Happy with our draft, but I would've made couple of changes:
1st - 18th: Alex Tuch. BPA, although some feel that Kapanen or Fabbri would've been better picks. However, I'm not 100% sold on either (although I do like Kapanen's skill set).
3rd - 80th: Ville Husso. We were rooting for Wild to draft him with a couple of friends. While I don't mind having another promising D-man in our prospect pool, I would've rather had Husso, who has shown far more promise than Kähkönen so far.
4th - 109th: Michael Bunting. A hard-working left winger who topped the VO2 max test in the combine, he hasn't had an easy path so far. An outstanding athlete, he's shown the ability to score points in minor juniors as well as in OHL last year. He has average NHL size at 6'0, weighs in at bit shy of 180lbs and is a classic bottom-six two-way winger with some offensive upside as well. He is one of the more intriguing prospects taken at this draft, simply due to the fact that he started playing at the major juniors only recently and is already doing very well. That means he's got talent, and definitely upside.
5th - 139th: Tanner Faith. It was a close call between him and Snuggerud, but in the end I went for the bigger guy who has flown under the radar this season. I like this pick for the Wild a lot, and although Snuggerud I feel has solid potential, I just feel like Tanner is going to be a good one. Dunno, just something about it, feels almost religious, it's like I have confidence in his development. Can't find the right word for it though
6th - 160th: Aaron Irving. I like Pontus Sjalin as a real underdog pick, too, but Irving is someone I wanted before the draft at late rounds. A 6'1" right-handed D-man, he is more of a stay-at home guy but it doesn't mean his hands or feet are made of bricks and cement. In fact, his skating is quite smooth and he can make a good first pass. Not only that, but he plays a surprisingly mature game for a CHL D-man. Yes, that may mean that he doesn't have that much of an upside, but it also speaks for his hockey IQ and defensive awareness. Besides, he's got the fundamentals nailed down so he can focus on other aspects in his development like offensive ability. There's also one more reason I'd like to have him in our prospect pool: We're going to need a righty defensive guy in the future. We have some left-handed smaller two-way/offensive D-men in the pipeline, but we lack some defensive-minded D-men who play physical, no-nonsense hockey. And in general, most of those guys are lefties. A rare breed indeed.
6th - 167th: Waltteri Hopponen. Yeah, call me a homer, but I for one am really surprised he went undrafted. I wrote quite a long post about him in another thread, so if you don't mind, I'm going to
quote myself on this one:
Puhis said:
Waltteri Hopponen. Oh boy, now that's a name I haven't heard in a while. He used to play in Jäähonka, one of Espoo's youth teams associated with Espoo Blues nowadays. He was quite skilled as a younger guy, definitely thought of as a good player - and he knew it. Had a reputation of one of those skill guys with an ego to match, but he has seemed to mature since then. Definitely not a typical, quiet Finn. He is definitely, as I said, skilled and has some great talent on the ice. His stats don't look bad either, in fact he scored around PPG rate throughout his junior career. He was given a shot at the Blues Jr. A team last season, and he produced 8 points in 18 games. Nothing spectacular, but he was a 16-year old playing in a U-20 team, so that's completely understandable.
After that, his career path gets interesting. He was drafted to WHL:s Everett Silvertips, where he only played one game, and moved to USHL and Sioux City Musketeers. That's right, he's following a rare path in Finnish hockey, moving to NA before the draft and playing high school hockey there. It's a bold move, but also helps players to get accustomed into American culture and differences in the game itself. We have seen what kind of a player Erik Haula turned into. With that said, Haula was considered even a first round talent a year before his draft, the move to U.S. clearly dropping his stock until he landed to Fletcher's lap. His first season in USHL was definitely promising points wise at least, as he managed to score 17 goals and 14 assists in 54 games.
Anyway, Waltteri is a skilled winger with good size (6'2" 192lbs according to Eliteprospects), but there are questions about his attitude. Some call him confident, others call him cheeky. Either way, he is definitely an intriguing prospect. He seems to be a PP asset, able to protect the puck well and has good hockey IQ which enables him to adapt quickly to different situations. In fact, he reminds me a lot of young, bigger version of Ville Leino. If you're interested in him, you can follow him (or his ego!) on Twitter: @WHopponen
All in all, he is an intriguing, while controversial prospect who definitely has talent and knows it. Time will tell whether he has the work ethic to match, but taking a swing at him in the later rounds wouldn't be a bad idea IMO. Even if his scoring doesn't translate to the next level, there's some pest potential in the young Finn.
6th - 169th: Reid Duke. I love his pick. That is all. One of those guys who could turn out to be steals of the draft, reminds me a lot of Erik Haula in both potential and style of play.
7th - 199th: Sebastian Aho. Yeah, he went undrafted. Why? No idea, but I guess there's a good reason for that. Still, I'd take a gamble on the small Swede here. Since I went for Irving in 5th, I figured a token Swedish D-man here doesn't hurt. Nothing against Pavel Jenys, he definitely sounds like an interesting prospect but Aho could turn out to be a properly good player - or a complete bust. Who knows. Either way, it was either him, Jenys or Spencer Watson.
