‘08 NHL Draft Open Thread

its tooo early, bloody hell how did pleu find time to put his boss to bed, polish his bosses shoes, make coffee, and then show up so he could clean off the blues draft table? so much to do so little time to do it

heard nice things about #34.

remembered basil being on brett hull’s line for half a season, wonder if his son can spend half a seaon playing with… wow, nevermind w dont have a true offensive star…

McRae ranked #56 among North American skaters. Center, Shoots L, Played for London OHL, GP 66 G 18 A 28 P 46 PIM 61

Allen ranked #8 among NA goalies. Played for St. John’s QMJHL. Goalie, Catches L , GP 30 Mins 1507 GAA 3.14 SO 2 Sv % .901

Are you sure that’s Basil McRae in the picture, Brad? That looks like our Euro scout Ville Siren to me…

NHL.com says Philip is a power forward with a bull-in-a-china-shop skating style; sounds something like Backes when he was drafted.

Allen took a meteoric rise up the charts in the second half; his performance at the U-18 WJC’s sealed the deal for him.

As our buddy Randy Brickland would say, “more to come.” The Blues are about to pick in the third round, with the first of their three picks.

B.

We got a Finn. C, JORI LEHTERA

…and the pick is made.

The first Euro chosen by the Blues in this draft, Finnish center Jori Lehtera. 6-02, 191, shoots left, born December 23, 1987 (yes, he’s already 20 going on 21), 13-29-42, 32 PIM in 54 games for Tappara juniors.

He’s physically mature and already 20; this guy could be in Peoria next year.

B.

Ranked #23 among European skaters. LEHTERA, JORI, Played for TAPPARA 6’ 2.0" 191 lbs, C, Shoots L, GP 54 G 13 A 29 Pts 42 PIM 32

James Livingston RW next for the Blues

Livingston ranked #53 among NA skaters.

With the pick acquired in the Mayers trade with TO, the Blues take RW James Livingston from Sault Ste. Marie (OHL).

He dropped in the rankings a bit from mid-term (42) to final (53), but has decent size at 6-01, 200. Played all 68 games for the Hounds in the regular season, 21-23-44 with 135 PIM. NHL.com says he’s a good forechecker and a good all-around player with a long skating stride that makes him look slow, but he’s not really.

B.

Damn… the Islanders took Niemi. I really wanted this guy and his 97 MPH slapshot in the ’Note.

B.

Brian, yes that’s Basil. He was on NHL Network this morning with his son. It’s definitely him, second to the right of Pietrangelo (not second from the right).

Ian Schultz, RW, Calgary (WHL)
6-01, 179, 02-04-90, Calgary, AB

Calgary (WHL) 67, 15-15-30, 128

Don’t know much about this guy; his brother Jeff plays for the Capitals. Looks like a grinder type.

B.

McKeens Hockey Prospects has this to say about Schultz:

“Works hard, is creative with the puck, and shows lots of good character and leadership traits .. a strong skater with a good stride and excellent work ethic .. he has shown flashes of nifty moves and good stickhandling with the confidence to challenge opposing players using his speed and agility .. he needs to work a little harder on his defensive game especially his backchecking and rejoining the rush with the puck going the other way .. could develop into a good two-way player with the potential for some (scoring) upside.”

B.

We’ll be in the fourth round soom… it’s getting close to Anders Lee and David Ullstrom territory.

B.

http://nhldraftnotes.blogspot.com/2008/05/schultz-ian-rw-calgary.html

he says something pretty much the opposite of mckeens

Hmmm… THIS was an unexpected pick.

David Warsofsky, US NTDP U-18
Defense, shoots left, 5-08, 165
Born 05-30-90, Weymouth, Massachusetts

USNTDP 48, 9-23-32, 26
Committed to Boston University (HEA) for 2008-09

NHL Central Scouting’s Jack Barzee (on NHL.com) says:

“David is a small, smart defenseman with quick feet. He has good speed jumping in to the play and a big shot from the point. At his size, he needs to take better care of the puck and continue to get stronger, but overall he comes to play and plays bigger than his size.”
 
B.

Stefanovich fell all the way to the Leafs at #98, and Phoenix took Colin Long (he of the big hair) at #99.

B.

Warsofsky sounds like an American version of Andrei Pervyshin to me… lots of talent, but his size is going to be a real limiting factor as he progresses to higher levels. Pervyshin seems to have found a niche in the RSL, but I wonder if Warsofsky can do the same over here.

B.

Damn Islanders…. they took Ullstrom, too.

They might as well draft Anders Lee next.

Good thing I’ve always been kind of a secret Islanders fan, ever since their dynasty days.

B.

"God has a special providence for fools, drunks, and the United States of America. "

Can’t wait to see Brian’s final report.

it seems like the Blues have taken a lot of ‘projects’ in this year’s draft. That must mean they are satified with the prospects they had coming into this year and are looking for one of this years kids to break out in some fashion. I’d like to know what they know when you pass up on other sure fire talents.

Strange the Blues last year with their last pick chose Peluso and let Maroon goto Philly. Maroon only led the Knights in points this year. Is McRea taken so as not to be embarrassed locally again?

Holy Crap .. I just woke up and started catching up with the draft. Montreal just picked up a 6’ 8" goaltender. He says when he goes to his knees, the crossbar is at his shoulder.

Good point about the “projects,” Chris. That occurred to me as well; the Blues really haven’t picked anybody with elite offense from the forward positions, or even real elite offensive upside, at least from what I can see. McRae and Livingston, maybe, but they’ve got some developing to do yet.

At 125th overall, the Blues got a “faller.”

Kristoffer Beglund, D, Bjorkloven (Swe-2)
Defense, shoots left, 5-10 180
Born 08-12-88, Umea, Sweden

Ranked 9th in Europe at mid-term. 14th in the final CSS rankings.

More info forthcoming.

B.

Anthony Nigro in the 6th ….. no Anders Lee …

With their last pick in this draft, the Blues select:

Anthony Nigro, C, Guelph (OHL)
Center, shoots left, 6-00, 189
Born 01-11-90, Toronto, ON

Guelph (OHL) 67, 24-24-48, 65 PIM

NHL Central Scouting’s Al Jensen, on NHL.com:

“Anthony is a hard working, responsible two-way player who has the ability to produce. While he needs to continue to improve his skating and puckhandling ability, he does compete hard, protects the puck well and is good on faceoffs.”

Guelph Storm head coach and GM (and former Blue) Dave Barr, on NHL.com:

“Anthony is a very intelligent two-way player with very good hands and a goal scorer’s shot.”

B.

Damn… no Anders Lee. Your GTPD struck out on his Tomas Kana special fror this year.

I really had a good feeling about that kid, too. I hope no one else picks him, and he goes back into the draft next year after his senior year of HS.

B.

McCrae has a ton more heart than the floater Maroon

I see London all the time

The Coaches are always yelling at Maroon to pick it up every game

The Blues made a deal with the Kings re-acquiring their seventh round pick. They used it on Paul Karpowich. They misspelled his name on the Blues’ draft central Web page. Oops.

Apparently he’s a goaltender.

has anyone ever stated it out. found the risers and the fallers and looked at them all 10 years later? is there a reason, statistically, risers rise and fallers fall, or is it just random acts of scouting?

The scoot on Karpowich.

KARPOWICH, Paul
Goaltender, Catches left
6-03, 185
Born 10-25-88, Thunder Bay, ON
Commitment: Clarkson (ECAC) 2008

2007-08 Wellington (OPJHL) 22 GP, 1201:35 mins, 15-3-2, 3 so, 43 ga, 2.15, 0.922 save %

Lester Patrick wrote:

"McCrae has a ton more heart than the floater Maroon

I see London all the time

The Coaches are always yelling at Maroon to pick it up every game"

==

I hear the same thing, whch is why I haven’t been too PO’d about the Blues’ “failure” to draft Maroon, despite his big numbers with the Bandits and in London.

The Blues are making a commitment to players with local ties, as it makes sense to do so AND as these players fit into their long-range plan.

Perry Turnbull’s kid, Travis, is coming to the Development Camp next week, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him signed by the Blues as a free agent when UM’s season ends next March.

CT, you raise an interssting point, and I don’t know of any study ever having been done on risers and fallers, but it’d be interesting to research.

I probably can’t be the one to do it, though… I’m getting enough of the bad eye and the cold shoulder from Mrs. GTPD because I told her I’d be on the computer all day working on my Draft Review for publication tomorrow morning, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.

B.

a link to us (well brian really) also had a link to the best news headline ever!

id have to say, ok it probably was

http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=5A90A4C5854BAEE226825CA18D024D29?contentId=5657259&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

blues’ drafting trends

2003-2006 drafts averaged : 48% euros

2007 & 2008 averaged 20% euros

heck even the blues have figured it out:). nhl says nyet to overseas players!

trivia question #1 of the players the blues have rafted this millenium, who has the most nhl games played?

Re: CT’s link.

That’s the first place I’d look for “crack,” all right…

B.

CT wrote:

“trivia question #1 of the players the blues have rafted this millenium, who has the most nhl games played?”

==

I’m going to guess one of my all-time favorites, Petr Cajanek; drafted in 2001 and has 269 NHL games to his credit.

B.

yep. even though many us think they have been doing better, 2000-2007, not much nhl level talent to this day still. and jay has to play over half this coming season to pass him. jay may not last that long.

lee got to do a pretty much a reg season.

1997 is most recent draft to produce a 400g nhl, 1995 to produce a 500 gamer.

on the plus side, this is actually better than the vaulkted red wings these days. of course our gamers are hecht, cajanek, and nagy while they got zett and datsyuk.

oh well

One correction… Lehtra played for the Tappara senior team, not their junior squad.

Lots of “project” types in this draft, but they made at least one “steal” by nabbing Berglund in the fifth round, and the Karpowich kid might be a sleeper.

Overall, the Blues have quadrupled their presence in major junior for next season; this year they had Brett Sonne and Anthony Peluso playing major junior, and that’s it.

Next year, they’ll have those two plus Pietrangelo, McRae, Livingston, Allen, Schultz and Nigro on major junior rosters.

While I personally like the idea of drafting Europeans, I’m pretty happy with the fact that the Blues will have a good handful of kids in major junior next year, and another large contingent — Warsofsky, Karpowich, Cole, Palushaj, Fairchild, Erstad, Nill, Turek, Sackrison and McCollem — playing NCAA Division I hockey.

That’s 18 players — 11 forwards, five defensemen, and two goalies, or essentially a full team — all playing in North America and developing in the North American style of play and environment. And 14 of those guys are three years or less away from turning pro.

Things are looking up in Bluesborough…

B.

I just rushed through so this may be out of place but my theory is NO EUROS. EVER.