Import draft will be on june 30th. Hopefully Boyd can pull off magic again and get us a top player. Probably has known for a while that Rossi not returning. I suspect there were a few recruiting trips to Europe before the pandemic hit.
With Rossi and Okhotyuk being 1st and 2nd round NHL draft picks, the 67's should have some serious sway in convincing a couple of good players to come over.
Don't forget that the draft order doesn't really matter. From looking at the draft two years ago (
Elite Prospects - CHL Import Draft 2018 ), the best player drafted was Rossi at #18. Gatineau got David Aebischer, who was their #1 D and a standout in the WJC this year in the second round at #82 overall. Victoriaville got two players who have over 100 points each, including Mikhail Abramov, who had appx. 1.25 points per game last year at #97 overall.
In the O, Barrie got Matej Pekar (99 points in 84 games over 2 years) at #108 and the Soo got Jaromir Pytlik (69 points in 82 games and a highly ranked prospect for this year's draft) as the last OHL player picked at #118.
With the lack of a u18 and the NHL draft being pushed back, the teams like Ottawa and London will have a distinct advantage with better NHL team contacts and more resources than small market teams this year. The small market teams don't have the budget to employ a ringer like Jan Egert to source two top imports this year. I am very confident that Ottawa will draft two very solid roster players this year.
. That being said hard to argue with the choice although Rossi would have been a worthy recipient. Either one is a good choice.
