I don't mind the Texier pick, but I'm not sure about giving up Keegan to draft a risky player.
Bemström could be the Björkstrand or Abramov of the draft. He's fast and skilled. He played his youth hockey Järna which is about 20km from my Swedish hometown (Gnesta). So I have my new favorite prospect. Too bad he plays for Leksands, but it should be a good fit for him now they've been relegated to Allsvenskan. Expect him to put up some good numbers.
Goalies are hit or miss in the draft, but might as well take a risk on one. Russian goalies may not come over, but when the CBJ have Bob as a mentor, it's a good situation.
The overagers I'm a little concerned with. I mainly saw Davidsson season before last when he was sort of meh with Djurgården. Nothing special offensively, average defensively. I wonder how he will improve compared to taking a risk on an 18 year old. He's almost replacing Zaar but Zaar had more offensive skill but Davidsson is more defensively responsible. I don't think Davidsson is suited for a top 6 role, but I hope I'm wrong about that.
Davidsson does have a nice release (the pass is from his brother Marcus):
Another goal from Jonathan Davidsson:
Kale Howarth has size, but playing against kids in Junior A as a 19 year old doesn't really say much about his offensive potential.
Robbie Strucker is the traditional longshot type drafted out of high school, and it's a good comparison. The Jackets draft a Tyler Bird at 18 years old and a few years later he's not looking like a great pick. Waiting a few years, at least they know what they're getting. Strucker seems like a better pick than Bird or even Howarth but it will be 3-4 years before the Jackets will know what they got in him and that's fine. There's plenty of other prospects.
European overagers make more sense because some players get buried in lower level teams or don't get as much playing time, so in their draft year there's limited viewing. Arizona drafted a Swede in the 7th round named Erik-Walli Walterholm who barely played for Djurgården's top junior team. It would make more sense to wait to see how that player does as a 19 year old than waste a draft pick, but situations do happen. Some times players don't leave their small towns until after they graduate from high school. Or they play for a terrible team.
There's an 20 year old Austrian playing for Malmö who didn't get drafted but is finally getting solid coaching now that he left Södertälje and has 1st line potential. That's the sort of player I'd rather take as an overager. (That's Lukas Haudum who was ranked #79 EU Skater by Central Scouting and wasn't selected. Strange).
