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NHL Entry Draft
(Page 1 of 20)
New draft class has its work cut out
Saturday, 07.11.2009 / 3:08 PM / NHL Entry Draft
By Larry Wigge  - NHL.com Columnist
At the 2009 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal, the Blues picked Swedish defenseman David Rundblad in the first round and defenseman Brett Ponich in the second. Both were selected ahead of projections. But St. Louis management showed its faith in what Nelson Ayotte has done to improve the physical strength and agility to make a prospect into a better athlete.

It's interesting, but on draft day, Rundlbad told NHL.com's Shawn Roarke that the Blues told him he needed to get bigger, stronger, more muscles, more powerful. When asked how much training he had done, Rundblad responded with an astounding, "None."

"You kind of look at David and say, he's already shown us he has the kind of hockey instincts and hockey sense and skills to someday play at the NHL level," Blues chief amateur scout Jarmo Kekalainen observed. "Two Swedish scouts told me they think Rundblad will be better than Victor Hedman (who was the No. 2 pick in the draft by Tampa Bay) in time.

"Now, all we have to do is make him a better athlete."
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Kadri signs entry-level deal with Leafs
Monday, 07.06.2009 / 3:42 PM / NHL Entry Draft
By Adam Kimelman  - NHL.com Staff Writer

"My prediction is, with most young players, he's not ready, but I would love to be wrong on that. If he wants to come in and make a statement and force us to decide, great, those are the kind of headaches you love to have."
-- Brian Burke

Nazem Kadri, the No. 7 pick in the 2009 Entry Draft, became the first player from his class to sign an NHL contract when he singed a three-year, entry-level deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

Kadri, a 5-foot-11.5, 167-pound center, had 25 goals and 78 points in 56 games for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League this past season. He was just as good in the playoffs, finishing tied for ninth with 21 points in 14 games as the Knights advanced to the OHL semifinals.

Kadri needs to get stronger physically before he can compete full-time in the NHL, but his offensive skills are unquestioned.

"He does everything at a high level," Leafs GM Brian Burke said. "He's got skating skill, he can handle the puck at high speeds. I think he just has to get stronger. … He's got to get stronger, his upper-body strength, his lower-body strength -- he needs a little more power for me."

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CHL teams take shots at top junior European talent
Wednesday, 07.01.2009 / 10:53 AM / NHL Entry Draft
By Adam Kimelman  - NHL.com Staff Writer
NHL Scouting Combine GearSome familiar names from the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, as well as a number of players to watch for the 2010 selection process, had their North American rights selected Tuesday in the Canadian Hockey League import draft.

Each of the 60 teams from the three participating leagues -- the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League and the Western Hockey League -- had a chance to draft the best junior-eligible talent from around the world.

Each CHL team has two import slots, and draft position is based on regular-season points acquired in each respective league. The order rotates among the three leagues.

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Free Shipping in November
Duchene living his childhood dreams with Avalanche
Wednesday, 07.01.2009 / 10:28 AM / NHL Entry Draft
By Rick Sadowski  -  NHL.com Correspondent

"I still remember watching their 2001 Stanley Cup victory against New Jersey. I had all my Avalanche apparel on and I was sitting in front of the TV with a big bag of popcorn. I remember Alex Tanguay scoring -- he came around the net and roofed one on the wraparound. I just jumped out of my chair. I was pretty young and I watched the whole celebration."
-- Matt Duchene

DENVER -- While making his first visit to the Pepsi Center on Tuesday, Colorado Avalanche top draft pick Matt Duchene needed to walk past framed photographs of Stanley Cup celebrations before entering the locker room.

The pictures brought back vivid memories for the 18-year-old center, who cheered for the Avalanche while growing up in Haliburton, Ontario.

"I still remember watching their 2001 Stanley Cup victory against New Jersey," Duchene said. "I had all my Avalanche apparel on and I was sitting in front of the TV with a big bag of popcorn. I remember Alex Tanguay scoring -- he came around the net and roofed one on the wraparound. I just jumped out of my chair. I was pretty young and I watched the whole celebration.

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Lombardi's building plan is on track in L.A.
Monday, 06.29.2009 / 5:00 PM / NHL Entry Draft
By Larry Wigge  - NHL.com Columnist
MONTREAL -- All the King's horses and all the Kings men couldn't get the Los Angeles hockey fans any closer to winning a Stanley Cup than Wayne Gretzky and Co. did in 1993 when Patrick Roy and Marty McSorley's illegal stick did them in against the Montreal Canadiens.

The fact that it's been 40-something years and no Stanley Cup in Los Angeles is the focal point that drives Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi since he took the job in April of 2006.

After plotting a pretty good track record of picking character players when he was the GM of the San Jose Sharks, Lombardi spent a couple years seeing things a little differently in the east as a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers. He then took the challenge of making the Kings into a winner.

"You don't build the culture of a hockey team or a team identity overnight," Lombardi explained. "We went out and signed six or seven free agents my first year in L.A. But that was just to buy some time for the franchise ... to do things the right way by picking our own type of players."
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Our draft experts didn't make a mockery with picks
Monday, 06.29.2009 / 12:41 PM / NHL Entry Draft
During the season, NHL.com's draft experts poured through their deep list of contacts, relied on their expertise -- and when all else failed, threw darts at a board.

The result made for good fun and lots of fodder for discussion leading into the first round of the 2009 Entry Draft.

Now, though, it's time to go back and see just how smart the experts were. And the record shows that maybe those guys actually knew what they were doing, after all.

Staff writer Brad Holland was correct on 26 of the 30 first-round selections, one better than colleagues Adam Kimelman and Shawn P. Roarke. The four players Holland had going in the first round who didn't make the cut were Cape Breton goalie Olivier Roy, Swedish goalie Robin Lehner, Saskatoon defenseman Stefan Elliott and Minnesota high school forward Zach Budish.

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Leafs' draft fits Burke's blueprint
Sunday, 06.28.2009 / 9:00 AM / NHL Entry Draft
By Shawn P. Roarke  - NHL.com Managing Editor

"Obviously I have been preaching (size).  I don't think any of these players will make us bigger immediately. But I think it shows our commitment to size and toughness, and I think I can predict with some confidence that we are going to take similar strides once July 1 comes."
-- Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke


MONTREAL -- The Toronto Maple Leafs came out of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft as a bigger -- and meaner -- organization. General Manager Brian Burke, presiding over his first draft as Toronto's architect, couldn't have been happier.

"Obviously I have been preaching (size)," Burke said. "I don't think any of these players will make us bigger immediately. But I think it shows our commitment to size and toughness, and I think I can predict with some confidence that we are going to take similar strides once July 1 comes.

"This won't address our immediate need for size and toughness -- we'll do that later in the summer -- but I think people should read into it that we are not just talking the talk about this. We intend to be bigger and cruder."

July 1 is the opening of the free-agency season and Burke says his team will be very active. Judging by the route Burke took during the past two days at the Bell Centre, the players he'll target in free agency will be big, ornery and, most likely, North American.
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Entry Draft by the Numbers
Saturday, 06.27.2009 / 5:27 PM / NHL Entry Draft
By John Kreiser  - NHL.com Columnist

7 -- Swedish players taken in the first round, the most ever in the Entry Draft. Defenseman Victor Hedman, taken No. 2 overall, heads the list. In all, 24 Swedes were taken -- the most of any country outside North America and a jump from the 17 taken last year.

The 2009 NHL Entry Draft is history -- and teams will now begin working to help turn the talented youngsters they've selected into actual NHL players.

Here are some of the key numbers from this year's draft:

0 -- Goaltenders taken in the first round of the draft. It's the second time that's happened in three years -- but before 2007, there hadn't been a goalie-free first round since 1992. The goalie drought ended with the first pick on Saturday when the New York Islanders took Mikko Koskinen, a Finnish netminder, with the 31st pick -- the first of 21 goaltenders selected in the draft.
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High schoolers growing in draft popularity
Saturday, 06.27.2009 / 4:36 PM / NHL Entry Draft
By Mike G. Morreale  - NHL.com Staff Writer

MONTREAL -- There were a number of high-school standouts in NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters for the 2009 Entry Draft.

Since the 2003 draft, 113 high school players have been tabbed by NHL teams. In 2008 15 (7.1 percent) of all North Americans drafted were high schoolers. This year, a record 19 were selected (11.1 percent), including Eden Prairie (Minn.) High School defenseman Nick Leddy, the top scholastic skater chosen, who went No. 16 to the Minnesota Wild.

"There's a little pressure (being selected as the hometown guy), but I guess you can always rise to it," Leddy said. "That's the kind of player I am. In pressure games, I always seem to play big."

Leddy, who earned a scholarship to the University of Minnesota in the fall, often has been compared to former Minnesota high school stars Jake Gardiner of Minnetonka and Aaron Ness of Roseau. During last year's draft, Gardiner was picked No. 17 by the Anaheim Ducks while Ness, the 2008 Mr. Hockey Award recipient, was chosen 40th by the Islanders.

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Notebook: Burke says Pronger born to wear orange
Saturday, 06.27.2009 / 4:31 PM / NHL Entry Draft
By Larry Wigge  - NHL.com Columnist
MONTREAL -- Some musings from the two days of the 2009 Entry Draft at Bell Centre in La Belle Province:

Born for orange -- When asked if he was surprised at the Philadelphia Flyers acquiring defenseman Chris Pronger from the Anaheim Ducks for forward Joffrey Lupul, rookie defenseman Luca Sbisa and two first-round picks, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke said, "I think he was born to wear orange. He's got the whole package, size and skill as well as being a leader. But the fans in Philadelphia will love that mean streak he brings to every game."

Pronger will clearly be the No. 1 defenseman in Philadelphia, and after leading the Edmonton Oilers and Ducks to the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive years -- losing in 2006 to Carolina and beating Ottawa in 2007. It's obvious the Flyers are looking for a player to help push them into that same frame of mind.
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