ZURICH – It had to be a difficult choice for Stockholm H.C. GM Delwin Yung to make Sunday after he was lucky enough to be catapulted to No. 1 in the draft after the lottery. The top of draft features some diverse but equivalent options. A forward, a defenseman and a goalie who should all be franchise centerpieces were all staring him in the face.

With Carter Hart already in place as the likely goalie of the future in Stockholm, the field seemed to narrow to forwards and Ukrainian defenseman Artur Cholach. Yung’s team could use the help at both positions, so the choice became an agonizing coin flip. Trading down surely had to enter the general manager’s mind as another good course of action.

In the end, Cholach’s name was called. The Ukrainian defenseman offers a very well-rounded game and could start this season for the team. He is better defensively than when his team has the puck, but he will in no way be a liability and we expect him to see a lot of powerplay time in his career. Cholach has played for two seasons with the Barrie Colts in the OHL after seasons in Moscow and New Jersey.

He will grow up in the Stockholm system with defenseman Markus Steinkasserer and forwards Alexander Holtz and Mattias Maccelli. Steinkasserer, an Italian who was drafted 5th overall a year ago, did some quality learning last season, getting into 58 games with the team. He looks like he will develop into a high-end offensive blueliner. Cholach could be the perfect complement as a defense partner.

Holtz is a Swede so he automatically a fan favorite in Stockholm, and they and Delwin Y dodged a bullet this NHL season. The New Jersey Devils used Holtz in 19 games and he only has 4 points. He won’t reach the 35 games needed for Websim attributes and will get a chance to get a better PO rating next season. The Finn Maccelli has emerged as a quick little playmaker in the NHL with Arizona.

Hanover lands new goalie of the future

A lot of people were thrilled when Hanover GM Brett Warlock announced Carl Lindbom would be the team’s first pick – and second overall – in the draft. Three masked men didn’t seem as thrilled, however. Lindbom could become a franchise goalie. His presence leaves Jake Oettinger, Igor Shesterkin and Nigel Daws wondering more about the team’s plan for them.

If you look over Hanover’s roster, you see a lot of promise on the forward lines. Centers Valentin Nussbaumer and Cole Sillinger already have future wingers Tim Stutzle, Cole Caufield and Owen Tippett to look forward to playing with. On defense and in goal, however, they are a little thin. Oettinger had been the one fans were hoping will be able to nail down the starting job in goal and indeed he improved a lot in Season 14. Lindbom is now the future of this team. Simon Gnyp is the only good young defenseman on the roster right now, but he might have some help, because …

Another development occurred today affecting the Scorpions. In the NHL, Scorpions prospect Antti Tuomisto signed a contract with the Detroit Red Wings. The 22-year-old, 6-4 Finnish defenseman played at the University of Denver, the same school Hanover coach Jim Montgomery coached to a national title before he came to the NHL. Montgomery and the Scorpions have not yet reached an agreement on a new contract for Season 15.

Swede follows Swede to podium

Edinburgh already had a potential top 6 under the age of 25 so they opted for the most-ready player in the draft, a 24-year-old forward from Sweden. Albert Sjoberg has mad skills and will give the coach, whether it’s Bob Boughner or someone new, all kinds of flexibility because he can be inserted into all 3 forward spots. He could be a second- or third-liner as a rookie. And, he is a bonus for the GM because he will earn less than $1.8 million for the next 4 seasons.

Before the draft, the top line of the future in Edinburgh has Kirby Dach centering Joel Farabee and Filip Zadina, all of whom are 23 or 22 years old. On the blue line – thanks to astute prospect drafting by GM John Charles – Jamie Drysdale (20) and Mattias Samuelsson (22) could be entrenched as the top D pair for a long time, and Jeremy Swayman (24) will guard the net in future seasons once he matures.

Gothenburg gets a new defensemen now, with another coming soon

With two Swedes off the board, the fans in Gothenburg were a little bummed when General Manager Jason Haupt walked up to the podium, but they ended up clapping vigorously by the time he was walking back to the Frolunda draft table.

Danilo Tomasevic is already a good offensive defenseman at age 21 and he will only get better. The Serbian should be a longtime power play quarterback for the club.

The speculation is Haupt steered clear of some enticing prospects because drafting prospects is always a gamble. But in the case of Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who Gothenburg picked in the second round of the Season 8 draft, it’s a gamble that’s finally going to pay off in Season 15. That’s because Joseph had a nice rookie season on the blueline for the Pittsburgh Penguins, playing almost 15 minutes per game and leading the defense corps in plus/minus. He and Tomasevic should be around for a long time in GBurg perhaps as a defense duo.

What a line taking shape in Milan

The team from Italy has young high-end talent out the canoli.

LW Jason Robertson, RW Seth Jarvis and defenseman Evan Bouchard are all 23 or younger and they all have mouth-watering PO ratings of 88 or greater. They are the undisputed young guns in Milan. 

You can now add 22-year-old Croatian center Dominic Canic to the sauce. GM David Bell took him with the 5th pick in the draft. This kid is smallish, but he passes incredibly well and does extremely well on face-offs. Robertson and Jarvis have their center now and it should be the most explosive line in the league in just a few seasons.

Sullo hears the cheers

General Manager Dennis Sullo got loud cheers for doing not much at all when it came time for him to go to the podium. The draft is being held in the home of the Lions and the Zurich fans were pretty jacked. Once he got them to settle down a little, he announced Zurich was taking Kieran Brown and the place went berserk. They knew Brown was just the kind of player they need right now.

The Lions seem very strong on defense, if you are looking only at young people. Quinn Hughes leads a group that includes Mikey Anderson, and Charlie McCoy and Neal Pionk are only a few years older than they are. 

But up front, where defensive-minded Barrett Hayton was the best of the lot with his PO rating of 83, that is where they could use a shot in the arm.  The 19-year-old Brown is that shot. The English kid is goal hungry and that’s the kind of young man the Lions need most. Sullo kind of got burned a bit in the recent past when prospect forward Quinton Byfield didn’t pan out for him. It makes sense he opted for a player with attributes already in place.

Munich gets sturdy, goal-scoring wing

Munich Red Bull went with a Slovakian left wing, but not a certain highly-touted prospect. Samuel Bucek, a big left winger who has a powerful shot and an 87 PO rating. The 21-year-old isn’t a speedster, but he has the skills and ability to be a longtime producer in Munich, especially on the power play. The team also has promising left winger William Eklund and center Marco Rossi coming up in the system to join young stars Clayton Keller and Casey Mittelstadt. The team’s defense corps will feature what should be the best pair in the league in Cale Makar and Moritz Seider.

Prague gets stronger up the middle with Schultz

Prague, which already has 19 prospects in the system, opted for a player with attributes in offensive-minded Phillip Schultz of Denmark. He can play either center or left wing and he should be able to put up points. Some analysts already have him ahead of Matteo Gennaro on the team’s depth chart and Gennaro went #2 overall in last season’s draft. Two of Prague’s prospects won’t be prospects in a little over a month. Bowen Byram, a Colorado Avalanche defenseman, and Cole Perfetti, a Winnipeg Jets forward will move onto the Spartans’ scratch/pro lineup.

Amsterdam defense shaping up nicely

Joel Nystrom won’t score many goals for Amsterdam, but that’s not why new Ajax GM Frank Petrucci picked him. Nystrom is very serious about defending, especially in his own end. He battles along the boards and doesn’t mind taking a puck in the shins, foot, arm … wherever. Look for him to penalty kill for the Ajax once he gets older. A couple young Amsterdam defensemen will stay above him in the depth charts for most of his time there, including Martin Fehervary and big Owen Power, a prospect who should have very impressive Websim attributes once the NHL season is over.

First prospect, a Czech, goes to Slovakia

The first prospect of the draft went with the 10th pick. Bratislava General Manager got all kinds of texts, e-mails and phone calls – and even two stripper-grams – from fans who wanted him to call out a Slovakian player’s name at the draft podium. And there were some worthy Slovakians available. But Massaro, who thrives on pissing off his friends and fans, picked a Czech. David Jiricek (pronounced Easy Check, believe it or not) will likely get his first taste of NHL action with the Columbus Blue Jackets, which makes Massaro’s gamble even riskier. Bratislava will probably get both Jiricek and Luke Hughes, two prospect defensemen, at the same time and the GM is hoping they will both be top talents someday.

Cooley is second prospect taken

Not learning from Massaro’s mistake, Lisbon GM Bryan Camara tuned out the fan base and didn’t pick the only Portuguese player ever in a EURO League draft pool. Instead, he went with talented and smart forward Logan Cooley, an American prospect in the Arizona system. The center from Pittsburgh leads the University of Minnesota in scoring and once he hits the EURO League, he and fellow American Trevor Zegras could make a formidable 1-2 punch at center for Lisbon and both could be on the top power play unit.

Finn will join McTavish in training camp for Athens

Mason McTavish, 20, will enter the EURO League with excellent Websim attributes thanks to a productive first season with the Anaheim Ducks. Trades and free agent signings aside, he would be the youngest player on the team by 4 years. But GM Stephen R gave McT a playmate today when he drafted winger Peter Puhakka, a 21-year-old Finn. Puhakka can skate and puck handle, but it will be a while before he’s as good as his new buddy McTavish is right now.

Geneva grabs a goalie

Geneva GM Jory S practically pushed Stephen R off the stage to make his first pick in the draft. The Generals now have Portuguese goalie Noah Paixao in the system. He should be a backup for Petr Mrazek for a while but could step into a starting role in a few seasons, analysts say.

Newest Royal has skill and toughness

Niko Huuhtanen reminds some of a Tkachuk brother or possibly a throwback to Kevin Stevens. He has hints of pucks skillfulness and he likes to get tough for his team. He’s a combination of soft hands and hard fists. He’s also the forward with the second-highest PO rating on the Madrid team. Matthew Boldy is an 87 and Huuhtanen is an 86.

Slafkovsky finds a home in Switzerland

Juraj Slafkovsky, the first player picked in the NHL draft, sat through 14 picks before Bern finally called his name. The Slovakian is big, talented and young. With Montreal, he played about half a season that would equate to 20 points and 66 points. Aside from a low discipline rating, he should get very nice attributes for a an 18-year-old and because he’s 18, he should have a very high PO rating. He gives Bern an entire forward line of prospects who will enter the league early in the season with high PO ratings. Slafkovsky is a LW and he joins Jack Quinn, a RW, and Wyatt Johnston, a C, who both averaged about a half-point per game as NHL rookies.

Offensive defenseman Nemec off to England

Simon Nemec looks like he will get his training with New Jersey of the NHL while they are near the top of the league. That could really help the young Slovakian’s Websim attributes. He is regarded as a high-end offensive defenseman and that’s a puzzle piece the London team needs, because Ryan Lindgren, 24, is the highest-ranked young defenseman on the team. He has played 152 EURO League games and has scored 36 points. London must be waiting anxiously to see if prospect forward Dylan Guenther gets into 2 more games with the Arizona Coyotes. If he does, he will gain his attributes for Websim and they should be pretty positive.