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NHL Entry Draft

2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Ninth Overall Pick

November 22, 2018 at 8:55 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)
23rd Overall: Leo Komarov (Washington Capitals)
24th Overall: Steve Mason (Buffalo Sabres)
25th Overall: Michal Neuvirth (St. Louis Blues)
26th Overall: Chris Stewart (Calgary Flames)
27th Overall: Andrew MacDonald (Dallas Stars)
28th Overall: Viktor Stalberg (Ottawa Senators)

With their original selection off the board in Foligno, the Senators instead wind up with Stalberg, a speedy winger who winds up going a lot higher than his original draft slot (161st overall to Toronto).

It took a little while for Stalberg to make it to Toronto as he spent three years at Vermont after being drafted before turning pro.  He made an impact with the Maple Leafs fairly quickly, splitting the season between the NHL and AHL in his rookie year.  However, that was his only year with the team as they moved him to Chicago as part of a five-player deal that saw them land winger Kris Versteeg.

The 32-year-old spent parts of three seasons with the Blackhawks with some mixed results.  Although he had a 22-goal season in that time, he was more of a complementary piece and as a result, he was allowed to walk in free agency in 2013 just weeks after Chicago won the Stanley Cup.

Nashville believed that Stalberg could become more of a consistent contributor and as a result, they inked him to a four-year, $10MM deal that summer.  It didn’t happen.  By the second year of his deal, he had cleared waivers and spent a big chunk of the year with Milwaukee of the AHL.  In the 2015 summer, the Predators bought him out; he remains on their books this season with a cap hit that’s just over $1.16MM.

He joined the Rangers that offseason and spent one year with the team before moving onto Carolina in free agency the following year.  His time with the Hurricanes was short-lived as he was dealt at the trade deadline to Ottawa in February of 2017.

After being unable to land a contract that summer, Stalberg signed with EV Zug of the Swiss NLA and was quite productive last year with 50 points in 46 games which tied for second in league scoring.  He remained with them to start this season but transferred to Omsk of the KHL in late October.

Stalberg will once again be a free agent this summer and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him try to land an NHL deal one more time.  If that doesn’t happen, he’ll wrap up his NHL playing days with 168 points in 488 games which is pretty good for a player selected in the sixth round.

We move to the twenty-ninth pick which was held by Phoenix.  After landing Peter Mueller with the eighth pick, they looked to the back end and selected Chris Summers.  That pick hasn’t panned out particularly well as the blueliner has spent the majority of his professional career at the minor league level.  They’ll wind up with a better player in our redraft but who should they take? Have your say by voting in the poll below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Polls| Utah Mammoth NHL Entry Draft

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2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Eighth Overall Pick

November 17, 2018 at 2:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)
23rd Overall: Leo Komarov (Washington Capitals)
24th Overall: Steve Mason (Buffalo Sabres)
25th Overall: Michal Neuvirth (St. Louis Blues)
26th Overall: Chris Stewart (Calgary Flames)
27th Overall: Andrew MacDonald (Dallas Stars)

After taking Ivan Vishnevskiy with their actual pick. the Stars wind up with a better fit on the back end in MacDonald, who jumped up 133 spots from his actual selection.

It took until 2010-11 for MacDonald to make it to the NHL on a full-time basis with the Islanders where he showed some offensive upside early, recording 27 points in his rookie campaign.  That remains his career-high to this date.  He remained with the Isles until March of 2014 when he was flipped to the Flyers for a pair of draft picks, one of which was later flipped to Boston as part of the deal that brought them Johnny Boychuk.

At the time of the trade, MacDonald was logging over 25 minutes a night and his ice time stayed rather high after joining Philadelphia.  As it looked like he was going to be a key shutdown defender for the foreseeable future, the Flyers inked him to a six-year, $30MM contract extension less than six weeks after the trade, a move that hasn’t worked out as well as they hoped.

He has spent considerable time as a healthy scratch in each of the last five seasons and even cleared waivers in the 2015-16 campaign which saw him suit up in his first minor league games since 2009-10.  All in all, he has played in 251 games with the Flyers since the trade but has been more of a complementary player than a core one.  Suffice it to say, the contract – which runs through next season – hasn’t worked out as well as they hoped for.

That said, MacDonald has still carved out a pretty good career for himself considering he was initially a sixth-round pick.  It’s unlikely he’ll remain in Philadelphia when his contract expires and given that the league is trending away from stay-at-home players in favor of strong skaters, it will be interesting to see what type of market he has in the 2020 offseason.

We move to the twenty-eighth pick which was held by Ottawa.  They made a very good pick with their original selection, landing wigner Nick Foligno who has played the sixth-most games of anyone in this draft class.  He went twelfth overall in this redraft so the Senators will wind up with someone else this time around.  Who should they take? Have your say by voting in the poll below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Ottawa Senators| Polls NHL Entry Draft

1 comment

2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Seventh Overall Pick

November 10, 2018 at 11:13 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)
23rd Overall: Leo Komarov (Washington Capitals)
24th Overall: Steve Mason (Buffalo Sabres)
25th Overall: Michal Neuvirth (St. Louis Blues)
26th Overall: Chris Stewart (Calgary Flames)

Stewart winds up dropping eight spots from his original selection but still managed to remain in the first round.  He looked to have considerable promise following his sophomore NHL season in 2009-10 where he potted 28 goals and 36 assists in 77 games with Colorado.  That, along with a solid start the following season, was enough to help convince St. Louis to part with young blueliner Erik Johnson, who was the number one pick back in 2006; the Blues also added Kevin Shattenkirk in that trade.

Although Stewart finished up the 2010-11 campaign strong, things started to go downhill for him after that.  He became more of a secondary scorer with St. Louis and at the trade deadline in 2014, he was flipped to Buffalo as part of a deal that the Blues pick up goaltender Ryan Miller in an effort to shore up their goaltending.

Stewart’s stay with Buffalo didn’t last too long as at the trade deadline one year later, he was moved to Minnesota for a second-round pick although his stay there was even shorter.  In the summer of 2015, he left the Wild to sign in Anaheim but after struggling with the Ducks, he went back to Minnesota in free agency one year later.  Last season, the Wild opted to place him on waivers late in the year where he coincidentally wound up with Calgary.

Stewart was unable to land an NHL contract over the summer and opted to sign with Slovan Bratislava of the KHL in September.  However, before he had even played a game, he decided to head back across the pond and signed with Hamilton of the ACH where he has played once so far this season.

As things stand, Stewart sits fourteenth overall in points from this draft class with 321 (160-161) in 652 games.  It’s still possible he could add to that total if he can catch on with another team down the road but given his declining speed and the fact he couldn’t get a deal this summer, that’s far from a guarantee.

We now move to the twenty-seventh selection which was held by Dallas.  They initially selected defenseman Ivan Vishnevskiy, a productive player at the junior level but saw limited NHL success.  He played in just five games with Dallas and has been in the KHL since the conclusion of his entry-level contract.

As a result, the Stars are set to wind up with a better player with this selection than their original one. Who should they take? Have your say by voting in the poll below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Dallas Stars| Polls NHL Entry Draft

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2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Sixth Overall Pick

November 7, 2018 at 7:37 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)
23rd Overall: Leo Komarov (Washington Capitals)
24th Overall: Steve Mason (Buffalo Sabres)
25th Overall: Michal Neuvirth (St. Louis Blues)

While there usually aren’t many goalies that go in the first round, we’re on a bit of a goalie run here as Neuvirth becomes the third goalie in the last four picks while moving up nine spots overall from his original selection by Washington.

He took a fairly long road to the NHL as didn’t become a full-time player with the Capitals until 2010-11 where he became their starting goalie which helped enable them to move Semyon Varlamov to Colorado.  He never was really able to repeat that level of performance and was eventually dealt to Buffalo to allow the Caps to add Jaroslav Halak as a deadline rental for the stretch run.

Neuvirth’s time with Buffalo didn’t last very long as he served as Jhonas Enroth’s backup for most of the 2014-15 season before once again being dealt at the deadline.  This time, he was off to the Islanders to serve as the backup, coincidentally to Halak who he was traded for less than a year earlier.  His time in New York was largely uneventful and he departed for Philadelphia in free agency in the summer of 2015.

Things started off well for the 30-year-old in his first season with the Flyers but they haven’t gone as well since then.  Injury issues have been a concern over the last two years and he has been inconsistent when he has played.  Neuvirth is in the final year of his contract and with the young goalie depth Philadelphia has, it’s safe to suggest that he won’t be with them too much longer.

Overall, Neuvirth has played in 251 career regular season games, ranking him fifth among goalies from that draft class.  He hasn’t been able to become a legitimate starter but has still been able to carve out a nice career as a backup.  Given the increasing role of backups in recent years, he should have some suitors this summer if he can show he’s healthy.

Now, we move on to the twenty-sixth selection which was held by Calgary.  They, too, selected a goalie in Leland Irving although he hasn’t had anywhere near the type of success they hoped he would.  Irving has played in just 13 NHL games, the last of which came back in 2012-12.  Since then, he has bounced around several other leagues in the AHL, KHL, SM-liiga, and this season, the EBEL.

As a result, the Flames are set to fare a lot better with this selection than their original one. Who should they take? Have your say by voting in the poll below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Calgary Flames| Polls NHL Entry Draft

0 comments

2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Fifth Overall Pick

November 4, 2018 at 6:53 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)
23rd Overall: Leo Komarov (Washington Capitals)
24th Overall: Steve Mason (Buffalo Sabres)

Mason gets a strong boost from his original draft position of 69th overall (to Columbus).  He made quite the impact as a 20-year-old in Columbus, ascending to the number one role with the Blue Jackets without spending much time in the minors (just three games).  He played in 61 games in 2008-09 (tied for a career high), winning 33 (also tied for a career high) while posting a league-best ten shutouts (a career high as well).  That earned him the Calder Trophy for Rookie of the Year and he looked like the next elite goalie in the league.

Things didn’t go so well after that, however.  He struggled in the next three years as their starter, posting save percentages between .894 and .901, well below the league average.  That helped pave the way for his departure to Philadelphia in April of 2013 where the Flyers hoped he could become their starter of the future.

For a time, he was able to somewhat live up to that expectation.  In his first three seasons there, he posted the best three full-season save percentages of his career but had a losing record in that span as well.  He stayed with them through the 2016-17 campaign before moving on to Winnipeg in free agency.

His first (and only) season with the Jets didn’t go well as concussion troubles limited him to just 13 games and he didn’t fare particularly well in those appearances.  As a result, Winnipeg dealt away Joel Armia to Montreal as an incentive to take on the final year of Mason’s contract which they subsequently bought out.  While Mason has had a couple of offers to be a short-term backup, he has turned those down and is content with being at the end of his career if he can’t land more of a regular position.

As things stand, Mason leads all goaltenders from the 2006 draft class in games played (476) while posting a 2.70 GAA and a .911 SV%.  If he is indeed at the end of his career, he’s had a good run.

It would have been interesting to see how Mason would have fared in Buffalo where he would have been behind Ryan Miller for several years to start his career.  That would have given him the opportunity to develop at the minor league level at a slower pace instead of being thrown into the fire but would he have had as successful of a run?

We now move to the twenty-fifth selection which was held by St. Louis.  They made a good pick initially, selecting center Patrik Berglund who went to San Jose at the number sixteen slot in this series so they’ll have to take someone else here.  Who should they take?  Have your say by voting in the poll below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Polls| St. Louis Blues NHL Entry Draft

0 comments

2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Fourth Overall Pick

October 30, 2018 at 6:03 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)
23rd Overall: Leo Komarov (Washington Capitals)

Komarov winds up with a very nice boost from his original draft slot as he was a sixth-round pick (180th overall) by Toronto.  It took him quite a while to make it to North America as he spent his first three post-draft seasons in Finland before spending three more full years in the KHL.

He finally crossed the pond in 2012-13 where he split the year between the KHL, AHL, and NHL.  His time with Toronto was short-lived as instead of re-signing with Toronto in the 2013 offseason, he opted to return to the KHL.  While that raised a few eyebrows at the time, it turned out to be the right decision.  He had a career year while he was eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2014.

Toronto handed him a four-year, $11.8MM contract and while he wasn’t the most productive player, he still played an important role on the Maple Leafs, logging 16:24 per game in that span while collecting 113 points in 285 games.  However, his physicality set him apart as he had a staggering 984 hits, just shy of 3.5 per contest.

However, with the Maple Leafs needing to cut some of their veterans this summer with big contracts on the horizon for their young core, the Estonia native had to move on.  He fared surprisingly well on the open market, landing a four-year, $12MM deal with the Islanders in July where he is off to a decent start with four points and 29 hits through his first ten games.

Given how much time he spent overseas, Komarov isn’t close to the leaders in this draft class when it comes to production or even games played but he has still carved out a nice career for himself as a physical bottom-six forward.  That’s a far cry from Washington’s original pick in Varlamov but given how much the Caps have relied on quality veterans in their bottom six in recent years, Komarov certainly would have fit in well with them.

Now, we move onto the 24th selection in the draft which was held by Buffalo.  To say that the Sabres didn’t do well with this pick would be an understatement.  They chose Swedish defenseman Dennis Persson who was one of just three players picked in the first round to not play in a single NHL game.

Persson spent three years after being drafted in Sweden where he split time between the Elitserien and Allsvenskan.  He then joined Buffalo’s farm team for three seasons (Portland and Rochester) but was never more than a depth player at that time.  Following the conclusion of the 2011-12 campaign, he headed back home, signing with Brynas for three years followed by MODO for two, the last of which came in 2015-16. and he hasn’t played since then.

Clearly, the Sabres are going to fare better in our redraft than they did the first time around.  Who should they take with the twenty-fourth selection? Have your say by voting in the poll below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Buffalo Sabres| Polls NHL Entry Draft

1 comment

2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Third Overall Pick

October 27, 2018 at 9:47 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)
22nd Overall: James Reimer (Philadelphia Flyers)

Considering Philadelphia’s long-term struggles between the pipes, it’s only fitting that they wind up with Reimer, a goaltender, with this selection.  While he wouldn’t have come close to providing the value that Giroux (their original selection) did, he would have at least given them another NHL-caliber option between the pipes at a time where the Flyers had churned through a lot of different netminders.

Reimer gets quite a boost from his original selection as the Maple Leafs selected him with the 99th pick.  As is often the case with goaltenders, it took a while for him to make his mark as he didn’t make his NHL debut until 2010-11 after spending time at both the AHL and ECHL levels.

The 30-year-old has been remarkably consistent when it comes to his playing time.  In each of his eight NHL seasons (not including 2018-19), he has played between 32 and 44 games.  In other words, he has basically been a platoon player for most of his career but Reimer has still posted decent numbers, including a .914 SV%.  For comparison purposes, Philadelphia has only had a team save percentage above that mark in one of those years.

We now move on to the twenty-third pick which was held by the Washington Capitals.  The Caps used that pick on Semyon Varlamov, who they viewed as their goalie of the future (and our readers viewed as the top goalie of this draft class as he went thirteenth to Toronto).  It didn’t take too long for him to make an impact as he became a starter in the RSL (now the KHL) in his post-draft year and he was in North America for the 2008-09 season where he got into six games with the big club.  One year later, he was their full-time backup.

However, with Michal Neuvirth already in the fold and Braden Holtby close to being NHL-ready, Washington decided to deal him to Colorado for a 2011 first-round pick (used on Filip Forsberg) and a 2012 second-round pick (that they later dealt away).

In his time with the Avalanche, Varlamov has been their number one netminder (when he has been healthy, something that hasn’t always been the case).  In parts of eight years with the team, he has posted a quality .917 save percentage.  He led the league in wins in 2013-14 and is off to a fine start this season, leading the league with a .953 save percentage through his first seven starts.  Interestingly enough, his future in Colorado past this season is uncertain after history repeated itself in the summer with the Avs acquiring Phillip Grubauer from Washington with the idea that he will be their goalie of the future.

Although Washington’s original choice is no longer available, there are still some quality players to choose from.  Who should they take with the twenty-third selection?  Have your say by voting in the poll below.

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Polls NHL Entry Draft| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals

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2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-Second Overall Pick

October 23, 2018 at 7:34 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first 21 picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)
21st Overall: Cal Clutterbuck (New York Rangers)

While the Rangers were looking for a defenseman to pair with Marc Staal for the next decade, perhaps they should have been looking at a breakout winger in the OHL instead. During the 2005-06 season the Oshawa Generals gave feisty Cal Clutterbuck a chance to play a bigger role and he immediately paid dividends with 35 goals and 68 points in 66 games. The Generals were one of the worst teams in the league, but had a future superstar in 15-year old John Tavares who was already dominating the league.

Clutterbuck, a slightly older and much more physically mature winger, was given the job to skate alongside the Generals’ prized youngster and keep the other team from inflicting too much damage. He’d put up 139 penalty minutes that season but still came third in team scoring thanks to his talented centerman.

In the draft though, Clutterbuck wasn’t seen as a player who could drive a line himself and slipped all the way to the third round. The Minnesota Wild snatched him up with the 72nd pick, but by then all 30 teams had passed on him at least once. It was clear that people considered him a long shot even to make the league, let alone become the consistent bottom-six presence he is today. Clutterbuck made his NHL debut in the 2007-08 season, and then became a full-time player the next season. He’s never looked back, playing in 721 career games and scoring 207 points including a career-high 34 in 2010-11.

The Wild eventually traded Clutterbuck for Nino Niederreiter, squeezing even more value out of their third-round pick. It would turn out to be an incredible selection for them, and one the Rangers could have made late in the first round.

Now we’ll move on to the twenty-second overall pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally held by the Philadelphia Flyers.

There’s not much to say about the Flyers pick, other than it was arguably one of the best of the entire draft. Despite picking in the back third of the first round, Philadelphia picked their future captain and MVP candidate Claude Giroux, at the time an undersized forward out of the QMJHL.

Giroux had just scored more than 100 points as a CHL rookie for the Gatineau Olympiques, but was measured at just 169-lbs and ranked outside of the first round entirely by the NHL Central Scouting. In fact, Giroux was 38th among North American skaters in the final list and wouldn’t have been a surprise to see available in the second round.

The Flyers would have none of that though, and snatched up the extremely talented forward wit their first pick. He currently has 688 points through 747 career games, and was picked second overall in our redraft.

Philadelphia is maybe the biggest loser in this experiment, as they needed no hindsight to know Giroux was the right pick. If he wasn’t available though, they’d have to make a decision on one of the others. With the twenty-second pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the Philadelphia Flyers select?

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Polls NHL Entry Draft| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals

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Goaltender Cameron Rowe Commits To North Dakota

October 19, 2018 at 8:20 pm CDT | by Zach Leach Leave a Comment

Aaron Dell, Zane McIntyre, Cam Johnson, …Cameron Rowe? The young goaltender certainly hopes that he will be the next in a line of recent stud goalies to come out of the University of North Dakota. The U.S. National Development Program announced today that their keeper has committed to join the Fighting Hawks next season.

Rowe, 17, is a draft-eligible prospect who is regarded as one of the handful of goalies guaranteed to be selected in the 2019 NHL Draft. The Illinois native is in his second season with the USNTDP and led the U-17 squad with 43 appearances last season. This year, he’s sharing the U-18 net with fellow draft-eligible stopper Spencer Knight. Knight, who many feel is the top goalie prospect in the 2019 draft class and looks like a presumptive first-round pick next June, actually began making U-18 starts last year and has outperformed Rowe so far this year. The Boston College commit may even have the inside track to starring for the U.S. World Junior squad this year. While Rowe has had a tough time adjusting to the tougher competition so far this season, he continues to get his fair share of starts next to Knight and will likely improve as the year goes on, even if he remains overshadowed.

If anything, the fact that North Dakota was interested in Rowe is proof enough that he is a talented goaltender. The collegiate powerhouse has had immense success developing goalies of late. San Jose Sharks backup Dell was the first in line, helping the team to conference championships in each of his three seasons from 2009 to 2012, in addition to several individual accolades. Current Boston Bruins’ third-string McIntyre came next and in 2014-15 won the Mike Richter Award as the best goalie in the NCAA and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker award as the best player in college hockey. Most recently, New Jersey Devils prospect Johnson led the team to a National Championship in 2015-16. Interestingly enough, Dell and Johnson were never drafted and McIntyre was a seventh-round flier. Rowe, considered a legitimate NHL prospect already, may just have a chance to be the best of the bunch.

Boston Bruins| NCAA| New Jersey Devils| San Jose Sharks Aaron Dell| NHL Entry Draft| Zane McIntyre

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2006 NHL Draft Take Two: Twenty-First Overall Pick

October 19, 2018 at 4:40 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

Our look back at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft is now in full swing as we poll the PHR community to see who would have been selected in the first round and in what order knowing what we know now. Through the first twenty picks, we’ve already seen potential Hall of Fame players switch teams, and multiple captains move up and down the draft board.

Here are the results of the redraft so far:

1st Overall: Jonathan Toews (St. Louis Blues)
2nd Overall: Claude Giroux (Pittsburgh Penguins)
3rd Overall: Nicklas Backstrom (Chicago Blackhawks)
4th Overall: Brad Marchand (Washington Capitals)
5th Overall: Phil Kessel (Boston Bruins)
6th Overall: Jordan Staal (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Milan Lucic (New York Islanders)
8th Overall: Kyle Okposo (Phoenix Coyotes)
9th Overall: Erik Johnson (Minnesota Wild)
10th Overall: Derick Brassard (Florida Panthers)
11th Overall: Bryan Little (Los Angeles Kings)
12th Overall: Nick Foligno (Atlanta Thrashers)
13th Overall: Semyon Varlamov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
14th Overall: Artem Anisimov (Vancouver Canucks)
15th Overall: Michael Grabner (Tampa Bay Lightning)
16th Overall: Patrik Berglund (San Jose Sharks)
17th Overall: Jeff Petry (Los Angeles Kings)
18th Overall: Jonathan Bernier (Colorado Avalanche)
19th Overall: Mathieu Perreault (Anaheim Ducks)
20th Overall: Michael Frolik (Montreal Canadiens)

There was a time when Michael Frolik would have gone much higher than twentieth in a redraft such as this, given that he started his NHL career with consecutive 21-goal seasons. At that point, Frolik had the look of an elite two-way winger for the Florida Panthers that could evolve into one of the best in the game. The high selection they used on him had paid off, until of course, it didn’t. Something changed in Frolik’s game and by the time he was finished his first full season with the Chicago Blackhawks he’d scored just eight goals and 24 points in 91 games for his second club.

Then the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season came and went with just 10 points, and Frolik looked like he might be finished as a top-six option, or even perhaps an NHL option at all. The 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs changed all that, as Frolik added another 10 points, was a crucial penalty killer and suddenly a Stanley Cup champion with the Blackhawks. That drummed up enough interest to get a few draft picks from the Winnipeg Jets as Chicago tried to deal with their cap issues, and Frolik’s career was reborn. Returning to the 40-point player he’d been previously, Frolik put up two solid seasons with the Jets before finding himself on the move once again to the Calgary Flames, where he plays to this day.

While that up and down career wouldn’t be exactly what Montreal wanted out of their first round pick, Frolik certainly would have benefited them more than David Fischer. Had he dropped this far in the real draft, the Canadiens would have certainly snapped up a talent like Frolik and plugged him into their top-six without hesitation. As it happens, they never even got a single NHL game out of the pick.

Now we’ll move on to the twenty-first overall pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally held by the New York Rangers.

The 2006 draft rankings were filled with big defensemen who could move the puck, and the Rangers weren’t going to let another one slip by them. Just a few years earlier they’d taken Hugh Jessiman just two picks before Brent Seabrook came off the board, and had watched him first hand that season score 32 points with the Blackhawks as a spectacular rookie. In 2005 they took Marc Staal, and why not select another talented OHL defenseman to pair with him for the next decade of Rangers hockey. With that in mind, they called on New Jersey-born Bobby Sanguinetti from the Owen Sound Attack and hoped he could be the next big goal-scoring defenseman in town.

Sanguinetti never did project as a great defender, despite his size and reach, but was one of the best in the whole draft at jumping into the rush or attacking with his powerful shot. He’d score 23 and 29 goals in his next two seasons of junior, confirming what the Rangers thought about him in 2006. When he entered professional hockey though, it was clear that his defensive lapses would be exposed too often, and he didn’t make his NHL debut until late 2009 when he was already almost 22 years old. That five game stint with the Rangers would be the last of him in New York, as he’d be shipped out that summer for a pair of draft picks.

In Carolina, Sanguinetti would get just a few more call-ups before he would eventually head to the KHL. A few more minor league seasons and he’d find himself back overseas in Switzerland, where he played last season. Impressively though, he would suit up for Team USA in the Olympics, a highlight of his career to be sure. Though those draft picks would net the Rangers Jesper Fast, there’s little doubt they would take someone else if given the chance today.

With the twenty-first pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, who should the New York Rangers select?

[Mobile users click here to vote]

Polls NHL Entry Draft| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals

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