Vrana to Gothenburg; Turk to Scotland and a trade rumor

Two more picks and a trade rumor this afternoon in the EURO League draft.

With the 11th pick, Gothenberg selected Canadian-born Petr Vrana, who is loaded with speed, finesse and passing ability. The 21-year-old now joins a stable of good young LWs on the Gothenburg roster: Milan Lucic, Carl Hagelin and Zack Boychuk are all 23 or 24 years old. Other young forwards with potential on the team are Jordon Eberle (22), Adam Henrique (22) and Sam Gagner (23).

The first Turkish player int he league will lace ’em up in Scotland this season, as Edinburgh picked Gurkan Cetinkaya, a 6-1, 20-year-old, stay-at-home defenseman. Cetinkaya won;t score many goals for the Capitals, but he’s very strong and will move players from the front of the net, and he has very good defensive instincts. Edinburgh now boasts four good defensemen under the age of 25 in Cetinkaya, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Karl Alzner and Luke Schenn. For the next year or so, barring trades, they will play supporting roles to veterans Jay Bouwmeester, Francois Beauchemin and Andy Greene at the top of the Capitals depth chart.

While Gothenburg’s pick was being considered, Athens GM Terry Moutafis was approached by new Prague GM Jory Stuparyk and the two talked for a while. An unnamed source said the two were considering a trade that would send the 13th pick in the draft to Prague in exchange for a “big name.” Among the “biggest names” on the Prague roster are Zach Parise, who is a free agent without a contract at the moment, Ryan Getzlaf, Jason Pominville and goalie Ryan Miller. The last three don’t really fit into the Athens mold because they make more than $200 per year, so the jury is still out as to the validity of the rumor.

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