I wanna be like Miikka
06-22-2013, 03:04 PM
Well despite the rumors circulating about Seth Jones going number one, the Ducks were still confident he would be available for picks 2 and 3 in the CPHL Draft. Heading into the draft the Ducks were fortunate to have picks 2, 3, 5, 6 and 14. We have been debating for days who to select and pretty much came up with every possible combination. At one point we thought about going Drouin-Barkov, allowing Jones to go 4 and then taking Lindholm-Monahan for 5 and 6. That would have likely gotten us the Flames player. However, as we all know predicting the draft is a crapshoot and imagine if we did that then the Flames selected someone else! So at the end of the day the Ducks decided to just create a list of BPA and draft from that. Here is how it broke down.
2nd Overall - Jonathan Drouin
http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/2012/12/18/drouin_63983.jpg
In all the lists we created, Drouin was always included as going 2 or 3. He was a guy we knew we wanted in the organization. A great playmaker on the wing, our ideal situation would see him drafted by the NHL Lightning to play alongside Stamkos but with his skill we are sure he will end up producing anywhere.
3rd overall - Seth Jones
http://whl.uploads.mrx.ca/portland/images/en/rosterhead/2012/09/Jones%20IMG_8598%20304x2911643.jpg
Lots of debate into this pick. Right below him is Barkov who has 1st line C potential. Knowing we would be selecting forwards with our other picks, it made it easy to pick up Jones. He is one of the best D-men to come out of the draft in years and I think it speaks volumes that despite the numerous talented forwards in this years draft, Seth is always one of the top prospects and has a very good chance to go top 3 in the NHL draft. He likely will take a bit longer to develop then a forward but hopefully at the end of the day it is worth it.
5th overall - Elias Lindholm
http://www.eliteprospects.com/layout/players/elias_lindholm_4.jpg
Who to take, Monahan or Lindholm. Well Elias was selected because we think he has 1st line potential and appears to be a Backstrom-lite. Hopefully he doesn't end up on the NHL Oilers but regardless we really think we got a player here.
6th overall - Valery Nichushkin
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02S75WT8DodPP/350x.jpg
This was a bit out of character for me, I usually prefer the safe pick rather then the wildcard. I could have gone monahan who has a very good chance of being a Flame pick. He also seems to be a safe bet as a solid 2nd line C. However, Nich looked like a beast at the combine and with his physical skillset we had to add him to our prospect ranks. He has all the tools to be a great goalscorer in the NHL, as we all know he is comparable to the top 3 in the draft (talent wise). He may drop in the NHL draft but if this kid makes it in the NHL then he'll be a good one that's for sure.
14th overall - Alexander Wennberg
http://cdn2-www.hockeysfuture.com/assets/uploads/2013/02/alexander_wennberg.jpg
Here is a guy that we could see going anywhere from 9-22 in the NHL draft. He wasn't playing in the best of leagues and appeared to have improved as his season went on. Not many scouts talking about this guy but hopefully a strong drafting team like Ottawa or Detroit nabs him. Although unlikely, we hope he turns into Zetterberg 2.0 :)
Thoughts about the other selections:
Pretty good bet that anybody Grant selected will be going 10-15 spots higher from where he got them. I wouldn't be shocked if Burakowsky ends up a Flame on draft day. Thought Dallas did a good job picking up Zadarov at 20 even though I'm not huge on his offensive ability. Colorado taking Fucale was nice as I would be amazed if he did not go in round 1 in the NHL Draft, however if CPHL GMs continue to hate goalie prospects then it won't really matter how high he goes! Erne and Petan were 2 guys I also liked in the late 1st, maybe because I could see either of them going to the Flames, we'll have to see!
Looking forward to next weekend to see how everything pans out. At the end of the day hopefully the BPA strategy pays off, but it will obviously take some time to see how it was. In our ideal situation we will keep at 3-4 of the guys we selected from now until when they have ratings.
2nd Overall - Jonathan Drouin
http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/2012/12/18/drouin_63983.jpg
In all the lists we created, Drouin was always included as going 2 or 3. He was a guy we knew we wanted in the organization. A great playmaker on the wing, our ideal situation would see him drafted by the NHL Lightning to play alongside Stamkos but with his skill we are sure he will end up producing anywhere.
3rd overall - Seth Jones
http://whl.uploads.mrx.ca/portland/images/en/rosterhead/2012/09/Jones%20IMG_8598%20304x2911643.jpg
Lots of debate into this pick. Right below him is Barkov who has 1st line C potential. Knowing we would be selecting forwards with our other picks, it made it easy to pick up Jones. He is one of the best D-men to come out of the draft in years and I think it speaks volumes that despite the numerous talented forwards in this years draft, Seth is always one of the top prospects and has a very good chance to go top 3 in the NHL draft. He likely will take a bit longer to develop then a forward but hopefully at the end of the day it is worth it.
5th overall - Elias Lindholm
http://www.eliteprospects.com/layout/players/elias_lindholm_4.jpg
Who to take, Monahan or Lindholm. Well Elias was selected because we think he has 1st line potential and appears to be a Backstrom-lite. Hopefully he doesn't end up on the NHL Oilers but regardless we really think we got a player here.
6th overall - Valery Nichushkin
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02S75WT8DodPP/350x.jpg
This was a bit out of character for me, I usually prefer the safe pick rather then the wildcard. I could have gone monahan who has a very good chance of being a Flame pick. He also seems to be a safe bet as a solid 2nd line C. However, Nich looked like a beast at the combine and with his physical skillset we had to add him to our prospect ranks. He has all the tools to be a great goalscorer in the NHL, as we all know he is comparable to the top 3 in the draft (talent wise). He may drop in the NHL draft but if this kid makes it in the NHL then he'll be a good one that's for sure.
14th overall - Alexander Wennberg
http://cdn2-www.hockeysfuture.com/assets/uploads/2013/02/alexander_wennberg.jpg
Here is a guy that we could see going anywhere from 9-22 in the NHL draft. He wasn't playing in the best of leagues and appeared to have improved as his season went on. Not many scouts talking about this guy but hopefully a strong drafting team like Ottawa or Detroit nabs him. Although unlikely, we hope he turns into Zetterberg 2.0 :)
Thoughts about the other selections:
Pretty good bet that anybody Grant selected will be going 10-15 spots higher from where he got them. I wouldn't be shocked if Burakowsky ends up a Flame on draft day. Thought Dallas did a good job picking up Zadarov at 20 even though I'm not huge on his offensive ability. Colorado taking Fucale was nice as I would be amazed if he did not go in round 1 in the NHL Draft, however if CPHL GMs continue to hate goalie prospects then it won't really matter how high he goes! Erne and Petan were 2 guys I also liked in the late 1st, maybe because I could see either of them going to the Flames, we'll have to see!
Looking forward to next weekend to see how everything pans out. At the end of the day hopefully the BPA strategy pays off, but it will obviously take some time to see how it was. In our ideal situation we will keep at 3-4 of the guys we selected from now until when they have ratings.