Prague drafted bookend 21-year-old wingers with back-to-back picks to take us to the 20th pick in the EURO draft. American Tom Nieto and Slovakian Tomas Jurco are both classified as snipers, they skate at about the same pace, they are roughly the same size and it appears they will grow up in the league together, probably seeing a lot of time with Mark Scheifele between them. The three won’t make up the team’s top line any time soon … if ever. Prague GM Axel Bode has been a youth collector since he joined the league. He now has stockpiled 9 players who are 22 or younger, including 7 forwards. The three aforementioned forwards won’t be ready to play in the big league just yet, but four other U22s have already hit the ice skating for the Siamese Cats, including Nail Yakupov, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Andrey Bykov and Alex Galchenyuk. All have played more than 100 games and Nugent-Hopkins has skated in 219 games.

Just before Prague picked, London went with nifty Nikita Kucherov, a 20-year-old Russian. Kucherov oozes puck skills and has shown a streaky nature, scoring in bunches and then cooling off for games, according to many scouts. Once considered a very young team, London now boasts a modest 5 forwards who are 23 or younger. Kucherov is the only right wing on the roster who is younger than 26. Kucherov won’t be able to carry a game or shift by himself, but he will have some lights-out players helping  him in the future if GM Geoffrey Paul doesn’t move Taylor Hall, Jeff Skinner, Brandon Saad and Jimmie Ericsson.

Zemgus Girgensens went to Bratislava one pick before Kucherov was taken. The Eagles liked the potential in the 6-1 Latvian teenager, even though he doesn’t have any attributes that jump out at you.  He’s not super fast nor strong and he needs work on his puck skills. On paper, he looks like a potentially valuable defensive forward, but the Bratislava brass said they love his work rate most of all. They say he is amazing at trucking the puck through the neutral zone and to the opposing goalie’s doorstep, although he is not a natural finisher. Bratislava has two talented prospects in the system in Anthony Mantha and Teuvo Teravainen and it is hoped that Girgensens will join them eventually in a line that offers a little of everything. The Eagles have only one more young forward in the system – Tyler Toffoli – and it seems their master plan includes finding the Fountain of Youth before 26-year-old Jonathan Toews is on the downside of his career.

Bratislava really wanted Girgensens when it looked like they had a shot at him, so they sent Helsinki GM Trevor Grimm a trade offer. Helsinki had the pick just before Bratislava and the Eagles offered a third-line, 20-something  player to the Jokerit and an exchange of picks to move up one spot. But Helsinki had their sights set on someone themselves and they weren’t going to budge. Grimm later said he tried to move up in the draft to select a top prospect like Aaron Ekblad or Sam Bennett. Ekblad was taken 8th by Minsk, but Bennett was still around when Grimm got to make a pick at 15.  The NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau had Bennett listed ahead of Ekblad – ahead of everyone, for that matter – in their final rankings before the June draft. Grimm and the scouts see a young man who plays with fire in his belly. He never stops skating and he has plenty of skills, showing a marked improvement in production from his previous season of junior hockey. Bennett becomes the fourth prospect in the Helsinki system, joining Matthew Dumba, Hunter Shinkaruk and Kerby Rychel. Bennett might be the first of the four to skate in Helsinki. The Jokerit have a good mix of veterans and youth, although they soon will have a gaping hole on the right wing when Jarome Iginla, Dainus Zubrus and Ryan Clowe get too old to play.

Munich, with new GM Troy Huzy guiding them, is next on the clock. The Fox finished fifth overall last season and they have a lot of free agents who will be looking for new deals this off season.   Their best youngsters currently are Talgat Zhailauov, Andrew Shaw and Josh Bailey. If Huzy is looking at the draft to bolster Munich’s long-term strength, any young player will help at this point.