stretch, even though I would kill for it to happen.

[mc_homer]

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=616&id=118648&navid=mod-rr-headlines pre-draft show live i think. hopefully draft is shown there too

[Calamity Jane]

So how does everyone feel about who their teams have picked up in the draft?

I'm pleased we went for a defenseman with our first pick. Would have liked Larsson, but happy with Dougie Hamilton. Our second pick is a Russian playmaker, but I can't wait to see if our third round pick, Antony Camara, really is comparable to Shawn Thornton.

[Jonzee]

We drafted two centres. What more can I say?

[Azzy Luongo]

The Canucks picked:

29th: Nicklas Jensen, LW/RW - said by some to be the sleeping giant of the draft, he'll either be a PPG player or a shutdown 3rd liner with offensive upside. I'd be happy with the latter, provided he plays on Jannik Hansen's line.

71st: David Honzik, G - compared to Pekka Rinne. Fine by me.

90th: Alex Grenier, RW - 6ft 5, puts up masses of points, has the potential to be a Lucic-type player if he plays to his potential.

101st: Joseph LaBate, C - similar to David Backes and Joe Thornton, will finish his studies. A long-term project but one that could pay dividends.

120th: Ludwig Blomstrand, LW - if he ever makes it, it'll be as a depth forward. He doesn't score, just hit. Perhaps a wasted pick.

150th: Frankie Corrado, D - another sleeper pick, skates well, just needs to use his body better and fine-tune his positioning.

180th: Pathrik Westerholm, C - a SWEDISH TWIN!!!!! His scouting report says this:

A skilled offensive player. Has great chemistry with his twin-brother Ponthus. Good hockey sense and is the more noticeable goal scorer of the the two. Passing and shooting game is good and so is his puckhandling. Cycles the puck often with his brother. The question has been raised if he can be a productive player without his twin.

Sedins Mark 2? His brother went undrafted, and is apparently already close to signing a deal with the Nucks.

210th: Henrik Tommernes, D - labelled as the best young free agent Defenseman in Sweden. Why wasn't he taken earlier?

[Monty]

210th: Henrik Tommernes, D - labelled as the best young free agent Defenseman in Sweden. Why wasn't he taken earlier?

Maybe he is the only young free agent defenseman in Sweden?!

[Azzy Luongo]

lol, you probably have that right

[Lord SKAgiraffe]

The Canucks picked:

120th: Ludwig Blomstrand, LW - if he ever makes it, it'll be as a depth forward. He doesn't score, just hit. Perhaps a wasted pick.

You lucky indivudual. Come to the East side and the ACC and this is all you see. Depth forwards who put up twice as many penalty minutes as points. With Burkie, every pick is a wasted pick, which is why I don't mind him shipping them out to all and sundry as trade bait

[ronnie pander]

Only time will tell whether the draft was a success or not. Let's face it - most of these guys won't have NHL careers and a lot of those that do will be mediocre two-a-penny third and fourth liners. But hey, the Ducks didn't get a pick until the 30th go so maybe the Oilers feel differently!

[mc_homer]

Very happy with our draft. We have been crying out for a big stay at home defender for ages and although he may still be a few years off, we picked the biggest (and 2nd biggest) guy at the draft.

1st round, 14th overall: Jamieson Oleksiak D
6'7, 244 pound beast. Scouts say he can skate very well and plays a strong physical game. Perhaps a bit premature for such praise but has been compared to Chara a lot....if he turns into half the player Chara is I will be over the moon.

2nd round, 44th overall: Brett Richie RW
Another big guy at 6'3, 210 pounds. Very young at just 17 and still has to play in the OHL before he is allowed to make the jump to AHL (due to contract or something?) but plays a strong physical style and probably the best candidate to eventually replace what Neal gave us. Numbers were a bit down last year which some people critisised him for lack of effort until it became clear he was suffering from mononucleosis. Should be a decent player in about 3-4 years.

4th round, 105th overall: Emil Molin C
The smallest guy we took, listed as 6'0 but probably a bit generous there are questions on his size. However he put up very good numbers in the Swedish junior league and will be hopefully playing in the big league next season. Very good at setting up his team mates he could develop into a nice little playmaker.

5th round, 135th overall: Troy Vance D
Second biggest guy at the draft and some scouts even say he could develop into a more complete defender than even Oleksiak. Nice little story with this guy actually as he worked a bit with the Stars scouts who helped him out with his development and were the ones that suggested he go to the QMJHL to develop. Nice to see that come around to a player we draft. If Oleksiak and Vance both work out we could have one of the largest defensive cores in the league.

6th round, 165th overall: Matej Stransky RW
Pretty good size with a good amount of talent. Came over to the WHL from the Czech Rep last year so is already learning the NA game however has problems with consistency and could take some time before he is anywhere near NHL ready. If he can adjust well and become more consistent he could be a good player but that is a long way off yet.

7th round, 195th overall: Jyrki Jokipakka D
Another big D man at 6'3 that plays a physical game. Actually went through the draft unselected twice but hey, even Datsyuk was passed up in one draft right? Had a pretty good year putting up a goal and 2 assists with a +5 rating in 9 games for team Finland at the World Junior Championships.

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