1st Round
25th Overall
Carter Ashton
12th ranked NA Skater
NHL Central Scouting:
"Carter is a solid prototypical power forward; he knows the game and really is astute at the power-play and penalty kill, offensive and defensive parts of his game. He has been complimented for being hockey smart, perhaps the savvy coming from his dad who played 998 games in the NHL."We were quite happy to see Carter drop to us. We were originally targeting Landon Ferraro, but when we saw the bigger, more physical Ashton, we had to scoop him up.
2nd Round
32nd overall
Stefan Elliott
17th ranked NA Skater
NHL Central Scouting:
"Stefan is your all-around, good NHL prospect defenseman. For the Saskatoon Blades, he is an equal mix of solid defense and good offense. Sometimes he is leading the rush, he has that capability, but more often he's supporting the rush or starting it with his good first pass out of the zone."Another surprise for us. Stefan is solid at both ends of the ice and has above average puck handling skills. He was the 6th ranked NA defenseman...and the way things were going, we didn't think he'd be there.
37th Overall
Olivier Roy
2nd ranked NA Goalie
NHL Central Scouting:
“He catches your attention. He's steady and he plays well all the time.”
Debatably the best goalie in the draft. He's quick as lighting and is a huge competitor and wants to win at all costs...but he needs to pack a few pounds on.
59th Overall
Seth Helgeson
41 Ranked NA Skater
Sioux City Head Coach Todd Knott:
Seth’s biggest asset is his 6’4”, 220 pound frame; he moves well for a big guy and has a good skill set to go along with that. At the next level, Seth will have to learn how to play with an edge more consistently as he is just figuring out how to use his body to his advantage. He is a raw project, who has a huge upside because of his athleticism. He is a great teammate along with being a great citizen and role model in the community.”
Nothing fancy about this kid, just a big, physical defensive defenseman. We hope he can add a bit of nasty to his play at the University of Minnesota next year.
61st Overall
Dimitri Orlov
9th ranked EU Skater
NHL EuropeanScouting:
“Orlov is an extremely skilled offensive-minded defenseman with excellent hand eye coordination. He makes good, hard, tape-to-tape passes and his excellent stickhandling, supported by very efficient small dekes, gains him extra time and space. He isn’t overly physical, but he is noticeably strong.”
With our last pick we figured we'd gamble on a Russian. He's a high risk, high reward type player and we feel he'd be rated higher if it wasn't for the KHL and lack of a transfer agreement.
So overall we're happy with what we got. Kind of figured I'd have picked more forwards, but the defesemen seemed to be the guys with more talent. 3 CHL players, a college player and European prospect...not a bad haul.
We used the Hockey News draft issue as our main source of information, along with NHL web page central scouting ranking
Blues Draft Review
