You don't want to pick a guy based on geography. To me, Carlson fit a need and it was a bonus that he was a fan/from the area. Palmieri over Josefson might be a bigger stretch though.
Josefson:
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?fid=11892
TSN: 16, THN: 15, ISS: 11, Redline: 32, McKeen's: 16, Central: 3rd among Euros
Palmieri:
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?fid=11894
TSN: 25, THN: 26, ISS: 23, Redline: 26, McKeen's: 42, Central: 20th among NA
If you were saying Palmieri over Josefson back in 2009, kudos to you.
The Canadian clubs face pressure every year to take local kids. Part of the reason Sykora fell to us in 1995 was because Toronto took a local kid named Jeff Ware. Assistant GM Bill Watters proudly vouched for Ware to the media since Ware went to the same school as Watters' kids.
In 2000, Calgary was hosting the draft and used their top pick on goalie Brent Krahn who was the star goalie for the Calgary Hitmen. The draft day crowd was ecstatic, but that was probably the highlight of his tenure.