Bratislava and Minsk each picked up three players today thanks to previous trades. If Bratislava’s draft strategy seems like an incoherent mixed bag … well it is. GM Chuck Massaro said his plan never really got off the ground. It was too heavy. “I tried to do too much. I wanted to keep my salaries $9 million below the cap and look for the best young athlete available at the time while trying to build two strong forward lines, six good but not great defensemen and a good goalie.” Massaro didn’t manage to do much of any of those things. “It seemed everybody was after the same guys,” he said. What Bratislava does have are some low-salary players in Franz Nielsen, Kyle Brodziak and David Schlemko, some bonafide stars in Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa (those two will team with Martin Erat) and Zdeno Chara, and a lot of other players with decent defensive numbers. The Eagles missed the early run on goalies and decided there was no sense in grabbing a goalie in Round 4 or 5 when the same two or three top choices were likely to hang around for several more rounds. In the 13th, they went with Craig Anderson. “I’m happy with the goalie I was able to get and became satisfied with the defense once I was able to get Paul Martin,” Massaro said. Martin, who will cost $5 million for four years, will likely be paired with Chara, leaving former Sabre teammates Christian Ehrhoff and Tyler Myers on the second pairing.
On the other side of the former Czechoslavakia, Prague looks more like the team Massaro envisioned: More than one line for opposing coaches to try to contain, a solid defense consisting of Niklas Kronwall, Eric Brewer, Dmitri Kulikov, John-Michael Liles and Brett Clark and a game-stealer in net by the name of Ryan Miller. Prague’s future leader is going to contribute right away, as long as he’s healthy and that’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who was grabbed in the second round after Prague’s initial pick, Zach Parise. Looking ahead a few years, if Nugent-Hopkins marries Devante Smith-Pelly’s sister, and they have a son who they name after a teammate, he could be named John-Michael Smith-Pelly-Nugent-Hopkins. That may or may not figure into Ryan’s performance this year. Ok, it won’t at all. But on a related topic, Prague also has a good shooter and leader in Jason Pominville racing down the right wing, with some excellent passers like Jussi Jokinen and P-A Parenteau looking to feed him, Parise and big center Ryan Getzlaf. Rounding out the team thus far are Bryan Little, defensive center Jay McClement and wingers Ruslan Fedotenko and Chad Larose.
Taken Thursday:
- Minsk – Matt Martin, LW, Matt Niskanen, D, and Zac Rinaldo, C;
- Bratislava – Shawn Matthias, LW, Tomas Kopecky, RW, and David Schlemko, D;
- Belfast – Mathieu Perreault, C and Lars Eller, W;
- St. Petersburg – Eric Belanger, C, and Willie Mitchell, D;
- Milan – Craig Adams, RW and Josh Harding, G;
- Geneva – Matt D’Agostini, LW;
- Dublin – Nikita Nikitin, D;
- Munich – Jim Slater, C;
- Madrid – Sam Pahlsson, C
- Bern – J-S Giguere, G
- Frankfurt – Travis Zajac, C
- Edinburgh – Jay Bouwmeester, D
- Paris – T.J. Brodie, D
