Sea Dogs add forward, defence in import draft

The 2012 CHL Import Draft has wrapped up, and the Saint John Sea Dogs have added a pair of teammates. With their first selection, 34^th overall (acquired from Rimouski), the Dogs selected Slovenian d-man Jurij Repe. Then, with their own first round pick, 52^nd overall, Saint John drafted Czech winger Jakub Izacky. 

According to the indispensable Elite Prospects, the 1994-born Repe is a 6-foot-2, 198-pound defender who suited up for HC Trinec in the Czech junior league this year. His birthday is just two days short of the cut off for this year’s NHL Entry Draft, so he’ll be one of, if not the oldest player eligible for the 2013 draft.

Izacky is listed as a left winger, and played with Repe in Trinec this season. His offensive production was relatively poor, ranking 9^th among forwards in team scoring. Izacky was rated 39^th among European forwards in the final ranking from Central Scouting, down from 23^rd at mid-term, but went undrafted. He’ll be an age-19 player this season.

Should both report, they’ll replace Stanislav Galiev and Tomas Jurco, who are expected to turn pro. More on both prospects, including quotes from Mike Kelly, available courtesy the QMJHL website. The Sea Dogs passed with their final selection in the 2^nd round.

Certainly the Sea Dogs did not go for broke with these picks. They won’t be adding two players of the same calibre as Galiev and Jurco, but what they do get is a pair of solid players who will almost certainly report in a re-building year. Both will likely spend just a year or two with Saint John, after which time the Dogs will likely go for bigger-impact Euros.

Some other notes from the import draft:

-Moncton selected Ivan Barbashev with the first overall selection. He should make his mark immediately in the Wildcats lineup. He’s eligible for the 2014 NHL draft. They also picked Dmitri Jaskin, a 2^nd round pick of St. Louis in 2011. Both are expected to report.

-Erie nabbed Swedish goaltender Oscar Dansk, selected in the 2^nd round by Columbus over the weekend, 3^rd overall. It was widely expected that London would draft him 9^th overall. Solid trolling, Otters.

-The Quebec Remparts swung for the fences for the second year in a row. After adding Mikhail Grigorenko in last year’s Euro draft, Patrick Roy took Russian scoring star Nikita Kucherov. Should he report, and it looks like he may, there could be a logjam if Grigorenko is returned to junior since Nick Sorensen is currently occupying the other Euro spot. That’s a problem any GM would love to have, though. Embarassment of riches.