It's been a good day for Wolverines early on Day 2 of the NHL Draft. Aaron Palushaj continued his climb up draft boards and ended up going #44 overall (2nd round) to the St. Louis Blues. In somewhat of a shocker based on his ranking, Louie Caporusso was drafted at the end of the third round by the Ottawa Senators.
Additionally, Steve Kampfer (93rd to Anaheim), Matt Rust (101 to Florida) and Ben Winnett (104 to Toronto) have all been picked in the fourth round and Carl Hagelin was just picked by the New York Rangers in the 6th round (#168). Add that to Kevin Quick, who was picked in the third round of last year's draft, and it appears that the Wolverines have a very nice haul coming in this year in the eyes of the NHL, with 1 1st, 1 2nd, 2 3rds, 2 4ths (Kampfer is on the roster, he'd make 3 4ths) and a 6th rounder. Tristin Llewellyn and Bryan Hogan have yet to be drafted. I believe if either of them are picked, this will set a record for number of Wolverines drafted in any single draft.
Here are some articles from the Canadiens site about Pacioretty. The Montreal Gazette talked to Patch...here's the audio interview.
The big winner in this draft is clearly the Chicago Blackhawks, who have landed Pat Kane, Bill Sweatt, Akim Aliu, Maxime Tanguay (Alex's brother), and two guys from the USA NTDP in Josh Unice and Joseph Lavin.
Colorado also had what appears to be another nice draft, sticking to their usual strategy of taking college players and North Americans.
The Red Wings have had 2 picks since last night. They took their token Swedish center in Joakim Andersson (he's big though, 6'2") as well as Randy Cameron, a center out of the QMJHL.
It wouldn't shock me if the division standings look something like:
1) Detroit
2) St. Louis
3) Chicago
4) Nashville
5) Columbus
next year....the Blues started playing very well late in the year and the Blackhawks should be a much-improved team. I doubt either of them challenges Detroit for the division (though there's a lot of offseason to go) but they both should be in the hunt for playoff spots.
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2 comments:
I can't believe the Rangers just took Hagelin this early. Looks like a GREAT second day for Michigan.
He's kind of the wild card in this class since nobody really knows ANYTHING about him--except that the coaches are excited.
We've really got a great group of freshmen coming in. This crop of forwards is just outstanding--and they're the type of players that we need.
Just gotta keep the puck out of our net somehow.......
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