NAZEM KADRI - 7TH OVERALL
Leafs miss out on Schenn; take speedy Kadri
Brian Burke’s first Draft as the General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs was special.
No, he didn’t get John Tavares or Brayden Schenn like he wanted to but for the first time in several years, the Leafs look like they have a promising future ahead of them.
As hard as he tried to trade up to get a crack at Tavares or Schenn, Burke and the Leafs still walked away from Montreal with a handful of gritty, young players that should play for the Leafs one day.
Nazem Kadri was Toronto’s first pick (seventh overall) – he skated with the OHL London Knights and Kitchener Rangers the last two seasons.
Kadri has all the tools to play in the NHL including a ton of speed and a nose for the net.
In 56 games last season with London, Kadri finished second in team scoring behind Tavares with 25-53-78 points.
With their first second round pick, acquired from the Rangers (50th overall), Toronto selected F Kenny Ryan from the United States Under-18 Development Program.
Toronto used their second second round pick (58th overall) which was acquired from Carolina via Edmonton and Buffalo to select D Jesse Blacker from the OHL Windsor Spitfires.
F James Devane from the OHL Plymouth Whalers was selected (68th) in the third round.
Toronto did not have a pick in the fourth round but finished out the draft with choices in the fifth round (128th) D Eric Knodell Philadelphia Jr. Flyers of the United States Major AAA league, sixth round (158th) RW Jerry D’Amigo U.S. U-18 Program and seventh round (188th) D Barron Smith OHL Peterborough Petes.
JARED COWEN - 9TH OVERALL
Sens acquire super-sized D-man in Cowen
The Ottawa Senators wanted to get bigger and better at this year’s Draft.
They did just that when they selected super-sized defenceman Jared Cowen from the Spokane Chiefs with the team’s first pick, (ninth overall).
Cowen is the real deal when it comes to size and strength. At 6-5, the Allan, Sask.-native instantly becomes the tallest player on the Senators’ roster.
Cowen’s aggressive style of play and large frame, have drawn small comparisons to Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins.
A season-ending knee injury in January cut Cowen’s year in half and may have cost him a higher selection. Despite the injury, he still made the top ten.
Round 2 saw the Senators draft a couple of Swedes from the Swedish Junior League, F Jacob Silferberg (39th) from Brynas followed by G Robin Lehner (46th) from Frolunda.
With no picks in Round 3, the Sens moved on to Round 4 selecting D Chris Wideman (100th) from Miami of Ohio University in the CCHA.
Ottawa had two picks in Round 5 with F Mike Hoffman (130th) from the QMJHL Drummondville Voltigeurs and Memorial Cup finalist.
The Senators then used Boston’s pick via Phoenix to acquire LW Jeff Costello at 146th overall from Cedar Rapids in the USHL.
In the sixth round, Ottawa went local selecting LW Corey Cowick from the OHL Ottawa 67’s (160th).
Round 7 featured two consecutive picks: LW Brad Peltz from Avon Old Farms High School at 190th and D Michael Sdao with Lincoln in the USHL with the 191st selection.
MAGNUS PAAJARVI-SVENSSON - 10TH OVERALL
Oilers grab yet another skilled scoring threat
The Edmonton Oilers offensive brand of hockey has been around for decades and should continue to exist for awhile if you take a look at this year’s draft picks.
With the club’s first round pick, GM Steve Tambellini selected Swedish F Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson with the 10th choice overall.
Svensson is a top-ranked, talented prospect that is expected to contribute offensively for years to come.
The 6-1 winger picked up 17 points in 50 games as a member of Timra IK in the Swedish Elite League and won a Silver Medal for Sweden at the World Junior Hockey Championships at Ottawa, last January.
In Round 2, the Oilers chose another Swedish-born player, C Anton Lander with the 40th pick.
Lander and Svensson played alongside each other with Timra last season.
Edmonton had two picks in the third round, selecting D Troy Hesketh from Minnetonka High School in Minnesota with the (71st) pick then drafting RW Cameron Abney from the Everett Silvertips in the WHL with Philadelphia’s spot at (82nd).
The Oilers had multiple picks again in Round 4 with the 99th and 101st selections. D Kyle Bigos from the Vernon Vipers in the BCHL and RW Toni Rajala from Ilves, Finland filled those spots.
With their final selection in Round 5, the Oilers picked up G Olivier Roy from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Edmonton also dealt F Kyle Brodziak and the 161st overall pick (6th round) to the Minnesota Wild for the 99th overall (4th round) and 133rd overall pick (5th round).
LOUIS LEBLANC - 18TH OVERALL
Canadiens pick Quebec kid much to fans’ delight
The Montreal Canadiens management staff must have been listening to their fans when they drafted this year.
In the past couple of years, the Habs have had a heavy concentration of American or European-born players on their radar.
This year wasn’t that much different except that their first pick was born in the Province of Quebec, which seems to matter a great deal to the Montreal fans.
C Louis Leblanc was born in Pointe Claire, Quebec – a suburb of Montreal – but played last season for the Omaha Lancers in the USHL. Leblanc was chosen with the 18th overall pick by Montreal.
Leblanc becomes the first Quebec-born player drafted by the Canadiens in the first round since the Quebec Remparts Eric Chouinard, who was selected 16th overall by Montreal at the 1998 draft.
In 60 games with Omaha last year, Leblanc picked up a team high 28 goals and 59 points.
Leblanc will attend Harvard University this fall.
Montreal did not have a pick in Round 2 but had two selections (65th and 79th) in Round 3, choosing Finnish F Joonas Nattinen and D Mac Bennett from Hotchkiss High School in Connecticut.
RW Alexander Avstyn from Moscow Dynamo was Montreal’s fourth round (109th) choice.
C Gabriel Dumont was Montreal’s next pick in the fifth round (139th) after playing with the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the QMJHL.
Montreal then selected C Dustin Walsh from the Jr. A Kingston Voyageurs in the OPJHL with their sixth pick (169th).
The Habs then wrapped things up with two seventh round picks, C Michael Cichy from the Indian Ice in the USHL (199th) and G Petteri Simila from Karpot in the Finnish Junior League.
JORDAN SCHROEDER - 22ND OVERALL
Canucks may have a steal in highly-touted Schroeder
As the Vancouver Canucks prepared for the 2009 NHL Draft, the question was, could GM Mike Gillis and his scouting staff come up with another gem like they did last year when they selected Cody Hodgson?
Hodgson went to the Canucks with the tenth overall pick in 2008 which is significantly better than the 22nd slot Vancouver had this time around.
But give Gillis and company credit, they did alright picking F Jordan Schroeder with their first round choice.
Schroeder finished his freshman season at the University of Minnesota with 13-32-45 points in 35 games.
He was the only freshmen to finish the season in the Top 50 in scoring.
The Burnsville, Minnesota-native skated for Team USA at the 2009 World Junior Championships leading his team with 11 points and tied for second in the tournament with eight assists.
In Round 2 (53rd) Vancouver selected F Anton Rodin from Brynas Junior in Sweden.
Another NCAA player was selected by Vancouver in the third round (83rd), D Kevin Connauton from Western Michigan in the CCHA.
D Jeremy Price was the Canucks fourth round pick (113th) from the Nepean Junior A Raiders in the Central Junior Hockey League.
In the fifth round (143rd), Vancouver picked D Peter Anderson from Frolunda Juniors in Sweden.
G Joe Cannata from Merrimack University, U.S. Hockey East was chosen in the sixth round (173rd) with LW Steven Anthony from the QMJHL Saint John Sea Dogs going (187th) in the seventh round.
TIM ERIXON - 23rd OVERALL
Flames more busy than anyone on Draft weekend
No other NHL team was busier at the 2009 Draft than the Calgary Flames.
After the final choice was made in Round 7, no team had made more moves than Calgary.
Flames GM Darryl Suter didn’t waste any time shaking things up as he traded their first round selection (20th overall) to the New Jersey Devils in return for the 23rd and 48th picks respectively.
With the 23rd pick, the Flames selected D Tim Erixon of Skelleftea AIK in the Swedish Elite League. Erixon is the son of former NHL player Jan Erixon.
Day 2 of the draft featured Calgary trading D Jordan Leopold and the club’s third round pick (67th overall) to the Florida Panthers for All Star defenceman Jay Bouwmeester.
Even though Bouwmeester became an unrestricted free agent on July 1, the Flames acquired the rights to negotiate a contract with the Alberta-native.
From there, Sutter traded up with Buffalo via Los Angles to land F Ryan Howse from the WHL Chilliwack Bruins with a third round (74th) pick.
Howse had 31 goals and 44 points in 61 games with Chilliwack last season, giving the Flames some scoring which is exactly what they were looking for at the Draft.
With the 111th overall pick in the fourth round, Calgary chose forward Henrik Bjorklund from Farjestad, Sweden.
The fifth round saw the Flames draft LW Spencer Bennett of the Surrey Eagles of the BCHL with the 141st pick.
Finnish G Joni Ortio was Calgary’s sixth round selection after catching the eye of Flames new goaltending coach, Jamie McLellan when he was vacationing in Finland last summer.
C Gaelan Patterson of the WHL Saskatoon Blades rounded out the Flames draft picks for 2009 when he was taken with their final pick in round 7 (201st)
The Flames also traded F Brandon Prust to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for F Jim Vandermeer. |