ISS 2012 NHL Entry Draft Rankings as of June 1st,
2012
NAIL YAKAPOV, LW – Dynamic player, great hands and dangerous
shot
FILIP FORSBERG, RW – Strong, fast and powerful skater, great
shot and chippy
RYAN MURRAY, D – Top D prospect in ’12, smart and complete
player
MIKHAIL GRIGORENKO, RW – Good stick, strong on
the puck
JACOB TROUBA, D – Driven, good vision, calm and
assertive
GRIFFIN REINHART, D – Solid positional D,
MORGAN RIELLY, D – Great skater, intelligent
positional play
MATT DUMBA, D – Hockey sense, good skater,
physical and strategic player
TEUVO TERAVAINEN, LW – Calm and cool, Great anticipation
CODY CECI, D - “Workhorse” with efficiency and
skill
BRENDAN GAUNCE, C
OLLI MAATTA, D
SEBASTIAN COLLBERG, RW
ALEXANDER GALCHENYUK
NICHOLAS KERDILES, C
RADEK FAKSA, LW
THOMAS WILSON, RW
MATT FINN, D
HAMPUS LINDHOLM, RW
PONTUS ABERG, LW
SLATER KOEKKOEK, D
DERRICK POULIOT, D
SCOTT LAUGHTON, C
ZEMGUS GIRGENSONS, C
COLTON SISSONS, C/R
BRADY SKJEI, D
HENRIK SAMUELSSON, C
DALTON THROWER, D
LUDVIG BYSTROM, D
ADAM PELECH, D
On Friday, June 22nd at 5:30PM, I
will be at the Nassau Veteran Memorial Coliseum to experience the 2012 NHL
Entry Draft from an Islanders fan perspective.
I have gone to the last few gatherings and have enjoyed the experience
of the event. From all the fan fare to
seeing friends and fellow writers, the Draft Party is something all fans should
experience at least once.
The Islanders hold the 4th overall
pick. This Draft is one that is said to
drop off after the first few picks, but boasts a lot of strong Defensive
prospects that usually develop slower than offensive talent. The true value of a pick will take a couple
of years to start showing, so it is always interesting to see who the team will
choose from the players available.
After reading the official rankings, prospect
bios and expert opinions, I have thought about what I might expect to see from
New York. We know the Isles have
another big camp ahead of them and prospects like Cizikas, DiBo, Strome,
Nelson, Rakhshani, Ullstrom, Sundstrom, Theoret and Kabanov will be trying to
make a splash. The addition of Joensuu
is expected to take up a Forward spot as well.
Will the Islanders take the best player available, regardless of
position? Probably.
On Defense last season, players like Donovan and
Ness got noticed. Guys like Kichton and
Mayfield will be improving as well.
Defense is something the Islanders really need to get better at and
solid team depth is so important.
You can only guess at what the teams in front of
you are going to do. You will also need
to know your own depth chart and based on the players available, decide if you
can trade back to get more picks if the guy you want will still be there. Is there a big trade for a quality player
who is ready to contribute now to be had for your pick?
When I look at the top ten picks of the Draft
this year, I see some talented Forwards and several very good Defensive
prospects. A realistic scenario could
be a player like Forsberg, Grigorenko or Teravainen available in the 4-12 slot
to make an immediate impact or to add depth to your Forward core. You have to take Murray if he is still
there, right? If he isn’t, I would love
Defensive players like Trouba, Reinhart, Riley, and Dumba.
My wish list would be Forsberg or Grigorenko at Forward or
any of the defensemen I have mentioned above, especially Murray or Trouba. These guys have the elite scoring touch or
composure on defense, so vital in quality prospects.
Later picks in the round would be guys like
Galchenyuk or Ceci. They have a lot of
potential and skill the Islanders have been able to gather in later placed
picks. Another diamond in the rough
towards the end of the first round is F, Christoval Nieves. Ranked 31st among North
American Skaters, Nieves has really good hands, agility, acceleration and
speed. He has good vision and hockey
sense and an ability to maneuver puck in a crowd.
Whatever the outcome, I hope the Islanders make the right
choice.
Isles Notes:
Per Christian Arnold, Isles prospect, Robbie
Russo was on the list of invitees to the USA Hockey National Junior Development
Camp.
Per B.D. Gallof, Isles prospect, Ryan Strome was
selected to represent Canada on the Canada-Russian Challenge Tournament in
August.
No comments:
Post a Comment