Milan has lots of talented forwards, but the Guerriero saw a need at center for someone who could create offense and with pick no. 13, they got their guy in 21-year-old Finn Aapeli Rasanen. Look for Rasanen to spend a lot of time playing with Matthew Tkachuk in the future. The draft guide said “This Finn could go anywhere in a 10-spot range in the draft. He is offensively gifted and he has a motor that rarely slows, but he tends to shy away from contact and his personal philosophy about defense is that it’s not all that important. The Edmonton Oilers took the playmaker in Round 6 two drafts ago and he’s at Boston College right now. Likes to set up teammates.”
With the 14th pick of the draft, Moscow GM David Reichel made Austrian Layne Viveiros the fourth defenseman selected. Like Jokiharju, who was selected 11th, Viveiros is an offensive defenseman out of the Portland Winterhawks sysyem, and everyone will expect him to run the Dynamo powerplay a few seasons from now. He knows how to use his 6-1, 195-pound body out there, although he has been injury-prone in his early career. There aren’t many holes in his game and this could prove to be a very astute pick by Mr. Reichel.
Filip Chytil (21) and Ryan Poehling (4) were near each other in this photo and were right next to each other in the draft today.
The next two picks were gambles by Berlin and Prague, who opted for prospects who don’t have their attributes yet. The Smurfs drafted Filip Chytil, a 6-2 Czech forward who is property of the New York Rangers in the NHL. Rangers GM Jeff Gorton said he would not stand in Chytil’s way should he prefer to play in the EURO, adding nothing good comes from angering Smurf GM Guybrush Threepwood. Chytil is seen as a dynamic offense-first forward. Prague took American forward Ryan Poehling, who reminds some scouts of Ryan O’Reilly because he is a hard worker with a strong hockey sense. Peter Ott’s Sparta oragnization now has 11 prospects in the system, eight of them forwards. A member of the USA’s World Juniors team recently, he attends St. Cloud State University and saw his point total rise from 13 to 31 from his freshman season to his sophomore year. He was drafted in the NHL by the Montreal Canadiens.
Another college player was picked next, at No. 17, when Canadian Tanner Jaillet went to Paris and new General Manager Tim Norelco. Draft “experts” had Jaillet going in the top 5 picks of the draft, but the small goalie watched as 16 other players got new sweaters before him. He is NOT the only young goalie in the Paris system. Norelco has four more prospect goalies to battle each other and Jaillet for the top spot long-term in France. Jaillet won an NCAA championship with the University of Denver a season ago.
The next player to be picked was 21-year-old Swedish winger Filip Sveningsson. The Madrid Royals picked him and for Sveningsson, he must see himself fortunate. At little higher on the depth chart at LW in Madrid is one of his heros, fellow Swede Gabriel Landeskog, the first person ever drafted into the EURO League. That’s a pretty good mentor to have as you start your career. The younger Swede is a very fast skater and has good puck skills.
