Late Friday Night…..

Random Thoughts on the first round of the NHL Draft (in point form…I am tired)

– I have updated all of the profiles of the players drafted tonight. Feel free to browse through them if you need to know more on them. Expect more in-depth breakdowns from me over the course of the next few weeks.

– Surprised at the lack of trades of draft picks.  I was expecting more. Kudos for the Calgary Flames trading down to land a player they knew that they could get later.

– 8 defenseman in the top 10….wow.

– I think that the Canadian teams did extremely well.

• Edmonton completes an extremely dynamic first line with Hall-RNH-Yakupov.
• The Habs grab the player they needed most in Galchenyuk and he could become the best forward down the road of this draft class.
• Toronto got a fantastic value pick selecting Morgan Rielly, who has the potential to be the best player at his position from this draft class.
• Winnipeg grabbed Jacob Trouba who will log huge minutes for the Jets over the next decade.
• Calgary took a big risk grabbing a raw prospect in Jankowski but the Flames really need a prospect in their system with good projectable upside.Jankowski could be that player.
• Vancouver added Brendan Gaunce who will fill in nicely as the replacement to Cody Hodgson who was traded away last season.
• Buffalo was the team that best addressed their needs through the middle of the draft adding Grigorenko (12th) and Girgensons (14th). After drafting a player with questionable work ethic in Grigorenko, Buffalo turns around and trades up to grab one of the hardest working forwards available in Girgensons. Great move! Derek Roy is virtually expendable now. Buffalo hit the G-spot! (Too much?)

– The hometown Penguins did a fantastic job solidifying their backend for the next few years adding Derrick Pouliot (an offensive defenseman) and Olli Maatta (a strong reliable two-way defenseman). Pittsburgh’s scouting department has been drafting outstanding defensemen as of late. If only that success carried over with forward prospects.

– Philadelphia drafting Scott Laughton was awesome. From a personality and playing style perspective, there really wasn’t a better fit in the first round.

– The biggest surprise of the first round? Hampus Lindholm going as high as 6th overall was shocking to me but he’s a player that us North American folks aren’t as familiar with so I was reday for anything there.

– The worst part of the NHL Draft? Having to listen to Pierre McGuire. Creepy! Plus, from some of his comments, you can tell that he doesn’t watch some of these prospects play. Also, his man-crush on the Subban is expanding to limits that should not be allowed to be televised.

– Washington also had a strong first round adding Filip Forsberg at 11th (gift) and Tom Wilson. The latter is going to be a treat to watch over the next few years.

– Overall, I was not surprised to see any of the players selected in the first round taken – all worthy candidates.

– How cool is it going to be to see Malcolm Subban play against his brother PK as division rivals? Great pick by Boston!

– Best players available for the second round: Sebastian Collberg, Pontus Aberg, Matt Finn, Ludvig Bystrom, Colton Sissons, Phil Di Giuseppe, Martin Frk, and Oscar Dansk.

– Only six of my top 30 ranked players did not crack the first round – Sebastian Collberg (16th), Pontus Aberg (20th), Matt Finn (21st), Oscar Dansk (23rd),  Ludvig Bystrom (24th), and Anton Slepyshev (28th), who I knew wouldn’t be taken in the first.

I will be busy tomorrow but will be following the draft closely from my iPhone.

Situations/Players I will be watching closely are:

• The draft locations of Athanasiou, Marcantuoni, Ebert and Dane Fox, who all have knocks against them for different reasons.
• Do the Rupert twins from London both get drafted? If so, how high will these agitators go?
• When do the Russians get drafted (Slepyshev, Prokhorkin, Gusev)
• When and where do overage forwards Seth Griffith, Tanner Richard, Tomas Hyka, Anton Zlobin, Kevin Roy, Michael Houser, and Andrey Makarov get draft?
• Always interested in seeing the players who go much higher than expected in the middle rounds. Keep an eye out.

Good night!