DRAFT…DRAFFTTT…DRRRRAAAFFFTTTT

One day. One arena…One man…wait…no…nevermind…how many kids are waiting to be drafted, like…hundreds? It’s gotta be something like that. Christ.

In a world…where one team…gets the first choice. One team, can impact the entire hockey world for forever…

That team came in last this season.

I’m really killing the suspense here. I’m a murderer of suspense!

Anyway, if the hints didn’t tee you off, the NHL Draft was last night in Los Angeles. There were some surprises, and some shocks, but most of all, it was a great time held by all. Fans were going insane at home, I was getting a text play by play and making a total ruckus at work. Did you expect anything less? So here’s a recap of the key points of the draft, and a little commentary for it.

First overall the Edmonton Oilers selected Taylor Hall, long putting an end to the back and forth questions of Taylor or Tyler. Is this all that shocking? Not terribly. There’d been talk of Hall by Edmonton for a good long time…more than I’d heard of Seguin. They never really gave any indication that there would be a switch from one intention by Tambelini. You get a familiarity between already established Oiler-in-the-wing Jordan Eberle, who’s just about ready to break out for the Oilers as a permanent player (it’s about time Eh? He’s been doing wonderful things out in the international stage, and for chrissakes, the poor kid was just in the IIHF World Championships. Think he MIGHT Be ready?). Assuming how quickly Hall gets in the roster, he’ll be awesome for this young team as a potential leader.

Second overall, the Boston Bruins got this lucky break after that famed trade to Toronto (you can see my less than glorified reaction here: ) This is gonna make Boston FUCKING powerful next season. And if I need to bring up a dead post and a dead catchphrase, because this might have screwed the Sabres…YOU DON’T TRADE WITHIN THE DIVISION…ESPECIALLY WHEN FIRST ROUND DRAFT PICKS ARE INVOLVD. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS AND YOU HAVE A FANTASTICALLY HIGH CHANCE OF GETTING A FANTASTICALLY HIGH DRAFT PICK. NO…NO…YOU DON’T DO IT.

Will Boston get into the playoffs next year? Oh I nearly guarantee it. And will that mean hell for the sabres? You bet your little scrawny ass it does. I hope my readers aren’t capped at Sabres fans because we’re all going to end up in a big old hate hole. Hole of hate. Filled with hate.

You don’t date within the division, you don’t trade within the division. Done.

So as you can guess, this is a good move by the Bruins. Theyr’e gonna be a total powerhouse next season.

Florida selected Erik Gudbranson 3rd overall. Reports say he’s consistent…a bigass piece of eye candy that their hoping to pair with Dmitri Kulikov, their first round pick from the 2009 draft. Kulikov sounds like some dangerous fucking weapon (…what is the alternative name for the AK-47? Kalishnikov. Fuck…) Basically this equals a bigass (6’4”)…gun. War machine. This is a Moltov cocktail waiting to happen in the southern state. Not only do we see Gudbranson going there, but proven success in Steve Bernier and Michael Grabner went to Florida along with some prospect depth in a 23rd over all pick. And what did this cost Florida? Ballard and Oreshkovich. This is a pretty badass situation for Florida. They really took this draft by the horns and did something about it. With their 23rd pick the Florida panthers gathered Quinten Howden, and on day two, 15th ranked John McFarland joined the totally exciting Florida system. This ended with a great 13 picks for Florida. They actually kind of look like a northern team now!

The first of a record breaking 11 American picks, Jack Campbell was drafted by the Dallas stars. The star goalie of the 2010 gold medal World Juniors team, I really forsee him being useful for Dallas in the upcoming years. Notorious for having the well established Turco, we are all aware he’s coming to the end of his warrantee, and Dallas is very much be in the market for a goaltender soon, and Jack was selected at a point so he can slide right in when that position frees up. HURRAY FOR JACK (I love Musie more than you but I’ll learn to love you too!)

So let’s take a moment to talk about the little record breaking here…Jack was the first of the most Americans to ever be drafted in the NHL. Now let me just put up my American flag and put my uncle Sam suit on and parade for the red white and blue. This came out to be a pretty even spread for the countries. It kinda worked out to be a 1:2:3 among the first 30 teams, 5 Europeans, 11 Americans and 14 Canadian teams. WHAT? That’s awesome. I think as the game evolves, you’ll see this spread get more and more even…which makes me so happy!

Remember. Hockey is for everyone.

Now I want to talk to everyone about the Sabres trade. Mainly because I know the Sabres best and I have to say that…Sabres fans are never happy. Darcy Reghir’s first round pick was to defenseman Mark Pysyk…now what everyone really said was “OMFG…A D-MAN?”

These people understandably so, wanted a forward, wanted someone to score for the team. This is very understandable, we like goals. Goals are fun. But when you’re drafting up at spot 23, you’re looking for a long term commitment…now, you don’t always need a quality forward that you can invest tons of time in, because you always have space for a 3rd line forward. You want to tailor and invest in a D man. Now aside from this, let’s talk about the future need for a D-Man. Right now, we’re looking at having two Free agents in Lydman and Tallinder. In two years (2011-2012) we’re looking at Rivet, Montador and Sekera as free agents…now, Pysyk is obviously gonna need a few years to develop, and with Monty and Ting gonna be up in age come their free agent time, our new little rookie will be hopefully ready to come in.

And, I’d always like to say, goals don’t matter as the w. When you got a guy like Fern in the back…you can really think about having a more defense-forward team…like what you see in Jersey to make Marty Brodeur the goalie monster he is with all his wins and shutouts…and maybe I’m a Fern banger, but I would so love that for him!

Any surprises, well to me it seemed like a really quiet draft. I really expected Brian Burke to move Kaberle or someone like that for a draft pick (I say Kaberle just because there was so much talk about moving Kaberle…) When he didn’t, and kept by the fact that he was proud of his decision to not have a first (or second round) pick for that matter…I was pretty happy about that…and impressed. I can see a lot of people bashing their head against the wall about it…calling him a bit arrogant maybe? That seemed to be the idea of most people who commented on how optimistic I talked about the leafs in my latest PJ&B TV video. But really. If he was my GM…and not Darcy…that kind of confidence in a decision might comfort me (…or infuriate me) it kind of makes you feel like he has control of the situation (or is telling people in a burning building not to panic) (or manning the sinking titanic). But…Burke is a curious character…really. (or a complete idiot…notice this negativity here!)

So, thoughts? I think that this was really an interesting draft. I don’t think the instant appeal is there…the only really NHL Ready kids are probably Taylor, Tyler and maybe Erik, one, two and three, but outside of that zone, I think that the draft holds future appeal with real talent that can be tailored by the NHL coaches to bring up some great new talent that can really make their teams great. The key is to not rush it, and take your time…these guys have some awesome appeal that I really want to see not squandered. Kids like John McFarland and Mark Pysyk who really have this talent and promise, and just need some minor time to be pushed and developed in the right way. With the NHL right there, they really have the motivation to drive themselves and make themselves awesome!

That’s your draft report…

102 days until the first game of the season!

-PJ