Nail Yakupov-Hunter Shinkaruk-Jonathan Drouin
Anthony Duclair- JT Compher-Joel Armia
Nicolas Kerdiles-William Carrier-Matia Marcantuoni
Anthony Mantha-Brady Vail-Micheal St. Croix
Danill Zharkov
Ryan Pulock-Jamie Oleksiak
Darnell Nurse-Ludvig Bystrom
Dalton Thrower-Ian McCoshen
John Gibson
Frederik Andersen
Line 1: Deadly combination of speed and hands. The two speedy snipers Yakupov and Shinkaruk will leave teams dumbfounded when they bury shots off great feeds from Drouin.
Line 2: Duclair is the dynamite on this line, scouts compare his game (and frame) to that of Ryan Nugent Hopkins. With his slick passing Compher and Armia should have no problem wreaking havok in the offensive zone. All 3 players have been noted as having great defensive instincts and abilities.
Line 3: Carrier can be the dark horse of the 2013 draft. He scored 70 points without very much help on a shallow Cape Breton hockey team. This season he has set the QMJHL ablaze (still with not much help) scoring 16 points in 9 games. He will be flanked by shifty forward Matia Marcantuoni, and two way specialist Nic Kerdiles. Marcantuoni has suffered extensively from injury problems so...I kind of regret that pick (but the RW pool was shallow). But scouts remarked about Marcantuoni's speed and stick handling. Kerdiles is still a raw project but from my viewings he looks like he can be a great Alex Burrows type forward.
Line 4: Possibly a sleeper to be as good as my second line at some point. Anthony Mantha is a rising QMJHL star with 10 points in 7 games thus far. St. Croix tore the WHL up with 104 points (currently rocking 10 points in 7 games as well) with the Edmonton Oil Kings. They will be centered by Brady Vail who is scoring a "modest" 9 points in 7 games. They are the players I consider my "project players". Danill Zharkov rounds out the entire roster as my 21st and final pick. I feel with the right mentoring he could end up being a 35-40 point player if Edmonton is lucky.
Defense
Pair 1: Pulock is this years big OFD. Could be the best one since Karlsson. I simply could not pass him up and he adds a huge offensive punch to my back end. He is paired with the 6'7 200+ pound monster Jamie Oleksiak. Oleksiak has yet to learn how to play the game phsically and use his size, but even if he never does, this tank is an imposing figure past the blueline that will if nothing else, intimidate attacking forwards.
Pair 2: Darnell Nurse has all the tools to be a big time defender. He won't put up big points but he's another guy with size (6'4 200 pounds with time to grow) who KNOWS how to use it, and does it effectively. Think Dalton Thrower, but if Thrower had the size to back up his game. Bystrom to me...is a mystery...how he fell as far as he did to Dallas is beyond me. No he's not going to get me big points either, but he'll keep the puck out of my net. At 6'0 194 pounds, he's got some size and room to grow and he's a very smart defender.
Pair 3: Keeping up with the theme of more stay at home guys I picked Dalton Thrower and 2013 eligible Ian McCoshen. Thrower is an in your face, black and blue, bruising type defenseman. He loves the physical game and he brings a lot of intensity to the back end. McCoshen brings a more refined style of game but is perfectly capable of keeping guys away from the net and his game only looks like it's going to improve even more.
Goalies:
Gibson: Probably the best goalie out of the 2011 draft, and probably the best goalie in the CHL right now. Gibson had a terrific rookie year in the OHL and an even better post season. Gibson was largely the reason Kitchener was even able to piece together a run. He would often face 40 shots or more a night and he still kept his opponents at bay. He had amazing stats until he had one bad night that saw the stats go the other way. So far he has been one of the OHL's top goaltenders. Kitchener fans fawn over him like no other, often giving him the praise of "best OHL goalie they've seen in 20 years". Gibson's composure and athleticism has garnered Carey Price comparisons.
Frederik Andersen: The decision to select another Ducks goaltender had nothing to do with fan allegiance and everything to do with the fact that at round what...17? Andersen was the best prospect by such a large margin it was ridiculous. Last year the SEL had a close race for top goaltender between Andersen and Ducks goaltender (cool how that worked out) Victor Fasth. Officially that honor went to Fasth but there are many who believe the honor belonged to Andersen. Andersen's numbers last year were terrific and they included a new record for most shutouts previously held by Henrik Lundqvist. Andersen had no trouble settling into the North American game, posting a 3-0 shutout in his first AHL competition (granted it was pre-season but that's beside the point).
Just for fun I thought I'd do a roster with the picks I got in this game and combining them with the guys from the 2009 and 10 drafts.
Yakupov-Shinkaruk-Drouin
Duclair-Holland-Etem
Armia-Compher-Palmieri
Kerdiles-Carrier-Smith Pelly
Pulock-Fowler
Vatanen-Oleksiak
Nurse-Bystrom
Gibson
Andersen
Bobkov
