Saturday's draft coverage will be broadcast beginning at 9 AM MT on NHL Network and features rounds 2-7.
Four University of Denver hockey players are likely to be selected, but heading into the draft three questions face the Pioneer prospects.
1). Will Scott Mayfield be selected in the first round?
2). Could all four DU candidates be drafted in the first 100 selections?
3). Joey LaLeggia's BCHL stats and league awards are amazing and yet no one mentions him as a draft candidate. Why not?
24 comments:
Fearless predictions...
Defensemen always seem to fall in the draft as GM's get starry-eyed over the possibility of "finding" the next Wayne Gretzky. About half the mock drafts have Mayfield going in the 1st round, so it appears to be 50-50.
2nd Round - #32 Scott Mayfield (St. Louis Blues)
3rd Round - #64 Nick Shore (Florida)
4th Round - #93 Josiah Didier (Colorado)
4th Round - #95 Zac Larraza (NY Islanders)
7th Round - #210 Joey LaLeggia (Vancouver)
You can find the official draft order at:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=566673
Take a guess and maybe we'll award a prize if someone gets the exact round of each player...
Rumor has it that DU has received a commitment or is close to receiving a commitment from an international goaltender for the upcoming season.
The player in question would be a scholarship quality player.
Its only a rumor at this point.
Having followed the NHL Draft/prospects nearly all year long I'm 50/50 about Laleggia being drafted. It's all based on the BCHL and his size. He def has the upside, but I feel as if scout's don't see the ability just because of the league and his small stature. My projections:
1st Round: Scott Mayfield to San Jose at 28
3rd Round: Nick Shore to Chicago at 78
3rd Round: Zac Larraza to Detroit at 84
5th Round: Josiah Didier to to Colorado at 122
7th Round: Joey Laleggia to Buffalo at 196
USCHO has a mock draft with Nick Shore being selected in the 1st round with the 29th pick to Vancouver.
http://www.uscho.com/2011/06/24/going-out-on-a-limb-our-best-guess-at-the-first-round-of-the-2011-nhl-entry-draft/
Zac going to the Islanders. Bet the mortgage.
Dineen on the podium with Panthers 1st pick :-)
Mayfield not selected in the 1st round tonight. In the long run being selected in the 2nd round takes a lot of the pressure off him to try and do too much, too soon.
Recent 2nd rounders from DU include Paul Stastny, Matt Carle, Jason Zucker, Patrick Wiercioch and Drew Shore.
Another positive about him not being taken in the 1st, is that there isn't that rush to get him into the NHL after a year or 2. So we have the potential to see him for three years...hopefully
I'm happy and bitter at the same time with my Rangers selection at 15...JT Miller, Sioux recruit. Solid forward with scoring ability, but he's a Sioux. TSN reporting he might bolt to OHL instead of North Dakota though, that would be fantastic.
TSN is pretty biased towards the major juniors. Pretty certain I read that Miller is heading to UND. Hakstol even drove down to St. Paul yesterday to guard Grimaldi and Miller from OHL poachers this weekend.
TSN announcer Bob MacKenzie let it slip last night as Edmonton was making their 2nd pick in the first round that the Oilers were "very interested in Mayfield."
Clearly Edmonton is one of MacKenzie's sources and how he gets such good inside info. Edmonton has the 1st pick in the second round today, so that's a possibility for Mayfield this morning.
Also interesting to note that MacKenzie didn't have Mayfield listed as one of his top 36 players and we know that he gets h info from NHL insiders.
However, I'll stick with St Louis. They need to atone for blowing the hometown Paul Statsny pick in 2004. One of the worst draft day blunders in Blues history.
I was a bit surprised that it took 13 picks to get to an NCAA Skater. #14 pick is from Northeastern. Before him it was all Canadian Hockey League & Europe....and even stranger, NO Russians in round one!
Vladislav Namestnikov to Lightning at 27...he's Russian but played for London in the OHL. And DG, my bet is that JT Miller does still with UND for two years before signing with New York, Rangers aren't one of those teams that demands players play in the CHL over NCAA. Even though I would love to see the Sioux reaction if Miller signed in the OHL. I also agree with Bob McKenzie, I have a strong intuition that Oilers will go with Mayfield at 31, Oilers have gone DU in the past with Paukovich, Glasser, and Fisher.
yawn......
Scott Mayfield to Islanders at #34 overall
Chris Butler was traded to the flames.
http://spector.yardbarker.com/
Nick Shore drafted by Kings in 3rd round 82nd overall
Josiah Didier drafted in 4th Round #97 overall by Canadiens
Wow that uscho draft with shore going in first was way off. Im a big DU fan, but never understood why there was talk about Nick going in top 30 or even 50. He hasn't shown too much yet in college, partly due to his wrist injury, but partly due to fact that he just needs a couple more years before he will be good enough to be at the same level as guys currently drafted in first two rounds. I look forward to seeing his improvement next year.
Looks like Larazza has a shot at going undrafted...
Zac Larazza selected 7th Round #196 by Coyotes
damn. there goes my mortgage.
DU Players Drafted:
2/34: Scott Mayfield D, New York Islanders
3/82: Nick Shore C, Los Angeles Kings
4/97: Josiah Didier D, Montreal Canadiens
7/196: Zac Larazza RW, Phoenix Coyotes
D.G.--Yopu got the first three picks spot on: both the name and the round. You had the trifecta going but blew the LaRazza pick by going 4th round and it was thwe 7th.
Larraza was projected to go between picks 30-70 and NHL had him all mic'ed up.
Catastrophe was averted when Phoenix nabbed him in the last round.
Post a Comment