Post by columbus on Apr 28, 2006 21:54:58 GMT -5
(AP) On Friday, the IWHL completed the prospect draft's last 7 rounds, and in doing so, finished dividing all the eligible prospects. The Jackets, coming into this draft, had a decent mixture of youth and age, and their strategy was to "pick the best player available, regardless of his position." This theory was definitely stuck to by GM Lawson Cham as the Jackets came out of the draft with 8 defensemen, 5 forwards, and only 1 goalie. Luc Bourdon (Moncton Wildcats), A.J. Thelen (Prince Albert Raiders), Hobey Baker award winner Matt Carle (U. of Denver), Matt Lashoff (Kitchener Rangers), Bruno Gervais (Bridgeport Sound Tigers), Josh Gorges (Cleveland Barons), Jeff Schultz (Calgary Hitmen), and Matt Smaby (U. of North Dakota) were the rearguards selected by the Blue Jackets. Needless to say, an abundance of good puck-moving defensemen with quick feet and good shots. The forward group consists of Alexander Radulov (Quebec Ramparts), Brian Boyle (Boston College), Paul Stastny (U. of Denver), Lukas Kaspar (Cleveland Barons), and Valterri Filppula (Grand Rapids Griffins). In need of a goalie, the Jackets picked Justin Peters (Plymouth Whalers) in the 11th round of the draft.
When asked to comment on the draft results, GM Lawson Cham had this to say, "Our strategy was to pick the best guys available and I think that we did a good job of that. Everyone knows that after Evgeni Malkin the rest of these guys are pretty even in terms of skill level, and I think that we were lucky to get a guy as good as Luc Bourdon with the 8th pick. We think that we have the best group of young defensemen coming into our system in the league. These 8 guys will compliment the likes of Dan Hamhuis, Rusty Klesla, as well as guys like Barret Jackman and Trevor Daley. This puts us in a position where if the right deal came along, we could move one of these guys and address whatever immediate need that we have. And if not, then we still have some of the best offensive defensemen prospects in the league led by like I said Bourdon and Hobey Baker winner Matt Carle. With Alexander Ovechkin and Patrice Bergeron at the tender age of 20, we didn't really feel that we had to go out and draft a lot of forwards, but we're happy with the guys that we got. Alex Radulov is an electric player who skates unbelievably well and has soft hands. Anybody who can score 10 points in a game in the QMJHL is welcome on our team. We were thrilled to be able to get him with our earlier 2nd round pick, and we hope he can continue his success in the IWHL. As for Brian Boyle, a 6-7 220 forward, we felt that he really improved this year at college, almost doubling his point total, and we feel that he could develop into a Todd Bertuzzi type player, perfect for parking in front of the net on the powerplay. He is still a work in progress, but a kid like him is definitely worth the wait. Stastny and Filppula guys who we feel can develop into a solid top 8 forward role and provide some decent secondary scoring and offense. Kaspar is another guy with good size that we like, and he's definitely in our plans for the future. The thing with these 3 guys is that there's work to be done, but they are going to be solid complimentary players in the future playing with our younger forwards like Ovechkin, Bergeron, Scottie Upshall, and Marcel Goc. As for the lone goalie, we feel that Justin Peters was a steal at the 11th round. This guy's stock fell because he didn't have a good season in the OHL, but I mean he's only 20, and the teams that he has played for haven't been very good. Our scouts feel that Peters will develop into a very good backup, maybe even a steady no.1 goalie. I think we were successful in picking the guys that we wanted, but there are certainly needs that we need to fill and will be filled."
When asked to comment on the draft results, GM Lawson Cham had this to say, "Our strategy was to pick the best guys available and I think that we did a good job of that. Everyone knows that after Evgeni Malkin the rest of these guys are pretty even in terms of skill level, and I think that we were lucky to get a guy as good as Luc Bourdon with the 8th pick. We think that we have the best group of young defensemen coming into our system in the league. These 8 guys will compliment the likes of Dan Hamhuis, Rusty Klesla, as well as guys like Barret Jackman and Trevor Daley. This puts us in a position where if the right deal came along, we could move one of these guys and address whatever immediate need that we have. And if not, then we still have some of the best offensive defensemen prospects in the league led by like I said Bourdon and Hobey Baker winner Matt Carle. With Alexander Ovechkin and Patrice Bergeron at the tender age of 20, we didn't really feel that we had to go out and draft a lot of forwards, but we're happy with the guys that we got. Alex Radulov is an electric player who skates unbelievably well and has soft hands. Anybody who can score 10 points in a game in the QMJHL is welcome on our team. We were thrilled to be able to get him with our earlier 2nd round pick, and we hope he can continue his success in the IWHL. As for Brian Boyle, a 6-7 220 forward, we felt that he really improved this year at college, almost doubling his point total, and we feel that he could develop into a Todd Bertuzzi type player, perfect for parking in front of the net on the powerplay. He is still a work in progress, but a kid like him is definitely worth the wait. Stastny and Filppula guys who we feel can develop into a solid top 8 forward role and provide some decent secondary scoring and offense. Kaspar is another guy with good size that we like, and he's definitely in our plans for the future. The thing with these 3 guys is that there's work to be done, but they are going to be solid complimentary players in the future playing with our younger forwards like Ovechkin, Bergeron, Scottie Upshall, and Marcel Goc. As for the lone goalie, we feel that Justin Peters was a steal at the 11th round. This guy's stock fell because he didn't have a good season in the OHL, but I mean he's only 20, and the teams that he has played for haven't been very good. Our scouts feel that Peters will develop into a very good backup, maybe even a steady no.1 goalie. I think we were successful in picking the guys that we wanted, but there are certainly needs that we need to fill and will be filled."