Habs Draft

[simmer2]

First of all, a big thanks to Ravi and Matt for making my picks. You guys did a terrific job.

Now to the picks:

1st Round, 24th Pick

John Carlson - 6'3, Right Defenseman

We were surprised and delighted to see this big, imposing d-man fall to us at #24. He is strong on his feet, agile, powerful, and has a booming shot. Being a right-handed d-man never hurts. We are very happy with this selection.

2nd Round, 29th Pick

Brandon Burlon - 6'1, Left Defenseman - St. Michaels (Ontario Jun. A)

Brandon is a strong, smooth-skating who many scouts noticed when looking at Joe Colborne. This was a guy we had read a fair bit about and we are excited to add him to our team.

3rd Round, 11th Pick

Robby Czarnik - 6'0, RW - US U-18

Czarnik is an excellent all-around player. He is one of those players who doesn't stand out but does the little things well. He was ranked 32nd this year by ISS, whatever that means.

3rd Round, 20th Pick

Johan Motin, 6'1 LD - Bofors, Sweden

Mid-season rankings had this strong skating d-man going in the 1st Round. He was the top Swedish D-Man at the WJC and came out with a strong +5 rating in 6GP, especially considering he was playing against the top players in the world. We were delighted to pick up Motin at this spot.

4th Round, 17th Pick

Andre Petersson, 5'10 - HV71, Sweden

While standing a mere 5'10, he is considered the top pure sniper coming out of Sweden this year. He made a lot of scout's heads turn at the IIHF U-18 Worlds and we felt his pure skill can overcome his lack of size at the next level.

5th Round, 7th Pick

Maxim Trunev, 6'0, RW - Severstal, Russia

Trunev is one of the youngest players available in the draft. He is playing on Severstal on the top 2 lines, so he must be impressing someone. The other reason we picked up this kid is because I actually scouted him myself at the Mac's Midget Tournament. The kid was heads above everyone else and really impressed me. This could go absolutely nowhere but this is my homer pick.

5th Round, 9th Pick

Ilmari Pitkanen, LW, 6'0 - Jokerit Jr. Finland

This is a bit of a random pick. Pitkanen is a strong, aggressive hockey player. Some scouting reports say he is the most consistent Euro in the draft. He's a hard-working player who scored 5 goals in the final game to earn his team the Finnish Midget title. If that isn't clutch I don't know what is.

[simmer2]

Quick draft review by the Habs...our picks were very close to where they actually went...the only guy we struck out on was Ilmari Pitkanen.

John Carlson - CPHL 24, NHL 27 -3 (WASHINGTON)
Brandon Burlon - CPHL 59, NHL 52 +7 (NJD)
Robbie Czarnik - CPHL 71, NHL 62 - +9 (LA)
Johan Motin - CPHL 80, NHL 103 -23 (COILERS)
Andre Petersson - CPHL 107, NHL 109 -2 (OTT)
Maxim Trunev - CPHL 127, NHL 138 -11 (MTL)
Ilmari Pitkanen - CPHL 129, NHL not drafted
David Ullstrom - CPHL Free Agent, NHL 102 (NYI)
Kristopher Berglund - CPHL Free Agent, NHL 125 (STL)

I was really happy to see Trunev get drafted considering I actually scouted him!

[simmer2]

Maxim Trunev was just taken 3rd overall in the CHL Import Draft by the Portland Winter Hawks, ahead of Vyacheslav Voinov. It will be interesting to see if the kid comes over. Talk is that the Habs Scouts had spoken with him and were confident they could get the kid over to the CHL to play.