First draft pick!

[Fire0nIce228 1]

The draft lottery for the first 14 picks is today at noon.

http://www.nhl.com/news/2006/04/269404.html

[Guest Muck]

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=163315&hubname=nhl

Blues win lottery, hold first pick

[Quintin 16]

Awesome if Kessel got to Washington. Could bring more excitement to Washington and could make Crosby/Malkin vs. Ovechkin more thrilling!

[sc37 0]

Man Pittsburgh is gonna be happy once again very soon...this is if they don't move the team

[warrior37 0]

im not ranking, but here are my thought...

Phil Kessel has slipped due to be over hyped and not being able to live up to the standards of being the "US Crosby". Also his size will hurt him in the draft, he is 6-0, 190, but 3 other players jump out at me all over 6ft and 200lbs in the NA rankings.

Erik Johnson looks to be everyones #1, but look out for Jordan Staal, esp. at 6-4 209lbs, he is Canadian and being groomed in the OHL (it doesnt hurt that Eric put up some numbers this year and the NHL could us this as a PR gold mine)

NA players to watch Nigel Williams, Ty Wishart, Chirs Stewart, and James Sheppard

I have a feeling Kessel and Toews will go lower than expected

[shute 4]

man the pens look like the sens when they first came into the league... with all these skill players they have and will be getting in 3-5 years they will own.

[JGraz15 55]

Too bad they won't be in the 'burg

[43%burnt 0]

i think this makes the pens choice easier. i'm sure the blues won't pick johnson, they don't really need another young defenseman. unless some kind of trade happens, i see johnson going to the pens.

[gp3r 0]

Now that we know the draft order, we can make more accuarte predictions.

Depending on who St-Louis picks, the pens are gonna get who hell of a player. I don't think the Blues are gonna draft a d-man(Johnson), IMO their defense is not the their biggest concern as of right now. They need a franchise forward on whom they can build their team. That's why I think they will be going for a promising forward, but it's hard to say one they will prefer.

If that's so, the pens will draft Johnson. Appearantly, they already have a lot of promising d-men, and getting Johson will reinforce that even more.

Lets take a look at what Pittsburgh will look like in about 6/7 years:

Corsby, Malkin, Ouellet (who's gonna become a very good player), Malone, Armstrong, Maxime Talbot(who probably in 4/5 years will be one of the best 3rd centers in the nhl, aka. Draper), Eric Christensen, Ryan Whitney, Stephen Dixon (QMJHL with Cap Breton), J.P. Paquet (QMJHL with Shawigan), Kirs Letang (who was on Cdn's junior team this year) plus a few good draft picks that will come in the drafts.

Plus you have M.C. Fleury in the nets (IMO a future hall of famer) with Seb Caron as a good backup.

Just WOW! If we assume that all of these guys stay with the organization, man, they will steam roll the league. Also note that most, if not all of the players mentionned are 24 or younger. That's incredible. Maybe the next great franchise of hockey!

[Chadd 916]

Now that we know the draft order, we can make more accuarte predictions.

Depending on who St-Louis picks, the pens are gonna get who hell of a player. I don't think the Blues are gonna draft a d-man(Johnson), IMO their defense is not the their biggest concern as of right now. They need a franchise forward on whom they can build their team. That's why I think they will be going for a promising forward, but it's hard to say one they will prefer.

If that's so, the pens will draft Johnson. Appearantly, they already have a lot of promising d-men, and getting Johson will reinforce that even more.

Lets take a look at what Pittsburgh will look like in about 6/7 years:

Corsby, Malkin, Ouellet (who's gonna become a very good player), Malone, Armstrong, Maxime Talbot(who probably in 4/5 years will be one of the best 3rd centers in the nhl, aka. Draper), Eric Christensen, Ryan Whitney, Stephen Dixon (QMJHL with Cap Breton), J.P. Paquet (QMJHL with Shawigan), Kirs Letang (who was on Cdn's junior team this year) plus a few good draft picks that will come in the drafts.

Plus you have M.C. Fleury in the nets (IMO a future hall of famer) with Seb Caron as a good backup.

Just WOW! If we assume that all of these guys stay with the organization, man, they will steam roll the league. Also note that most, if not all of the players mentionned are 24 or younger. That's incredible. Maybe the next great franchise of hockey!

#1 Johnson will take at least another year or two before he makes the NHL, nothing wrong with drafting the best player on the board with the #1 pick.

#2 At least half of those Penguins will be gone in 6-7 years, probably more.

#3 They will sign some free agents

[McCabe24 0]

I see St Louis drafting Johnson because of how similar he is to Pronger.

Pittsburgh will take Kessel because they have two top centers already.

Maybe Staal ends up in Washington and plays his brother eight teams per year, with Marc in the same conference as well.

[sc37 0]

Wow, you guys seen the rankings by CSS? Kessel is behind EJ, Staal, Toews, and Brassard!! He's followed by Mueller, and Little.

But I think the CSS has it wrong for the Euros. Frolik is first with Backstrom and Tlusty. Backstrom is doing great in the Elite leauge while Frolik is stinking it up.

[Guest Muck]

Johnson will take at least another year or two before he makes the NHL, nothing wrong with drafting the best player on the board with the #1 pick.

Great post, Chadd. It's like baseball, very few kids can contribute right away. Not like the NBA. Maturity is a giant factor.

[ThePurpleCobra 0]

Awesome if Kessel got to Washington. Could bring more excitement to Washington and could make Crosby/Malkin vs. Ovechkin more thrilling!

and dont forget Chris Bourque he might have an impact next year

[hockechamp14 0]

Awesome if Kessel got to Washington. Could bring more excitement to Washington and could make Crosby/Malkin vs. Ovechkin more thrilling!

and dont forget Chris Bourque he might have an impact next year

he had 8 goals in 52 games... not exactly an impact player at the NHL level. He's still young though, very young, so he's got plenty of time. He could still be playing junior next year.

[Chadd 916]

Awesome if Kessel got to Washington. Could bring more excitement to Washington and could make Crosby/Malkin vs. Ovechkin more thrilling!

and dont forget Chris Bourque he might have an impact next year

he had 8 goals in 52 games... not exactly an impact player at the NHL level. He's still young though, very young, so he's got plenty of time. He could still be playing junior next year.

I've seen him live a couple times this year, I wouldn't expect him to get called up anytime soon.

[Jiveturtle 0]

I think Toews will go first he's got way less red flags than those other guys and hes got a huge upside to boot.

Honestly there is alot of talk about Kessel going in the top 5. I dont think so, for starters in the world juniors he practically dissappeared, he has hustle issues, he doesn't back check, he's even uninterested at times, he also has terrible on ice vision. Many scouts see this and I have a feeling hes going to the Islanders at 7 who have a history of risking early picks on this type of player with these type of problems.

[hockechamp14 0]

I think Toews will go first he's got way less red flags than those other guys and hes got a huge upside to boot.

I was just about to mention this... no one ever mentions Toews, I think it's interesting, he's a great player and no one is talking about him.

[Adam91 0]

I think the Caps would go with Johnson. They need a solid guy like him to anchor the d. Nevermind Bourque, Erik Fehr is the player I'd be watching out for. With Ovechkin, Semin, Fehr and Zubrus they potentially have a decent forward set. I see the Blues going with Kessel just do to the American factor and that he can put some bums in the seats.

[Eazy_b97 1]

I think Toews will go first he's got way less red flags than those other guys and hes got a huge upside to boot.

I was just about to mention this... no one ever mentions Toews, I think it's interesting, he's a great player and no one is talking about him.

He seems to be NHL ready and well rounded, but he isn't "Better" than Erik Johnson in any way really. I can see Toews going first among forwards, but not over EJo.

[j8Zt8r 0]

I think Toews will be the first pick by the Blues. Although Stall could sneak in there as well. I go with the idea of Toews as he is currently playing with T.J. Oshie, the blues top prospect. It would be nice to have the forwards of the future come into the league together after playing together in college. If not for the new owners wanting to put their mark on their first draft, I would say they trade down to 2nd or third knowing they should still get 1 of the best forwards.

I saw Kessel a lot when he was younger. My brother used to play against him. Everytime I saw him, my impression was a whole lot of talent and not a lot of drive. This was when he was 15 though.

[Jiveturtle 0]

I think Toews will go first he's got way less red flags than those other guys and hes got a huge upside to boot.

I was just about to mention this... no one ever mentions Toews, I think it's interesting, he's a great player and no one is talking about him.

He seems to be NHL ready and well rounded, but he isn't "Better" than Erik Johnson in any way really. I can see Toews going first among forwards, but not over EJo.

I agree that Johnson is a terrific hockey player, but I think he is maybe 2 or 3 years away while Toews is probably only 1 year away from being an effective NHLer. This is going to be a big factor for the blues especially in light of just how terrible they've become. But honestly while I think Toews should go first (I would pick him if I were the GM) the Blues can take Staal Johnson or Toews and make out well. There isn't a clear cut superstar and any one of those three are going to be very good when they mature.

[flip12 722]

I watched about 20 Gopher games this year and I was extremely disappointed with Kessel. I thought he had better vision the year before playing in the WJC--he actually passed the puck once in a while. He had 50 points as a freshmen and beat up on some weak teams (as I guess he did to Norway in this year's WJC, but I didn't see much of anything of that tourney). He did look like a speedster with one move and no physical game. He's got skills but maybe it was too much pressure. If that's true, that's a bad sign. If he can't play his best game under the pressure of American-Crosby expecations, even if they are unfounded expectations, then maybe his mental game is off. That's gotta be huge to a team who may or may not use their first pick in the draft on you.

[capes921 0]

how much help do you think the younger staals are going to get due to the performance and skill of their big brother? i was thinkin about that reading this post, i wonder how much scouts take bloodlines like that into account?

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

how much help do you think the younger staals are going to get due to the performance and skill of their big brother? i was thinkin about that reading this post, i wonder how much scouts take bloodlines like that into account?

This was a post from hfboards about the younger Staal. I don't know much about him, and have not seen him, obviously his brother is good stock, but he may have had more to grow into according to what this poster has said

I try as hard as I can to not use the term, "upside" when trying to evaluate a prospect. However, i'll give myself an exemption in this instance.

Eric at the same age had more apparent upside than does Jordan. Jordan has an already complete frame to an extent. He will get stronger, no doubt, but there isn't that large of a departure in terms of how he plays the game now and how he will play the game at the NHL level should he be fortunate enough to get there.

Eric was 165 lbs. soaking wet in his 17 year old OHL season. He was as tall and lanky as he was obviously gifted, and that made the scouts step back and say, "Man, if this kid could add 20 lbs. to his frame... you're looking at a franchise player". This isn't really the case with Jordan. Jordan is very much a what you see is what you get type of prospect at this point. That isn't to say he's not going to improve, because he will, but there are less physical attributes you can look to as an indication of impending development. He's already there, in many ways. He has a projectable NHL frame, and that's a great thing if you're looking for a kid that is going to be able to step in and play a role immediately.

The differance is pretty obvious if you watch these kids play. Jordan makes considerable use of that huge frame of his and Eric was more of a finesse player that used his smarts and his impressive offensive skill set to get it done. That isn't to say Jordan doesn't have an impressive skill set because he does, but you'd have to wonder how Jordan would do without his immense size at the OHL level. If you want to go that far, you have to imagine how dominant at the OHL level that Eric would have been if he was as early of a bloomer as Jordan has turned out to be. The possibility of that is just plain scary.