THE DRAFT: ROUND ONE

Daniel Briere-C-Philadelphia Flyers

Oh CHris! You were so close in spelling Fleischmann correctly. Next time!

Can I blame it on the iPad? Or is perhaps my chubby fingers? Maybe that grass skirt distracted me.

ok I have two. so elias and gardiner

Nice picks guys. I had Fleischmann, Elias, and Briere all on my short list. Just give me a second, as I need to have a second look at my list.

Alright, it's time for a willy nilly pick, as my good buddy Greg so likes to say....

David Krejci (C) -- Boston Bruins

John, did you read the PrimePucks Prime Choice players? Damn you!!!

JAKE GARDINER age 22
When Jake Gardiner was a child his father walled off a large hockey rink on the nearby pond, and he kept it free from snow. He, also, ran a cable from their house to the pond to set up lights for Jake to skate at night. Countless hours of playing pond hockey honed his vision and his instincts. He would play games like keep away, take away, 10 on 10 matches, etc. As Gardiner himself said, that playing pond hockey is “where he developed all his skills, my stick handling and vision too.” As a 21 years old defenseman he played his first season in the NHL for Toronto last year, and he astounded the league with his speed, skill and poise. In 74 games he scored 30 points, including 7 goals. Not bad for a young defenseman in his first year in the NHL. But it was the way he played that surprised everyone. Speedy, fluid, tremendous strength on his skates, sound positional play, calmness, smarts, knowing when to join the rush or when he needed to stay back. He, also, has an uncanny ability to hang on to the puck and to control the action. He always skates with his head up just instinctively, making it hard for opposing players to get a hit on him. Ron Wilson was so pleased with Gardiner’s play that he increased his ice time, as he played, on average, 21:35 minutes per game. Late in the season Wilson thought nothing of playing him 25 to 26 minutes in a game. That’s a lot of confidence in a rookie defenseman.
Gardiner, actually, started his hockey career as a forward. He did not become a defenseman until he went to the University of Wisconsin where he played three years. He was able to seamlessly transfer over to defense, but he retains a lot of offensive feel for the game especially around the net. This is why he feels so comfortable joining the rush. Hockey pundits have started to compare him to previous great defensemen. Former Toronto star forward Darryl Sittler recently said “He reminds me a little bit of Niedermeyer and Coffey. He’s so fluid and he has his head up all the time. As a forward it’s so much fun to have a guy like that because you can dump the puck off to them and they will find you when you get open.”
Now Toronto is not exactly loaded with talent around him, and Gardiner needs to get more power play time this year as only 7 of his points came on the power play. He also needs to work on finding holes with his shot from the blue line. But we think that will all happen. We have him projected for 36 points this season, but 40 is not out of the question. This guy is just loaded with upside potential.
Check out the YouTube video of Jake Gardiner highlights below. You will come away impressed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLZhPmI51d8&feature=player_embedded

Frogs select ... O. Jokinen C Wpg

did we skip scott?

No, Scott is up now. Is there any way for you to reach him?

my bad i think im in wrong round, i will take a minute and get caught up

Where'd Greg go?

sent him txt.

ROUND 1
Yakupov
Duchene
Luongo
Perron
Voracek
Lecavalier
Brown
Filpula
Campbell
Streit

ROUND 2
Johnson
Fowler
Backes
Okposo
Kreider
Schultz
Brodeur
Gregorinko
ernhoff
kunitz

Round 3
whitney
cammalleri
goligoski
havlat
burrows
michalek
bernier
galchenyuk
kulikov
vrbata

round 4
kyle turris
fleishman
briere
elias
gardiner
krejci
jokinen

Scott
Matt
Gord
Greg

matt don't you pick twice in a row?

Not until early in the next round.

Scott
Matt
Gord
Greg
Matt
Matt

Hey Brandon, does Scott know it is his pick?

i have let him know but he has not responded. he could be driving back to sudbury but im not sure.

OK. I saw him on here a few minutes ago, but then he disappeared again. I'm sure he'll be back on soon enough.

Ok guys.

Back home now and I will now be able to pay more attention as the night progresses.

Gotta get thinking about my next pick actually....

he is driving but he said he will have a quick look and let me know

scott takes cody hodgson

Alright, let's see if we can get a few picks here.

I'll take Ryan Callahan (RW) -- New York Rangers

i see scott is up again in a few picks so i sent him another txt to see if he can provide me with a pick

That's great Brandon. I appreciate that.

I believe Gord is next, followed by Greg, and then two picks for me.