My Draft Team

In 2007 I was a newcomer to the scouting scene and the NHL draft was very much a mystery to me.  Every year, regardless of how much I believe I have learned or what new experiences I believed were shaping to me to better understand the sport, projecting players and developing elite players, the NHL Draft always puts me back in my place.  It can be the most exciting, shocking and frustrating weekend of the year.  In 2007, the Draft took place in Columbus, Ohio but I watched it from my summer apartment in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I had been living in Finland at the time and had just recently decided I wanted to give scouting a go.  I decided that year I would take the final pick of every round to see what sort of team I could build.  I have done so every year since then and have built a very interesting roster.

As we lead into my 7^th NHL Entry Draft as a scout, here is a rundown of how my drafts have gone over the years.

2007 – Columbus, Ohio

I remember sitting down to watch the first round of this draft on tv, with lists upon lists and almost all of my notes from the previous year.  My favorite players that year were Jakub Voracek, Kevin Shattenkirk, Niclas Lucenius, Mikael Backlund and Jonathan Blum.  I had admittedly not seen a very broad range of hockey, scouting mostly the Finnish junior leagues that season but I had been back to Canada where I did see games in Halifax and Vancouver that year and I was also a volunteer at the 2007 U18 World Championships in Tampere, Finland, a tournament where my role was to manage the scout lounge.

1^st round – pick 31 – PK Subban (actual pick 43^rd overall) – I made this pick without really having seen him play, but two years earlier Pittsburgh had picked Kris Letang in the 2^nd round, and I could not get enough of him that year.  I had spoken to a scout in Finland about my man-crush on Letang and he turned me on to PK Subban.  I remember debating this pick between Subban and Oscar Moller (who I had seen and loved at the U18 World Championships that year) but ultimately took Subban completely based on the comparison to Letang.

2^nd round – pick 61 – Jamie Benn (actual pick 129^th overall) – I was fortunate enough to see Benn play with Kelowna that year…the only WHL game I saw all year.  Benn blew me away.  He didn’t look pretty but was always in the right place to make something happen and played with great fire.   I had really wanted to take Niclas Lucenius with this pick but didn’t think Benn would hang around (I was wrong).

3^rd round – pick 92 – Niclas Lucenius (actual pick 115^th overall) – He was the top offensive prospect in Finland that year and I got to see a ton of him.  I remember crossing off the teams watching him come up to the end of the 3^rd round and felt like a genius when he fell to my spot.

4^th round – pick 122 – Jake Muzzin (actual pick 141^st overall) – I took Muzzin on a whim and based on reports I had read out of Sault Ste. Marie.  I really wanted to take Niklas Torp with this pick but because of my earlier choice of Subban, I went after a steady two-way guy.  I didn’t know much about the guys I was reading about but Muzzin seemed to be the best player in the mould I wanted at that time in the draft.  I remember laughing with my roommate because we loved his name too….yes I did take him because of his name….

5^th round – pick 152 – Niklas Torp (actual pick 163^rd overall) – I had thought about taking Torp as high as the 2^nd round but kept convincing myself otherwise.   He was one of my favorite players during the U18 World Championships that year but I let other people’s fears about his size get to me.  I was starting to really struggle for picks at this point and he was still there, so I wrote his name down.

6^th round – pick 182 – Carson MacMillan (actual pick 200^th overall) – I read about 50 profiles of players I knew nothing about and had never seen.  My knowledge of this particular draft pool had pretty much reached its peak.  There were several Europeans that I didn’t mind after having seen them play at U18s that year.  MacMillan’s physicality and leadership were highlighted in one report I read and that appealed to me, so I took another blind shot.  A couple years later, when I moved to Calgary, MacMillan was the captain for the Calgary Hitmen and it was evident right away that he really actually was my type of player.

7^th round – pick 212 – Lukas Stoop (actual pick Undrafted) – Stoop was able to showcase himself well at U18s that year and I thought he would have gotten drafted mid-draft.  I was self-conscious about how many offensive D I had already taken.  He was still there at the end of the draft which surprised me, so I added him to my list.

Looking back at this year, I started that draft out very strong and wish I had actually been the semi-prevalent blogger that I tell myself I am in the mirror every day…I may have skipped some steps and become a GM by now…

 

2008 – Ottawa, Ontario

This was the first draft I actually attended in person.  I had been lucky enough to be invited to the NHLCA coaches conference and was brought around by then ISS head scout Mike Oke and GM Matt Ebbs to see what it was all about.  My favorite players going into this draft were: Erik Karlsson, Colin Wilson, Jacob Markstrom, Cody Hodgson and Nikita Filatov.

1^st round – pick 31 – Jakob Markstrom (actual pick 31)

2^nd round – pick 61 – Adam Henrique (actual pick 82)

3^rd round – pick 91 – Braden Holtby (actual pick 93)

4^th round – pick 121 – Andrei Loktionov (actual pick 123)

5^th round – pick 151 – Teemu Hartikainen (actual pick 163) -

6^th round – pick 181 – Nick Pryor (actual pick 208) -

7^th round – pick 211 – Ilmari Pitkanen (actual pick Undrafted) – I once watched Pitkanen score 6 goals in a U17 national team tryout against the best players in Finland.  He

 

2009 – Montreal, Quebec

My favorites for this draft were Brayden Schenn, Toni Rajala, Kyle Clifford, Tomas Tatar and Cody Eakin.

1^st round – pick 31 – Ryan O’Reilly (actual pick 33) -

2^nd round – pick 61 – Brayden McNabb (actual pick 66) -

3^rd round – pick 91 – Toni Rajala (actual pick 101) -

4^th round – pick 121 – Markus Kruger (actual pick 149) -

5^th round – pick 151 – Jerry D’Amigo (actual pick 158) -

6^th round – pick 181 – Tommi Kivisto (actual pick 208) -

7^th round – pick 211 –Radko Gudas (actual pick Undrafted until 2010) – I remember seeing Gudas during U18s and 5 Nations that year and thinking, this kid is tough as nails.  He blocked shots, could shoot well and didn’t back down from any situation.  I still don’t believe I’ve seen as fearless a player out there.  He didn’t get selected in this draft and that surprised me.  I had considered taking him the round before but had a fondness for Kivisto I couldn’t shake.  I was very happy when he finally got the recognition and shot he deserved the following year in Los Angeles.  His development the years after this draft were even more impressive.  You need players like this to win and he will be a solid piece for his team every time.

 

2010 – Los Angeles, California

In LA, I had decided to mix things up a bit and see how I would do with the 10^th pick in every round instead of the 31^st.  In retrospect, as fun as this was, I wish I had of just stuck to the plan or at the very least done both.  This year gets an asterix .

1st round – pick 10 – Vladimir Tarasenko (actual pick 16) -

2nd round – pick 40 – Johan Larsson (actual pick 56) -

3rd round – pick 70 – Stephen Silas (actual pick 95)-

4th round – pick 100 – Teemu Pulkkinen (actual pick 111) -

5th round – pick 130 – Brendan Gallagher (actual pick 147)-

6th round – pick 160 – Mark Stone (actual pick 178) -

7th round – pick 190 – Brendan Ranford (actual pick 209) -

 

2011 – Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota

1st round – pick 31 – Boon Jenner (actual pick ) -

2nd round – pick 61 – Anthony Camara (actual pick ) -

3rd round – pick 91 – Reid Boucher (actual pick ) -

4th round – pick 121 – David Broll (actual pick ) -

5th round – pick 151 – Dillon Donnelly (actual pick ) -

6th round – pick 181 – Zach Laraza (actual pick ) -

7th round – pick 211 – Jeremy Boyce-Rotevall (actual pick ) –

 

2012 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1st round – pick 31 – Oscar Dansk (actual pick ) -

2nd round – pick 61 – Adam Pelech (actual pick ) -

3rd round – pick 91 – Andreas Athanasiou (actual pick ) -

4th round – pick 121 – Valeriy Vasiliev (actual pick ) -

5th round – pick 151 – Gianluca Curcuruto (actual pick ) -

6th round – pick 181 – Peter Quenneville (actual pick ) -

7th round – pick 211 – Anton Slepyshev (actual pick ) -

 

2013 - Newark, New Jersey

I will update this blog after the draft today!