Jesper Bratt will walk into Munich later this week as the top overall pick in the Season 10 EURO League draft. The Swedish teenager will be shown around town by Red Bull General Manager Grant Sayle, the man who called out Bratt’s name at the podium in Salzburg today. Munich was slated to pick 6th in the draft but won the lottery.
One of the first people Sayle would like Bratt to meet is American Clayton Keller. Keller, 20, and Bratt could be linemates for a long time in Bavaria. Actually, Filip Forsberg, 25, is firmly planted at the top of the depth chart on left wing in Munich, but really long-term, Keller and Bratt will be excellent wingers for a center who can skate and score.
Many in the media were surprised Sayle didn’t draft defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, but Red Bull does already have seven good young defensemen in the system (Cody Ceci, Nikita Zadorov, Jindrich Barak, Cale Makar, Juuso Valimaki, Travis Dermott and Linus Hogberg) and not a lot of young forwards.
#2 – Bern takes Dahlin
After a Swede was taken first overall by a German team, the Swedish GM of a Swiss team picked another Swede with pick No. 2 in the draft.
Rasmus Dahlin will board the Interrail for Season 10 and he might be able to play some games for Bern in the second half of the season. Dahlin, playing regularly as an 18-year-old with the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, is on pace for a 42-point season while playing 20:27 minutes per game. Those stats should translate into superstar attributes when he enters the Websim world. He shows great instincts but in nearly every game for the Sabres, he has turned over the puck in bad places, only to be bailed out by goalies Carter Hutton and Linus Ullmark.
On top of that, he threatened to play poorly on purpose in the EURO League if he didn’t get drafted by his hometown team, Gothenburg, which drafts third. The fact GM Paja Jansson is a Swede might make him change his mind a bit. Bern has a promising offensive defenseman already playing in 20-year-old Roger Karrer (28 points and 83 shots in 82 games last season as a rookie) so the future powerplay is looking really good with Karrer and Dahlin on the points. Jansson also has Finn Timothy Liljegren in the system as a prospect.
#3 – Gothenburg gets Svechnikov
The Frolunda went with a big, skilled Russian in Andrei Svechnikov, 18, who is on pace for a 20-goal season with 77 PIM in Carolina. He is now one of 6 prospects in the Gothenburg system. Svechnikov should be competing for ice time with Olli Palola for a long time. They don’t play the game the same way, but both can score points and the question is which will work best with skillful Dylan Sikura years from now.
#4 – Dynamic Zadina off to Scotland
Czech teen Filip Zadina may never play with Sidney Crosby in Edinburgh, but be ready to defend a line with Zadina, Nolan Patrick and either Mikko Rantanen or Sam Reinhart in a few years when you play the Scots. Zadina does just about everything right, plays at a very fast rate and is expected to be a big point producer.
#5 – Prague takes Tkachuk
With the Czech Zadina off the board, Peter Ott claimed Brady Tkachuk, a pain in the neck to play against for several reasons. Big brother Matthew in Milan plays the same way: agressive, abrasive and always going to the net. Brady Tkachuk has puck skills that will allow him to play with many types of centers and right wings, and Prague as a farm of prospects so it’s too early to tell who Tkachuk will be playing with in the long term. He will get good attributes in a few months because he has 23 points in 38 games with the Ottawa Senators.
#6 – Oslo plays for the Ty
Every EURO general manager is envious of the stable of young defensemen Chris Lee has assembled in Oslo: Shayne Gostisbehere, Viktor Antipin, Zach Werenski and Jacob Moverare. Lee added another slick one in the draft, picking Ty Smith, who went 17th in the last NHL draft to the New Jersey Devils. He is an excellent skater and passer and has been a captain everywhere. Smith was the fifth defenseman taken in the NHL draft but a lot of scouts claim he is as good as any of the ones taken ahead of him. He is averaging more than one assist per game in the WHL … as a defenseman.
#7 – Lions add Hughes to their pride
Florida-born/University of Michigan student/future Vancouver Canuck Quinn Hughes will bring his quick feet and talented hands to Zurich in the future. Dennis Sullo grabbed him 5th overall to be the future defense partner of fellow American Charlie McAvoy. Like Oslo, Zurich is packed with young talent on the right wing. Both teams probably looked at some of the top talent in the draft class, saw they are RWs, and wondered what they would do with them if they picked them. The Lions and Sullo will get another pick at #12 thanks to a trade they made with Bratislava that sent German defenseman Alexander Weiss to the Slovak team.
#8 – Dunn to Dublin
Before General Manager Gayle Rock picked Vince Dunn at number 6, the Fighting Irish had 12 defensemen on the roster but only two of them are younger than 30 – Hyun Min Ahn, 29, and the best of the whole bunch, Hampus Lindholm, 26. The team also has six good centers under 25 including Elias Pettersson and Dylan Strome, so picking a defenseman makes a ton of sense. There were three similar defensemen to choose from at the top of the draft list and Rock went with Dunn, who is about as good offensively as Will Butcher and Sam Girard, and a bit older and stronger.
#9 – Jokerit trade up for Kotkaniemi
Helsinki General Manager Jukka Tuominen wanted Finn Jesperi Kotkaniemi bad enough to throw his second-round pick away and move up one spot in the draft today. Stockholm moves back one spot and gains Helsinki’s second-rounder. Kotkaniemi is doing very well with the NHL Montreal Canadiens and should get very good attributes in April. He is on pace for 14 minutes per game and almost 40 points as an 18-year-old.
#10 – Stockholm gets Merkley
Ryan Merkley, part of the San Jose Sharks system, will move to Sweden to play for Mikko M’s Stockholm Eagles. Merkley currently plays for Guelph in the Ontario Hockey League and is seen as a nimble, swift skater and a future powerplay quarterback. He’s just the opposite kind of player as Jeremy Lauzon, a Bruins farmhand and another defenseman prospect in the Stockholm system. Both Merkley and Lauzon will spend time with the Stockholm farm club, the Stockholm Sun Towers, before starting to compete for time on the big club with the likes of Roope Laavainen, Mirco Mueller and Brady Skjei.
#11 – Boqvist goes to Minsk
Hussar GM Igor Kirunov already has a handful of young players who will be starters in 5 years and must really be hoping the NHL Buffalo Sabres are wise with goalie Ukka Pekka Luukkonen. He could be the key to this team’s future because with Aaron Ekblad, Colin White, Bo Horvat, Pavel Zacha and Nick Schmaltz, Minsk has some Under 25s that should form a solid nucleus for the future. Maxim Chudinov is only 26 and with his 92PO rating, he should be a force for as long as Kirunov can keep getting his signature on contracts. If not, Kirunov secured a good option in Adam Boqvist, a slick offensive defenseman taken at #8 in the NHL draft by Chicago. He has 30 points in 29 OHL games.
#12 – Lions take Hayton with other pick
Canadian Barrett Hayton, a confident forward with silky hands, was Zurich’s second pick in the first round. Hayton has excellent size and is a fantastic stickhander who has 39 points in 24 games as captain of the OHL Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. His NHL rights belong to the Arizona Coyotes after they took him 5th overall in June. GM Dennis Sullo is now well stocked at center for the long-term with Brayden Point, 22; defensive-minded Joel Eriksson Ek, 21, and Hayton, 18.
#13 – Milan takes Dman Bouchard
Evan Bouchard of Oakville, Ont., will someday plant himself firmly on the Milan blueline. He is well-rounded with decent size and coaches like his attitude. With the OHL’s London Knights, he has been team captain the last two seasons.
#14 – Lisbon looks to Russia
Vitali Kravtsov was selected #9 by the NHL’s New York Rangers and will get his initial training in the Big Apple before shipping off for a EURO League career with Lisbon. He is big and skilled and projects to be a versatile winger who can play on any line. He joins a Lisbon farm system that incluldes, among others, Casey Mittelstadt, Lias Andresson, Henrik Borgstrom and fellow Russian Evgeny Svechnikov.
#15 – Paris grabs offensive Dman
Quebec native Samuel Girard gets to go to a good team where French is the main language. He will also get to learn from one of the most talented group on blueliners on the planet. Paris currently has Alex Pietrangelo, Ken Kuusk, Travis Hamonic and Ivan Provorov are on the job right now and Kris Letang might be back with a new contract.
#16 – Tridents go with K’Andre
K’Andre Miller is learning the game at the university of Wisconsin and he will be a teammate of Kravtsov in New York before joining the Copenhagen Tridents. A big defenseman, Miller likes to get involved in the offense and he is another good building block that GM Martin Sayle is collecting on the Trident blueline. Other promising youngsters back there include Thomas Chabot and Noah Hanifin.
#17 – He will be known as Butcher of London
You don’t have to be a great passer to collect a lot of assists with London because they have such a high-powered offense, but Will Butcher IS a great passer. It;s his top attribute and you can expect to see him inserted into the Ice Lords powerplays as soon as he cracks the lineup.
#18 – Madrid selects winger Heinen
On the Madrid Royals’ depth chart, newly drafted Danton Heinen and Jake Virtanen look to be forever fighting each other for ice time. They play different styles, so there should be a place for both eventually. Heinen is well-rounded, but not a banger, like the hard-charging Virtanen is. Craig Smith, if he re-signs, and Gareth Roberts will push Heinen down the chart now, and Reto Suri and Loic Lamperier should be ahead of him for the next 5 or more years, barring trades.
#19 – Dobson picked by Helsinki
Helsinki now has 9 prospects in the system and three of them are defensemen. Henri Jokiharju will graduate to the big roster in a few months, leaving Noah Dobson and Josh Brook on the farm, getting their games together for a future in Finland. Dobson has a great shot and good size, as well as leadership qualities.
#20 – Wahlstrom to Gothenburg
Oliver Wahlstrom’s dad played professionally for Hanhals, about 45 minutes south of Gothenburg, so the selection of Oliver is a very popular pick among Frolunda fans even though the youngster has represented the United States in international play. He is an offensive wizard, having scored 48 goals and 94 points for the U.S. team in 62 games. He now plays at Boston College. GM Austin Dwyer has the right wing set for a long time with Wahlstrom, Andrei Svechnikov and Kailer Yamamoto.
#21 – Dellandrea a General now
With the top 12 players taken int he NHL draft off the board, Geneva GM Andrew Rolling went with the 13th player on that list, Ty Dellandrea, a Canadian forward on whom the Dallas Stars are very high. With Flint in the Ontario Hockey League, Dellandrea has improved hi point totals from last year and he’s their captain. Like the owners of other prospects in the EURO draft, Rolling is hoping Dallas develops his game wisely and gets him some good attributes early.
#22 – Petrograd looks a little to the west
Some fans were miffed that St. Petersburg GM Ben Stuller picked a Finn rather than Russian Grigori Denisenko, but Rasmus Kupari was actually about 45 hours closer by car. The flashy Finn grew up in Kotka, which is very close to Russia’s western border and St. Petersburg. Kupari projects to be an offensive threat and the LA King prospect will be a nice complement to Morgan Frost in the Krasnyye Zvezdy system.
#23 – Prague picks Denisenko
Denisenko went to Prague a pick after St. Petersburg elected Kupari. Denisenko is quick and skilled, and he won’t get pushed around without fighting back. In a lot of ways, he’s like a smaller, quicker Brady Tkachuk, who the Sparta picked earlier in the draft. Denisenko was taken 15th in the NHL draft by Florida.
#24 – Gourde is a God
Athens is in Win Now mode, having finished with the league’s best record last season and they were able to land a draftee who can step into the lineup immediately. Yanni Gourde, 26, comes with a very friendly $1 million contract and he is capable of scoring 25 times in his rookie season. On top of that, he is an excellent defensive forward and penalty killer. If GM Stephen R can re-sign Tomas Vincour or acquire a good free agent, then Steve Downie might have just lost his job.
This is likely to be the end of the draft stories.
