Next pick #100 - who will it be?

[NWTHabsFan]

Well, we draft second overall tomorrow

Lots of good names still out there as some teams have used the first three rounds to shoot way off the charts. Wes O'Neill can't have fared well in the interviews or in the eyes of scouts as no one has touched him yet. Dropping like crazy down the charts.

For our #100 pick I have the following two lead candidates:

Juraj Gracik W Topolcany (Slovakia) 6'3" 187lbs 34pts in 28 games 78 pim
Oscar Hedman D MoDo (Seden) 6'0" 207lbs 3 pts in 24 games 6 pim

I would like to see Gracik, as that would have the top three Habs picks for 2004 being a character forward with size (the Chippy Chippy Bang Bang), a hard nosed D (Yemelin) and Gracik (skilled forward). Really nice mix there. Hedman would not be bad as I read some HF posters saying that they thought he had a bit better upside than Fransson, who many in Habville have liked.

Looking at the 150th pick (and well into the depths of the crap shoot where players are just names and stats for me), I hope one of either Sergei Shirokov or Ladislav Scurko are still around. Shirokov played on CSKA-2, so our scouts keeping an eye on Kasty would have seen lots of him. Scurko bring a bit more size and jam, with 110 pim. Both averaged well over a point per game. A steal at #150 (but what the heck do I know)!!

[Vinna]

Bring on Vincent Goulet at 150...go Vinny

[NWTHabsFan]

Gainey is being quoted as saying he will be after adding goalie depth in this draft, so the next top rated undrafted goalies after day one are:

NA: Jason Churchill Halifax (QMJHL) 3.73 gaa .886 svg% (9th NA goalie, #78 THN top 100)
NA: Julien Ellis-Plante Shawinigan (QMJHL) 2.85 gaa .903 svg% (10th NA goalie)
Inter: Magnus Akerlund (Swe Jrs) 3.28 gaa .892 svg% (2nd Int. goalie, #91 THN top 100)
Inter: Michal Valent (Slo Jrs) 3.24 gaa .906 svg% (3rd Int. goalie)

Our European and Q scouting appear to be very strong, so they will likely have pretty good reports on these kids.

I don't see BG using the #100 pick on a goalie since I think there are still some excellent skaters out there that would definitely get the BPA nod, but I won't be the least surprised to see the 5th round pick going goalie with one of these guys.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Well, it's hard to match "montreal's" call of "Reggie" Yemelin, but I'll try.

For pick #100, either Seitsonen or O'Neill would be swell.

For the subsequent 6 picks (150, 181, 212, 246, 262, 278), in no particular order and assuming any of them are available, selections from the list below would be OK by me.

Fugère
Hedman
Painchaud
David Brown
Gracik
Callahan
Carson
Tomanek
Haskins
Sersen
Akerlund
Schulz
Vorobiev
Steber
Shirokov
Axelsson
Plyuschev
Keller
Lundin
Cabana
Churchill
Hellstrom
Demen-Willaume

How's that for posterior upholstering?

[montreal]

I'll go for Hedman, I hope it's not a goalie at 100th.

Julien Sprunger would be who I'd like us to get.

O'Neil, Kevin Poter, Jannik Hansen, Mike Lundin would be interesting picks imo.

[Carv]

No info on him yet. Put up good offensive numbers but I am not sure what USHSW is? Is that High School?

[FormerLurker]

From HF: www.hockeysfuture.com/prospect.php?pid=4013

Wyman was the third player from Blake School named a Mr. Hockey finalist and was listed as the third ranked player by Central Scouting, but finished as the leading scorer for the Bears with 54 points. The right winger, listed 86th among North American Skaters, was a tremendous offensive player for his team last year, scoring goals in 21 of 24 games.

A league coach had this to say about Wyman: “Wyman has the ability to single handedly change the game in one shift. He is very explosive and is a pure goal scorer. He has a tremendous first three strides, has nice hands, and a quick release. He will have to develop his play in the last 100 feet to make himself a more complete player.”<br>
Wyman is headed to the ECAC next season, as he has committed to Dartmouth (ECAC).

Also, the kid is a lacrosse player, which suggests good hand-eye coordination and ruggedness. www.blakeschool.org/athletics/blacrosse/02season/02summary.html

He's a 6'-2" 185 lb. RW.

[blaise]

Another goaltender? Why? There seem to be enough in the overall organization, and Danis promises to be of #1 caliber eventually.

[JFM]

Blaise said:

Another goaltender? Why? There seem to be enough in the overall organization, and Danis promises to be of #1 caliber eventually.

As the trade of Garon shows.... you never have enough depth at ANY position. I'm not too high on the potential of goalies like Michaud, Fichaud, Damphousse. I like Danis and Halak. There's a Finnish goalie who's name escapes me now, and a Swedish one chosen last year that I don't know enough about to comment on. Depth is good. Adding a goalie is always good because IMO it's the position that is the most hit or miss in developing successfully.

[Skilly]

NWTHabsFan said:

NA: Jason Churchill Halifax (QMJHL) 3.73 gaa .886 svg% (9th NA goalie, #78 THN top 100)

Another Newfoundlander. San Jose got a bigger heart today, just like the Grinch.

[NWTHabsFan]

JFM said:

There's a Finnish goalie who's name escapes me now, and a Swedish one chosen last year that I don't know enough about to comment on.

Joni Puurula plays in the Finnish top league.

Chris Heino-Lindberg is the young Swedish goalie picked last year and could be part of their WJC team next year.

Choosing one goalie a draft is just good insurance, IMO. Look what Dallas did recently. Because they had good depth, they traded one of their young goalies for Shawn Belle, a good big D prospect from last year's draft. Draft for depth, trade for need!!

[PTH]

Blaise said:

Another goaltender? Why? There seem to be enough in the overall organization, and Danis promises to be of #1 caliber eventually.

I know many organisations want to always want a Junior goalie in the system (ie, quotes in THN "we need to have a Junior goalie in the org., etc.). I can see two reasons for this:
- it means you always have a goalie to develop. When you have a farm team, you want to use it well. Even with a young #1, draft a goalie a year, something like 50% are worth giving a chance to in the AHL, and develop them, who knows, a Tomas Vokun can always emerge.
-emergency backup. Teams like having someone, somewhere ther can call up in an emergency, if one of the 2 NHLers goes down and the AHL org can't immediately do without a goalie. Kind of how we used Michaud.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

FormerLurker said:

From HF: www.hockeysfuture.com/prospect.php?pid=4013

Wyman was the third player from Blake School named a Mr. Hockey finalist and was listed as the third ranked player by Central Scouting, but finished as the leading scorer for the Bears with 54 points. The right winger, listed 86th among North American Skaters, was a tremendous offensive player for his team last year, scoring goals in 21 of 24 games.

A league coach had this to say about Wyman: “Wyman has the ability to single handedly change the game in one shift. He is very explosive and is a pure goal scorer. He has a tremendous first three strides, has nice hands, and a quick release. He will have to develop his play in the last 100 feet to make himself a more complete player.”<br>
Wyman is headed to the ECAC next season, as he has committed to Dartmouth (ECAC).

Also, the kid is a lacrosse player, which suggests good hand-eye coordination and ruggedness. www.blakeschool.org/athletics/blacrosse/02season/02summary.html

He's a 6'-2" 185 lb. RW.

Never seen any of these guys play, but 6'2 and "tremendous first three strides" is a good start. If we can get him to tremendous three periods we have a winner.

We now have a lot of depth in the minors from a few years of good drafting. Time for the cream to rise to the top.

Prediction:

Locke, Higgins and Hainsey will join the big club with Hossa riding the pines if one of them falters.

[blaise]

M. said:

Well, it's hard to match "montreal's" call of "Reggie" Yemelin, but I'll try.

And to think they later added Alex Dulac-Lemelin to the list! Yemelin and Lemelin. Which one truly deserves the "Reggie" appellation? ;D