You need a defensemen at the draft! who is your pick?

[JeromeHP]

Between John blum,Nick Petrecki,Kevin Shattenkirk,Tommy cross and ryan mcdonagh? Who is your pick and why?

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[MXD]

Where are Petrecki and Katic?

 

[JeromeHP]

Petrecki is on the list and katic IMO is not a 1st rounder prospect

 

[LePalle]

Out of those guys, Petrecki.

 

[turnbuckle*]

Good question. Blum, Shattenkirk and McDonagh are pretty close in the rankings, and Petrecki and Cross aren't far behind IMO; some have Petrecki ranked ahead of all of them; he's a bit of a wildcard. A nice crop of mid to late first round US defencemen.

We'll see how the playoffs go, but Ellerby isn't necessarily going to be drafted ahead of all of those players either. Not everyone is enamoured with Keaton even if he's got his fans. Great skater, great size, but doesn't project to be an offensive whiz, and he's prone to errors when he tries to do too much. He's a tough guy to read - do you take a chance on him in the top nine?

I could see Ellerby, Blum, Shattenkirk, McDonagh, Petrecki, and Ross all going between the 10th and 20th selections - I think there's going to be a run of defencemen selected after eight or nine of the top ten picks are forwards.

 

[nanzenkills]

Ahh, I see, you're asking about who we think the best US-born defenseman is for this draft. I would probably go with Blum, though it is almost a toss-up between him and Petrecki.

 

[KH1]

I'd take Petrecki, but I think that Tommy Cross is a sleeper pick in this draft. He's not going to turn that many heads, but usually a good 2nd pairing defenseman shouldn't.

 

[JeromeHP]

The habs love american Defensemen and im wondering who they could pick with their 1st rd pick (12-15th and the sj pick)

 

[CH Wizard]

The habs love american Defensemen and im wondering who they could pick with their 1st rd pick (12-15th and the sj pick)

If they don't play for 500. for the rest of the season I think they could have a shot at Alex Plante.

 

[JeromeHP]

Im not sold on big Alex Plante, some people here at hf said that he remind them of Mathieu Biron

 

[Circulartheory]

How good is Blum? What type of player is he?

 

[daynus]

How good is Blum? What type of player is he?

Blum is pretty good. like in the 10-20 range of round 1.

not the most offensive dman ever, but pretty good. very good passer. pretty good defensively.positional play.

he was listed as very light in some scouting reports like 155-160 lbs, he is gonna have to bulk up more. don't know what he weighs these days, but if you can add 25lbs to his frame, without slowing him down, then you'll have something to work with.

 

[firstroundbust]

I love Petrecki's game, but I wouldn't be pissed with Ryan Macdonough either.

 

[Sore Loser]

Blum reminds me alot of his teammate Brendan Mikkelson in the size and skill level department. One thing that, to me, sets John Blum apart is his ability to win anywhere he's played so far. That team from So. Cal that he was a part of was a fantastic program, one that has produced talent such as Mitch Wahl, Shane Harper, C.J. Stretch amongst others into the WHL.

That being said, if I were picking a defenseman in the top 20 in the NHL, I would hope like crazy for Karl Alzner to drop way down, or Thomas Hickey would be my other choice.

If I have to pick from the menu though, Blum followed by Petrecki.

 

[JeromeHP]

Can anyone give me some info on thomas hickey?

 

[jay-P]

Can anyone give me some info on thomas hickey?

Here's HF's article on him: http://hockeysfuture.com/article.php?sid=9209&mode=threaded&order=0

 

[chaosrevolver]

so Blum is like A.Markov

 

[Rise from the Ashes]

I think id take a shot at Petrecki

 

[GNick42]

Petrecki is on the list and katic IMO is not a 1st rounder prospect

Outside of Alzner Katic is best defenseman available. A cross between Leetch and Ralafski.

 

[mikethompson]

dont compare blum to markov that is disrespecting blum, blum is more like a tomas kaberle, tall, lanky, needs to bulk up, always good +/-, excellent passer and set-up man. Blum is top 15 hands down.

 

[Boardish]

dont compare blum to markov that is disrespecting blum, blum is more like a tomas kaberle, tall, lanky, needs to bulk up, always good +/-, excellent passer and set-up man. Blum is top 15 hands down.

He said A.Markov, not D.Markov.

 

[mikethompson]

yah andrei markov from montreal, blum is not like Markov, I have been a season ticket holder to the giants for 4 years know and have seen almost every home game blum has played and like i said before he is like a kaberle.

 

[Garp]

yah andrei markov from montreal, blum is not like Markov, I have been a season ticket holder to the giants for 4 years know and have seen almost every home game blum has played and like i said before he is like a kaberle.

Have you ever seen Markov play, his style is really similar to Kaberle's...

 

[Jeffrey]

actually ..
andrei markov is almost a kaberle clone...
so if you compare blum with either kaberle or markov you can't go wrong !

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

As mentioned - Blum needs to bulk up. Dude is excruciatingly skinny at 155 pounds, and just about 6'0''. Because of how light he is, I dont think theres a chance he gets drafted in the top 15 - but he'll be one of the best 15 players from this draft because he's intelligent, a great passer and owns rare offensive instincts. Think a taller Kris Russel.