Goalie Braden Holtby was the first player selected in the Season 3 draft. He was picked by the London Dons.
Braden Holtby is the biggest news in London since Prince George. Holtby might not have made quite as much noise upon arrival as the royal baby did, but he’s way better at stopping 90 mph pucks. The goalie was the first pick of the EURO League draft. He will probably start his EURO career as a backup to Marc-Andre Fleury. The selection by GM Geoffrey Paul should also result in a third uniform change in three seasons for 25-year-old Steve Mason. Mason played 25 games for Helsinki in Season 1 and 24 games for the Dons in Season 2, with a save percentage of better than 87 percent in each season. But his $2.9 million contract has expired and it seems he is an extra part in London and likely to be on the market when free agency starts.
To get Holtby, London had to first win the draft lottery conducted by WSH officials. They did, bumping Stockholm down to the number 2 spot. And now, 8 picks into the draft, Stockholm has a new right wing and a new center. With the number 2 pick, they went with 20-year-old Brendan Gallagher, a speedy little sniper who had been playing for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. With the 8th pick, acquired in a trade with Madrid, they gave Gallagher a future linemate in 18-year-old Sean Monahan, a center playing for the Calgary Flames at the moment. Stockholm could add another young player soon, with the 14th pick, acquired from Bern. That player would continue a makeover new GM Michael Sauer has accomplished in what seems like just hours. Trades have added Rick Nash, Dustin Brown and Mike Richards as forwards and Kevin Bieksa on defense in Sweden. Sauer has some crowding in the goal crease to worry about next. The Eagles have three 30-plus-year-olds under contract in goal, in Mika Kiprusoff, Jonas Hiller and Ray Emery, with the best option for the future, Michal Neuvirth and his agent waiting to see how much dough Sauer thinks he’s worth.
Monahan was the fifth straight prospect taken in the draft after Justin Schultz went to Prague with the third overall pick. Schultz, Romas Josi and Dmitri Kulikov are the youngest in a gaggle of 8 defensemen who are all of about the same quality. If he cracks the lineup, Schultz will see time on a powerplay unit, even as a rookie. All 8 of the Siamese Cats’ top D-men have contracts that span this season and next.
With the fourth pick of the draft, Belfast started the run on prospects, selecting Nathan MacKinnon. The 18-year-old could sneak into the lineup when the mid-season player evolution occurs. He has 18 games played with the Colorado Avalanche and needs to hit 40 by the evolution to get attributes in Websim. Currently listed as a center, he will start out low on the depth chart behind established Giants Sidney Crosby, Tony Martensson, Cody Hodgson and perhaps a couple other centers.
The second defenseman selected was Seth Jones, going fifth overall to Frankfurt, which already boasts some of the biggest 25-and-under names in hockey with Steven Stamkos, Claude Giroux and Drew Doughty. The Inferno lists 9 defensemen on the current roster, not including Jones, who could join them mid-season. The most nervous players on the team are probably Mike Lundin, Bruno Gervais and Shane O’Brien, who have Jones, Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Holos and Yannick Weber all improving and threatening to push them out of the picture.
They newest Smurf is 6-3 and 18-years-old. Aleksander Barkov, a Finnish center playing with the Florida Panthers, has 19 NHL games under his belt and he could be added to Berlin’s roster this season. Logan Couture and David Krejci will continue to be the main centers in Berlin for a few more years, but Barkov will eventually give them three strong centers to anchor lines with the likes of Ryan Callahan, Loui Eriksson and other wings who aren’t considered stars, but who are all competent.
Minsk went off the board a bit in selecting Valeri Nichushkin seventh overall, but Hussar management thinks very highly of what the 6-4 native of Chalyabinsk will turn into. Dallas Stars management feels the same way. He has played 18 games in a Stars uniform and has 1 goal and 6 assists, playing as a plus 5 as a right wing. Rumors persist that pending free agent Patric Hornqvist is on his way out of town via trade, perhaps to a Southern Conference club, and that would open up a little more room for Nichushkin on the depth chart. The Hussars’ right side also lists Jakob Voracek, Alexander Burmistrov and Mattias Olimb, all potential stars who are between 21 and 24 years old. The other forward positions are anchored by Nicklas Backstrom, age 26; Zach Parise, 29; restricted free agent Patrik Berglund, 25, and unheralded left winger Thomas Powell, a 22-year-old Australian who plays a high-tempo, high-skill game.
