Import Draft Day Has Arrived

The 2014 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft takes place today beginning at noon Atlantic time. The draft can be followed online here.

After finishing with the second worst record in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season, the Saint John Sea Dogs will be selecting 5^th and 65^th overall in the two-round draft. The Sarnia Sting have the first overall pick while the Quebec Remparts, via a trade with the Sherbrooke Phoenix, will select second.

Darrell Young and the Sea Dogs will certainly be looking to improve on last year’s Import Draft performance. Led by former Sea Dogs general manager manager Mike Kelly, the team used the ninth overall pick to select Slovakian forward Juraj Siska who would end up not playing a single game with the club due to injury. As a result, the Dogs played with just one import last season – defenseman Jurij Repe – and he is not expected to return.

This will be the seventh time in franchise history that Saint John will pick in the top 10. Here is who they have taken in the past:

2005: 5th overall - Martin Bartos
2005: 41st overall - Felix Schutz
2006: 4th overall – David Stich
2007: 3rd overall - Robert Mayer
2009: 1st overall – Stanislav Galiev
2009: 4th overall – Tomas Jurco
2012: 34^th overall – Jurij Repe
2012: 52^nd overall – Jakub Izacky
2013: 9^th overall – Juraj Siska

I’m not even going to try and speculate on whom the Dogs may take today. Elite Prospects is going to have a busy day.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation