2007 NHL ENTRY DRAFT

[hohto]

2007 NHL ENTRY DRAFT

 

June 22-23, 2007

 

Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH

 

Round 1: Fri., June 22, 7 p.m. ET, Versus, TSN, NHL Network

 

Rounds 2-7: Sat., June 23, 10 a.m. ET, NHL Network

 

 

 

The NHL entry draft is soon here, so why not talk a bit about it? This year we don't have any certain 1st drafts like Ovetshkin, Crosby or Malkin. However we got a lot of good possibilities and we could see a lot of surprises. At some medias at least Turris, vanRiemsdyk and Kane are forecast to be ne number 1, but no1 can be sure about it.

 

 

 

First round:

 

1. Chicago = Patrick Kane

 

2. Philadelphia = James van Riemsdyk

 

3. Phoenix = Kyle Turris

 

4. Los Angeles = Thomas Hickey

 

5. Washington = Karl Alzner

 

6. Edmonton = Sam Gagner

 

7. Columbus = Jakub Voracek

 

8. Boston = Zach Hamill

 

9. San Jose = Logan Couture (draft round gotten from St. Louis)

 

10. Florida = Keaton Ellerby

 

11. Carolina = Brandon Sutter

 

12. Montreal = Ryan McDonagh

 

13. Toronto = Lars Eller

 

14. Colorado = Kevin Shattenkirk

 

15. Edmonton = Alex Plante

 

16. Minnesota = Colton Gillies (round gotten from Tampa bay who to it from Anaheim)

 

17. N.Y. Rangers = Aleksei Tsherepanov

 

18. St Louis = Ian Cole (round gotten from Calgary)

 

19. Anaheim = Logan MacMillan (round gotten from Minnesota)

 

20. Pittsburg = Angelo Esposito

 

21. Edmonton = Riley Nash (round gotten from Dallas that got it from Phoenix)

 

22. Montreal = Max Pacioretty

 

23. Nashville = Jonathon Blum

 

24. Calgary = Mikael Backlund (round gotten from St Louis)

 

25. Vancouver = Patrick White

 

26. St. Louis = David Perron

 

27. Detroit = Brendan Smith

 

28. San Jose = Nicholas Petrecki (round gotten from Washington)

 

29. Ottawa = Jim O'Brien

 

30. Phoenix = Nick Ross (round gotten from Edmonton)

 

 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Edmonton and/or St. Louis traded their turns. They got quite a few turns and many top scouts don't think this is any "super year" with many awesome players.

 

 

 

Not even our media give many chances to our juniors. Most likely there aren't any finns being drafted at the first round. Niclas Lucenius has been put to the top of our lists, but he has no experience from the top level yet, which is pretty surprising. Usually our top draft has played at least 1, sometimes 2-3 seasons at the top level. Also Lassi Kokkola (for some reason written Kokkala at nhl.com, perfect stuff there), Eetu P̮̦̉̉ysti and Tomi Sallinen might be drafted at 2nd or 3rd round. Haven't seen Lucius or Kokkola too much, but heard a lot of good from them. P̮̦̉̉ysti was the comet of last season. He was supposed to play mainly with b-juniors, but in the end, he did 2nd most points in a-junior playoffs.

 

 

 

From my view the most interestesting names are Jori LehterÃÆÃâÃâä, Sim Liivik and Nico Aaltonen. Seen them all play and even played against them some years ago. They aren't 89 born like most of the other players so their rankings aren't too high. However they got something special... LehterÃÆÃâÃâä is a poor skater, but he's now in a "special skating school" and I have never seen anyone with as good hands as he. At the highest junior serie he did around 2,5 points per game and did the most points even tho he played around in half of the games. In the top level he did quite a nice amount of points and got powerplay time too which isn't too common for juniors. However he's born in 1987 and like I said, he sure isn't the fastest dude on ice. If he gets his skating to a good level, he'll definately be a star in NHL. Nico Aaltonen also got great hands and unlike LehterÃÆÃâÃâä, he also can skate. He's 1 year younger and doesn't have any real experience from the top level yet, so we haven't seen how he can do it with men. Liivik is an interesting pick. If he hasn't gotten our nationality yet, he could become the highest drafted estonian ever. He's not too short, not afraid to play hard and he is good at the both sides of the rink. However before christmas he had a bad injury which ruined his last season. In the end he did as many points in junior playoffs as PÃÆÃâÃâöysti.

 

 

 

From Sweden I'd be surprised if Backlund doesn't get drafted at the first round. Also danish Lars Eller has the chances to go on 1st round or 2nd. Can't really say anythinga about these two guys as I haven't seen them playing live.

[Viktorkrum77]

Jan MurÃÆââ¬Â¦Ãâáak for the Detroit Red Wings. We hosted him while he played OHL in America (he's Slovenian born) and he's drafted to the Wings. Going to the training camp come July, he'll probably be on the AHL team this year then soon enough playing for the Wings.

 

 

 

I'll probably go to the Red Wings training camp in Traverse City, Michigan to watch a few games, probably one with the players themselves, since Jan gets to practice and play with them. He also can get behind the scenes during season games. =P~

 

 

 

I missed the last opportunity (y brother got it). He got to go hang out with the player's wives and go in the lockeroom after a game they won. :XD:

[hohto]

Like I predicted, a lot of trades were done before drafts, Backlund and Eller got drafted at the first round, no Finns were drafted and who will be the first 3. Not like you should have been a new Nostradamus for that, but still.

 

 

 

The most interesting names from 1st round are Esposito, Sutter and Eller in my eyes. Last year everyone were sure that Esposito would be the next number 1 draft. He had made a lot of points and played really well, but his last season was a total failure and he dropped a lot. Sutter is part of the best hockey family ever, so of course his on everyone's lips. Some say his skills didn't get him his draft, his name played a big role too. Eller is probably the first Dane ever to be drafted on 1st round and in Denmark people are putting a lot of hopes on him.

 

 

 

The next rounds will start in around 1ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâý hours and if anything special happens, I'll report it here. I also try to give some details about drafted finns.

 

 

 

edit: Cherepanov's draft number doesn't really have anything to do with his skills. If NHL and Russia had gottne a good deal about players moving from Russia to NHL (Case Malkin) or Cherepanov hadn't made a deal with Omsk, he would have been drafted earlier. At the moment it's uncertain will he ever even play in NHL, even tho he'd have all the skills to do it.

[hohto]

56th pick: AKIM ALIU

 

Interesting pick as he was born in Nigeria. However he played in North America, but still. However even if he ever played in NHL, he wouldn't be the first nigerian born player: we had Rumun N'dur. Has a nigerian dad, ukrainian mother and learnt to skate at the age of 10.

 

 

 

115th pick: Niklas Lucenius

 

First drafted finnish player this year. Went 1-2 rounds later than thought and was a suprise to see Aliu, one dane, one swiss, 2 germans and around 10 goalies go before first finn. Oh well it was known that this generation wasn't too good from us and that our junior program should get updated as soon as possible.