The NHL Draft is now complete and in the books. There were some trades and some surprise picks, but teams can now send their scouts out to start looking at the potential picks for the 2012 draft while the front office prepares for free agency. Here's a look at some of the things from this past weekend... The Avs Picks : With the Avalanche only having 2 picks in the first 3 rounds, and both of those being in the top 11, it was important for them to come away with two great prospects. At #2 they sacrificed a little potential offence in Huberdeau and passed on a potential franchise defender in Larsson to take the NHL ready, skilled, gritty winger in Gabriel Landeskog. He will fit in great on Duchene or Stastny's wing and help with the loss of Stewart. While perhaps a bit below top end offensively he is a huge character guy with more grit and two-way play than the others it sounds. At #11 they passed on Murphy who you'll see in the 'fallers' section and instead took the big bruising Duncan Seimens. He as said is a big physical defender and should fall into the mold of an Adam Foote replacement with perhaps a little more offense. Overall these two picks are great, and while the team passed on some names I recognized later on and didn't grab a goalie this year they did get some young guys with size in the later rounds and as with all drafts only time will tell on those picks.
The Fallers : There were a number of players that fell a little or a lot from where they were expected and some were more surprising than others. The Devils got the best defenseman in the draft and while it can't be considered a drop really given the way things played out, getting Larsson at #4 was a great pick for them. Couturier, considered a top 5 guy and who started at #1 before the season, was a great guy to find at #8 for the Flyers, and Hamilton at #9 for the Cup Champion Bruins was great as well. The worries about defense and size for Murphy dropped him out of a sure top 8 pick to 12 as well where Carolina picked him up. Perhaps the biggest faller could have been Seth Ambroz who fell all the way into the 5th round amid questions about him. Given how far he fell I wouldn't have minded seeing the Avs use their fifth, just a few picks earlier, to take a chance on what was once considered a potential top 10 pick.
Surprisingly High : There were a couple of players that went higher than expected this year. Given that things were expected to be all over the board after the top 10 anyway I can't say that there were a ton of surprises, but there were certainly a couple for me. Brodin jumping up to 10 over guys like Murphy and Beaulieu among other defensemen still left was a surprise. The big surprise though was Scheifele going all the way up at #7 to Winnipeg, especially with a guy like Couturier still available, when he was expected more in the early teens to early 20s.
Great Drafts : It will be impossible to tell who had the best drafts until a few years down the road as it will take that long before we'll start seeing the full effects of the draft, but there were some teams that came away pretty well off this year from appearances. New Jersey getting a potential franchise defenseman at #4, Carolina getting a offensive d-man that is supposed to be an all-star at #12, and Ottawa with 3 great first round all are up there. Edmonton and Florida also came away with some great prospects and who can argue that Boston didn't get some great talent to go with their cup winning team.
Trades : There were a number of trades that happened leading up to and then at the draft. First I have to mention that my favorite player in Liles was traded to the Leafs for the Boston 2nd next year. I hate this move and it is a horrible return for him, but best of luck to Liles in Toronto. In addition to this Philly made major moves after getting the rights to Bryzgalov. In order to sign him they moved both Carter and Richards, huge pieces of their teams. They got good picks and young players in return however, including Brayden Schenn who is the top prospect not in the NHL and the 8th overall pick which became Couturier. They, along with the Kings and Jackets (their trading partners) have improved their teams in different ways for the next year and the Flyers will be a good team going forward even losing those two. Setoguchi to Minnesota in exchange for Burns, with picks being exchanged as well, was another big move. Overall there were some big moves and a number of moves where a pair of lower picks were given to move up to a higher pick this year, much as it is with every year.
Bruins : The trade of Kessel to the Leafs is now finished. In exchange it basically worked out to them trading for the second overall last year in Tyler Seguin along with Jared Knight, and then getting Dougie Hamilton this year. For a great scoring winger they get a potential first line stud, a great prospect in Knight, and a potential top pairing defenseman. That turned out to be a heck of a return for a guy it appeared that they weren't going to be able to sign.
Panthers/Blues : Given that one of these two teams may become my "girlfriend team" for next season (I will soon have a post explaining that) I figure it is good to check out their drafts as well. The Blues will be more of a wait and see having given their 1st to Colorado, however they got a good prospect in Ty Rattie with Colorado's 2nd to go with a pair of others in that round. The Panthers it is much easier to be happy with their draft. To go with their great prospects already (and that prospect pool is a reason that I have began watching them) they get a guy that was up there with Landeskog in my hopes for the Avalanche with Huberdeau at #3, then they get the underdog which I can't wait to see play in 5'6" Grimaldi. There is risk with that pick but great skill that could see him become the next Martin St Louis as well. Beyond that it will be more wait and see ... though they did bring in way overpriced Brian Campbell who still despite the price tag should help their blueline next year.
All in all it was once again another fun draft and I now have plenty of new faces to watch and be excited for, twice as many if I do decide to follow the Panthers as well. It is very possible that at least Landeskog I get to see in an Avs jersey already next season and I really look forward to that. He seems the type that could become one of my new favorites right away.
I'm not one to follow next year's prospects too much already, but I have heard about some of them and likely will keep a distant eye on things until the next season starts to wind down. For now though it is more about looking forward to the Avalanche next season along with keeping an eye on the kids now in the system. That has already started yesterday with the news of which players have been tendered qualifying offers and which won't be back. It ramps up significantly as well here in just a few days as the free agency period starts and the Avalanche are going to go out for their goalie and perhaps another player or two as well, especially since as of today they have a good amount of money to spend before they even reach the cap floor.
It is crazy to think that teams that didn't make the playoffs have been off for a couple of months, where the cup champions just finished up not that long ago. Then in short order we had the draft, free agency starts, and not too far off training camps start to open. I'm ready ... bring on free agency and then bring on the season!
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