Hanover General Manager Brett Warbeck, still unpacking from his team’s move from Moscow, said he could not in any way, shape or form pass up a solid, highly-ranked center at the top of most draft lists. Swiss center Valentin Nussbaumer was made the No. 1 overall pick Tuesday and he will be among the first to play as a Scorpion in the EURO League.

And he should play right out of the gate. Ryan Johansen is the top center on the Scorpions and Yegor Sharangovich is on the second line, but most scouts and hockey guys say Nussbaumer could play on the third line no problem, if Warbeck doesn’t sign a good free agent center.

But Warbeck didn’t take the athletic and intelligent Nussbaumer to be a third-line forward. He was taken to be the eventual team leader. He’s only 18 now, but look at him a few years when he’s got German Tim Stutzle, 19, and American Cole Caufield, 20, on either side of him.

Hanover and Warbeck will watch four more players come off the list before they get to come to the podium again at #5.

Prague also picks a center

Alberta-born Matteo Gennaro is off to Prague where he will immediately bump Alexander Texier and Nicolas Roy down the depth chart. Gennaro could be plugged into the lineup this season, probably as a fourth-liner gaining valuable experience points on his way to someday being the top center in Czechia. The well-rounded center probably has shifts with Brady Tkachuk and Robert Thomas in his long-term future. Gennaro was the second-ranked forward in the draft behind Nussbaumer. He is projected to be a hard-driving goal scorer.

Prague fans will also be excited that Arthur Kaliyev has matured from a prospect in the system to a RW with a PO rating of 83, which will put him right behind Thomas on the depth chart later in their careers.

Paris grabs goalie Posch

Most of the top teams every season seem to have awesome goalies. But is it the chicken or the egg? Did the goalies’ quality make the team great, or did the great team make the goalies seem better than they really are? Paris is hoping having a goalie with really awesome potential will lead them toward a second Cup someday. They traded away defenseman Ivan Provorov to Munich for the chance to draft Isak Posch, an 18-year-old Swede who could blossom into the kind of goalie that will lead a team down the garden path to greatness. Posch has real talent. For him to reach the level of potential he is capable of, it will take some careful watering and care over the next few years because he is just a teenager, after all. Paris already has a former first-round pick in the system in Tanner Jaillet and with those two, goaltending can’t be a long-term concern any more. In the short-term, Paris is relying on Carey Price, who is now 37 years old.

Swayman going from Boston to Scotland

Edinburgh also went with goaltending, getting Boston Bruin Jeremy Swayman, who had a 91.4 save percentage in the NHL this season. With a little more experience, he should be able to assume the top job in Scotland, a job that Jakub Kovar has had for 8 seasons now. But in the beginning, Swayman might serve as a backup. Longtime backup Luka Gracnar’s contract expired and if he is released, the job will go to either Swayman or Erik Kallgren, who played that role in Minsk for 4 years. Kallgren is 5 years older than Swayman and earns about $1.5 million more per year.

First defenseman in draft goes to Stockholm

It will take a while for Italian defenseman Markus Steinkasserer, 18, to make it into the Stockholm H.C. lineup but once he gets there he will be there to stay for many, many seasons. Expect him to be someone who doesn’t make many mistakes. He will be good at getting and keeping possession of the puck, scouts believe. Stockholm currently has just a handful of players younger than 25, so Steinkasserer will be an important component of the team – along with goalie Carter Hart and winger Filip Chytil – once the current generation of players filters out of the system.

German Gnyp goes to Germany

Hanover, with its second pick in Round 1, used Athens’ pick acquired in a trade to take young Simon Gnyp, a mobile, defense-first 20-year-old. There was not much separating Gnyp and the top-ranked defenseman in the draft and it showed because they were picked right next to each other at 5 and 6. Like Markus Steinkasserer, Gnyp will need some development time, but he’s the kind of guy who should be a fixture in the lineup once he gets there. The Scorpions also added Braden Schneider, another 20-year-old defenseman, this season. He was a prospect who gained his attributes. Schneider is more offensive-minded and might be nice partner for Gnyp in the coming years.

London picks up slick Swede

William Von Barnekow has one of the coolest names in the draft and he was one of the best offensive prospects available when London H.C. General Manager Mark Stefanski stepped up to the podium. Von Barnekow is skinny and will get bumped off pucks, but he plays a well-rounded game and projects to be a playmaker. The long-term future in London sees Von Barnekow switch to center, where he could run the second line, or to LW to battle Tyson Jost for the top spot on the depth chart and a chance to play with Dominik Lakatos.

Bratislava drafts from neighboring Austria

Connor Korte can drive from his birthplace in Austria to his future home in under 4 hours. Rebuilding Bratislava likes his work rate and expects to slide him into the center spot on the second line someday behind Josh Norris on the depth chart. The team was fortunate to have its goalie of the future – Spencer Knight – mature from prospect to good attributes and they are banking on the same happening with prospect defenseman Luke Hughes, so they were more focused on a forward this season.

Milan picks goalie to succeed Hammond

Keith Petruzzelli wasn’t drafted by Milan GM David Bell just because of his beautiful Italian name. Right now, Andrew Hammond holds all the team’s goaltending records and he has been the main man there since Season 6. Now, in Season 14, Hammond’s contract is up and it’s questionable as to whether Don Vito Campana wants to commit to a 34-year-old who has experienced a lot of wear and tear. Petruzzelli isn’t the short-term solution, but there a decent chance his name will replace Hammond’s on some team records eventually.

Madrid gambles on a tiny tot Scot

Matt Boldy burst on the scene in Spain suddenly as the Royals’ most promising young forward. The former prospect gained his attributes with the Minnesota Wild this season and he has an 87 PO rating. That gives the team a couple 25U wingers on both sides with good potential and they needed a center. Lewis Houston, a tiny Scot who loves to shoot and can definitely scoot, was snapped up by GM Tony B. Houston is not a playmaker so he will need a good passer or two on his wings to realize his true potential.

Zurich locks in a future checking line wing

Stanislav Vrhel, a 20-year-old Czech winger, doesn’t concern himself much with offense. He prides himself on shutting down offenses and getting puck possession for his team. He will do that for the Zurich Lions, who selected him 11th in the draft. It’s quite possible that if you look into the future of the Lions you will see Swedes Oskar Lindblom and Alex Nylander dancing on the top two lines with Vrhel being a key component of the 3rd line and penalty killing units.

Bern stays in country to grab Sopa

Kyen Sopa is anxious to play in the league and he was probably disappointed when hometown Zurich passed over him in the draft. But Bern, the next closest city with a team, called his name right after. He will develop into a good playmaker for the Interrail, scouts believe. Dawson Mercer, a talented center, just joined the team too after gaining his attributes and Bern is enjoying a nice influx of young forward talent in recent years with Sopa, Mercer, Nico Hischier, Maxime Comtois, and Phil Tomasino.

Oslo leans toward offense with Dutch winger

Oslo General Manager Carl Choiniere looked past a few defensemen and goalies who thought their names might get announced in favor of tall Dutch winger Ties Van Soest. The right wing will be the kind of player who puts the team first and worries about defense and while his skating is suspect, he will provide a great net-front presence by screening goalies, deflecting pucks and cashing in on rebounds. Everyone expects him to contribute with goals and he could be a great fit with current Outlaw LW Dillon Dube, who is 23.

Dublin shores up blueline with Carrier

The Guinness Chuggers’ trajectory has been up – steeply up – since last season, so a player who can help the team for 5 or 6 years now as opposed to 8-10 years later makes sense. Defensive stalwart Alexandre Carrier, 25, leaves Nashville for the Emerald Isle. His minuscule salary over the next two seasons gives him a better shot at playing right away, as does his good hockey sense and his – get this – 99 defense rating.

Another Predator picked right away

A pick after former Nashville teammate Alexandre Carrier went to Dublin, Tanner Jeannot found out he is a Geneva General now. Jeannot likes to fight and he will really be fighting for playing time in Geneva, where there are 10 other LWs on the depth chart, not including three Type 2 free agents who could be resigned if the team wants to keep them. None of the other LWs bring the fighting component Jeannot brings. He can also score goals as well as any of them.

Defensemen go next; Paris picks Canadian

Canadian Ryan McCleary and Dane Jonas Brondberg seemed to be next to each other on every draft list. The two defensemen were very similar. One a bit better at offense, the other a little stronger and tougher. Paris, who traded to select goalie Isak Posch early in the draft, went with McCleary, who will score more points than Brondberg. But when will he play for the Rouge Eiffels? It will be a while. The kid is just 18 and has a lot of maturing to do. The only current blueliner in Paris who might still be around when McCleary debuts is Samuel Girard, 23. Once McCleary gets into the lineup, he should stick for a long time because his PO rating is 80.

Gothenburg adds Danish defenseman

Jonas Brondberg and Rasmus Sandin are the young bucks on the Gothenburg blueline right now and they should be teammates on the farm club for a while before they are eventually teammates on the big club. Sandin is three years older. Two years older than him is Adam Fox, who has already played two full seasons and will be the undisputed team leader when Brondberg debuts. Let Fox and Sandin worry about scoring points; the young Dane Brondberg will focus on other parts of the game for the Frolunda. He will be a hitting machine, a tough customer and a very capable defensive defenseman.

Amsterdam goes prospect route twice

Amsterdam GM Ben Stuller is rolling the dice on prospects in a big way this draft. With two picks in a row, he went with 6-3 forward Matthew Knies and defenseman Stanislav Svozil. Both played in the most recent U20 World Junior tourney. Knies had a great freshman year with the University of Minnesota (33 point in 33 games) and he was drafted in the second round of the NHL draft by Toronto. Svozil, an average-sized, offensive-minded Czech defenseman who played well for Regina in the WHL this season. He was a third-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Prospect points machine joins defending champs

Luke Evangelista scored 55 goals and 111 points in 62 games in the OHL this season and Berlin GM Guybrush Threepwood had visions of a new Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in mind when he called Evaneglista’s name at the draft podium while he was being held up by female models on either side of him. Evangelista, a 5-11 Toronto native, was drafted by the Nashville Predators.

Copenhagen picks actress Renee Zellweger

Zellweger is only 5-3 … I’m sorry. What? … Correction: They took Olen Zellweger, an ultra-offensive Calgary-born defenseman who was drafted already by the Anaheim Ducks in the NHL. With Everett in the WHL this season, he only had 64 assists in 55 games. He also scored 14 goals.

Minsk taking long look at its goaltending

After picking Latvian goalie Janis Voris 22nd in the draft, Minsk sent a note to GMs around the league that Robin Lehner is on the trading block if they can get a top 6 forward. Voris, 18, could be a good one eventually, but he will certainly need some seasoning before he is ready to even back up someone for the Hussars, so he’s not the one forcing Lehner out. Attila Adorjan has played 5 seasons and at age 27 he could be a number one goalie soon. Maybe this year. The Hussars have four prospect goalies in the system including Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Yaroslav Askaorv. We don’t know what to think, actually. There is some four-dimensional chess going on in Minsk.

Hanover’s third pick of the draft is Durzi

Speedy and energetic Sean Durzi is a Scorpion now. He was an L.A. King a few weeks ago. Durzi is a defenseman who saw a lot of time on the top of the Kings’ umbrella powerplay formation. he scored 3 goals and had 24 assists. But he made some mistakes too. 23-year-olds tend to do that. Thanks to a really nice contract, Durzi will have a chance to pick up a lot of experience points because he is a cheap but good option to have. It was Hanover’s third pick in the first round. They will get another one right after Helsinki makes the next pick in the draft.

Solid defensive forward off to Helsinki

Jeremi Gerber, who projects to be a good skating defensive forward, is off to Helsinki after the Jokerits plucked him at No. 24. While the 21-year-old from Switzerland still needs a lot of work with his puck skills, his defense is good enough to play today. Helsinki doesn’t have very many young players at all, so it is tough to predict who Gerber will be playing alongside once he makes the team. Juho Lammikko, 25, is the most likely candidate.

(This story will end after Helsinki’s pick, which is the last one of the first round.)