Scout Dan Sallows continues to produce one of the best draft websites on the interweb. Last week, at the midway point of hockey season, Sallows did up a mock up draft that featured three Saint John Sea Dogs going on the opening round.
Sallows selected Jonathan Huberdeau to go eighth overall to the Buffalo Sabres.
I think they’d be best served to select athletic defenseman Dougie Hamilton or talented center Jonathan Huberdeau, with the edge going to Huberdeau. Buffalo has had success with drafting talented french forwards in the past, so history may just repeat itself.Nathan Beaulieu is predicted to go 18th overall to the Colorado Avalanche.
Nathan Beaulieu isn’t a huge risk, considering he has some offensive potential that is off the charts, but the 6-foot-3, 191-pound blueliner may need some seasoning (ala Alex Pietrangelo) before he makes an impact. Not that the Av’s would be concerned as they are heading in the right direction and have nothing but time on their hands to let their prospects develop.Sallows also selected Zack Phillips to go in the opening round to the Montreal Canadiens19th overall.
The Canadiens will most likely be looking for a big, skilled center, and 6-foot-1, 181-pound Zack Phillips would fit the bill. Another talented Sea Dog that has been lights out thus far this season, and it doesn’t hurt he plays in the Q either, so the Habs scouts see him a lot.BEAULIEU AND HUBERDEAU SPEAK
Following their extraordinary display at the Top Prospects Game, The Hockey News' Ryan Kennedy caught up with two Sea Dogs, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nathan Beaulieu, to talk about their experience and more.
The video can be seen on THN’s website.
Props to Al for sending this in.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie released his draft rankings awhile back and even had an entire television show dedicated to them. Somehow, TSN made it through the 30-minute program without insulting Saint John as a junior hockey market or spelling names incorrectly.
McKenzie, who’s rankings are made by a collaboration of scouts’ opinions and stuff, had Huberdeau ranked at No. 9. Beaulieu was the only other Sea Dog to be listed as a first-round pick as he came in at No. 13.
Zack Phillips was ranked at No. 32 while Tomas Jurco was No. 36.
ISS RANKINGS
International Scouting Services released their top 30 for January. Huberdeau was all the way down at No. 19 while Jurco was the only other Sea Dog selected to go in the first round at No. 26.
Despite being one of the few scouting services to still have Jurco listed as a fist rounder, ISS says the Slovakian is “falling.”
The super talented Jurco was not able to showcase the abilities that have many scouts lauded as top round abilities during this year's World Junior Championships in Buffalo and Niagra Falls. In fact, Jurco seemed rather invisible and was not able to make anything happen around the puck. Jurco's struggles could not come at a worse time as other players, players who were way down the draft rankings proved to be effective and impactful weapons for their countries. The result of this is going to be a big question mark hanging over the young Slovak and teams and scouts wondering if he is able to pick it up and play at the higher levels or when the stakes are higher. Jurco should have an opportunity to silence these questions, playing with the Memorial Cup contending St. John Sea Dogs. Jurco needs to amp it up over the final part of the season and be an impact player offensively while working to take his team deep into the playoffs to be able to salvage some of his first round reputation and potential.Obviously, these rankings get a fail because Saint John is spelt incorrectly.
BEAULIEU AND HUBERDEAU SPEAK AGAIN
Our friends at HockeyProspect.com put together a couple of interviews from the Top Prospects Game.
ON THE PROSPECTS GAME
Bruins 2011 Draft Watch shared their thoughts on all the participants at the Top Prospects game.
On Huberdeau:
Watching him a little last year, you knew he had the height, hands and creativity to be a skilled offensive pivot, but the revelation this season has been the way he's filling the net. Wednesday's top prospects game was no exception, as he pounced on David Musil's rebound, patiently waited for a sprawling Christopher Gibson to take himself out of the play and then slid the puck into the open cage. That kind of poise and patience is a hallmark of any legitimate goal scorer.On Phillips:
He's not the fastest guy out there or all that dynamic, but man-- when he's around the net and the puck is nearby, chances are, it will be behind the goalie soon. He finished off a nice play with RNH when the diminutive center took the puck hard to the net, backing Honzik deep into the cage along the goal line. Phillips pounced on the loose puck sitting in front of the Cherry netminder and calmly flipped it over the Czech goalie.On Beaulieu:
He was involved at both ends of the ice and showed off the kind of mobility and puck skills to be a factor in the offensive dimension. He scored one of the Orr goals when he jumped in from the point, gathered a pass and then rifled a wrist shot to the back of the net.On Jurco:
Some scouts like Beaulieu more than others, but he plays with an edge, has some toughness to him and can do pretty much everything well even if he doesn't have the kind of dynamic upside of Murphy or even Hamilton.
Puckhandler extraordinaire had some chances early, but either couldn't get the bouncing puck to settle or wasn't able to get his shots past Liston. As the game went on, like many of his teammates, Jurco was less and less visible. The winner of the breakaway event in the skills competition is one of those guys who can electrify with one shot and shift, but when he's out of the play, he's really out of it.CHL.ca VIDEO
Yet another video from the Top Prospects Game, this one from CHL.ca. Very long video.
2011 Draft Watch is a feature running through the entirety of the 2010-11 season that features links, video, and rankings of Saint John’s ‘Big Four.’ Any content found on the internet that would fit in this post can be sent to stationnation@yahoo.ca
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