Two Dogs Should Be Drafted Tonight

Two Saint John Sea Dogs defensemen should be drafted into the National Hockey League tonight.

The first round of the NHL Draft takes place this evening at 8 p.m. on Sportsnet. Tonight will mark the first time since 2011 that the Sea Dogs have had a player taken in the opening round.

Both Jakub Zboril and Thomas Chabot are expected to be taken in the 15-30 range tonight. Most mock drafts seem to have them going to either the Boston Bruins, Winnipeg Jets, Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs or Edmonton Oilers. But, we’ll see what happens tonight.

This should be a strong draft for the Sea Dogs, as NHL.com noted a few weeks ago. Five Dogs were taken in the 2011 draft and that number could be matched or beaten this weekend.

Rounds 2-7 of the NHL Draft take place tomorrow.

Via the Sea Dogs website, here are all the Saint John players previously selected in the NHL Draft.

2006 - Felix Schutz - 4th round, 117th overall, Buffalo Sabres

2007 - Alex Grant - 4th round, 118th overall, Pittsburgh Penguins
2007 - Christopher DiDomenico - 6th round, 164th overall, Toronto Maple Leafs
2008 - Yann Sauve - 2nd round, 41st overall, Vancouver Canucks
2009 - Simon Despres - 1st round, 30th overall, Pittsburgh Penguins
2009 - Steven Anthony - 7th round, 187th overall, Vancouver Canucks
2010 - Stanislav Galiev - 3rd round, 86th overall, Washington Capitals
2010 - Stephen MacAulay - 6th round, 164th overall, St. Louis Blues
2011 - Jonathan Huberdeau - 1st round, 3rd overall, Florida Panthers
2011 - Nathan Beaulieu - 1st round, 17th overall, Montreal Canadiens
2011 - Zack Phillips - 1st round, 28th overall, Minnesota Wild
2011 - Tomas Jurco - 2nd round, 35th overall, Detroit Red Wings
2011 - Ryan Tesink - 6th round, 162nd overall, St. Louis Blues
2014 - Olivier LeBlanc - 7th round, 197th overall, Columbus Blue Jackets