Despite Low Pick Numbers, Preds Say 2018 Selections are Hits

It was certainly one of the more unique drafts in Predators' history.
Nashville added four names to their prospect pool at the 2018 NHL Draft on Saturday in Dallas, the lowest total the club has seen in their 20-year history - but don't let the numbers fool you.
The Preds were pleased with the players who joined the organization - a center, two defensemen and a goaltender - believing that although they only ended up with four selections, they still managed to find players with loads of potential.

"Everyone has to remember the reason why we are where we are [is because we] made some deals and hopefully those deals, those picks we have were all worth it," Preds General Manager David Poile said. "We were a little short on picks, but all in all, I think we're fine… Our [scouts] did as well as possible, very organized in terms of what we thought would be available later in the rounds and all in all, I think we did a good job for what I gave them, which unfortunately wasn't a lot."
Already without a selection in the first and second rounds of the draft, Nashville elected to deal its third-round pick to Florida in exchange for the Panthers third-round selection in 2019.
As a result, the Predators saw their first pick of the draft come in the fourth round when they called the name of Czech forward Jachym Kondelik at No. 111. A 6-6, 227-pound centerman, who has committed to the University of Connecticut, Kondelik skated two seasons with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL and tallied 34 points (16g-18a) in 44 games with the Lumberjacks last season, more than doubling his production from his rookie USHL season (7g-8a).
Kondelik earned the Gold Medal with the Czech Republic at the 2016 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and posted six points (1g-5a) in five games at the 2017 Under-18 World Championship.

The fifth round of the draft brought two selections for Nashville, the first coming at pick No. 131 with defenseman Spencer Stastney. A 5-10, 179-pound defenseman from Mequon, Wisconsin, Stastney is committed to the University of Notre Dame and posted two goals and 28 points in 57 games with the U.S. National Team Development Program last season.
Just 20 picks later at No. 151, Nashville added Belarus defenseman Vladislav Yeryomenko. The 6-0, 176-pound blueliner has skated the past two seasons with the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL and recorded 13 goals and 41 points in 63 games during the 2017-18 campaign.
Finally, in the seventh round, Nashville selected goaltender Milan Kloucek from the Czech Republic with the 213th pick. The 20-year-old, 6-foot-3 netminder recorded a 2.25 goals-against average and .925 save percentage in 10 games for the Czech Extraliga's HC Dynamo Pardubice last season. He made his professional debut and had a .919 save percentage with Pardubice's junior club in 2016-17.

Predators Assistant General Manager and Director of Scouting Jeff Kealty is hopeful all four of Nashville's draft picks will be able to attend Preds Development Camp, which begins on Monday in Music City.
Although it wasn't the most lucrative draft in club history, time will tell if one - or more - of the young prospects drafted on Saturday in Dallas will soon become household names.
"We're happy with what we were able to do considering what we had to work with," Kealty said. "The way our list was going, we thought that if we did that we would still get players that we liked and players that we wanted and that turned out to be the case. The player we got in the fourth round, we had him as a guy we probably would've taken in the third round as well. It worked out well from that standpoint, and we were able to kind of add on to next year, which we feel will be a really strong draft class."