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Lots of action today as the Bruins selected six other kids to join Tyler Seguin as the newest class of draftees. They also made two trades - one that will be mourned by Bruins fangirls for AT LEAST weeks, and one that will probably be forgotten about forever.
You've all heard enough about Seguin - here's a bit about the guys who were drafted today. Overall I'd have loved to see us get a little more size on the blueline, as that's a bit of an issue on down into the minors.
2nd pick. (32nd overall): Jared Knight, C, London (OHL).
Verdict: My first thought was whoa, I can't believe kids born in 1992 are being drafted. My second though was oh wow, another center. Someone's getting traded today. Getting past the fact that the Bruins' center fixation is getting out of hand, Knight seems like a steal. He actually flew to Boston to skate with the team before the draft. He scored 36 goals in 63 games last year for the Knights, can play RW as well, and basically just looks SOLID. Would love to see him have a stellar year in London and/or Providence next year, then come up and be awesome in the NHL in 2011-2012.
3rd pick. (45th overall:) Ryan Spooner, C, Peterborough (OHL).
Verdict: Another center, a fast, small, speedy kid who's referred to by Central Scouting as one of the best natural centers in the draft. If he spends another season with the Petes and winds up in Providence after a few of the current guys' contracts expire, he could make a huge impact in 2011-2012. Would even like to see him come to the AHL the way Sauve and Colborne did this year when their college/junior team finished their playoff runs.
4th pick. (97th overall:) Craig Cunningham, LW, Vancouver (WHL).
Verdict: Interesting story here. Cunningham played with Milan Lucic for a year with the Vancouver Giants, and apparently they train together in the off season. He's a 20-year-old draftee, which means he'll move to the AHL or ECHL to begin next season. He had 37 goals in 72 games for the Giants last year, and can also play center. He's small (5'10, 180lbs) but versatile, and could be a clutch part of a successful Royals or P-Bruins' season next year.
5th pick. (135th overall:) Justin Florek, LW, Northern Michigan (CCHA).
Verdict: "Blake Wheeler didn't work out, let's try this again." With a similar pedigree to the older midwesterner, and similar size (Florek is 6'4, 195 lbs, similar to Wheeler in his draft year), Florek has a completely different style of game - he's difficult to move off the puck, has "good hands," but struggles a bit offensively. He scored 12 goals in 41 games for Northern Michigan last year. Florek will be a junior this year. As another older draftee - are the Bruins taking these older guys to avoid the delay of development time?
6th pick. (165th overall:) Zane Gothberg, G, Thief River Falls (Minn. H.S.).
Verdict: Could Gothberg wind up being Kevin Regan's replacement? Probably not, as the Bruins' depth at goalie is fairly extensive. He's also verbally committed to University of North Dakota for next year. Let him develop the way Hutchinson and Courchaine have, and we'll see him in a few years.
7th pick. (195th overall:) Maxim Chudinov, D, Cherepovets (Russia).
Verdict: ZOMG THE BRUINS DRAFTED A RUSSIAN!!!1 okay, not quite that surprising. Chudinov is a smallish defenseman who has previously played with Yuri Alexandrov, Bruins prospect drafted in 2007. Chudinov is 22, making him the oldest Bruins' draftee this year. Interested to see if he and Alexandrov make things happen during development camp; whether or not he stays with Cherepovets next season might depend on how they connect.
8th pick. (210th overall:) Zach Trotman, D, Lake Superior (CCHA).
Verdict: At 6'3 and 190 lbs, the Bruins traded their last-round pick in 2011 to snag Trotman, adding significant size to a small blueline, both in the NHL and the AHL. Trotman even has had a few fights during his time in the NAHL, before college. He's yet another kid born in 1990, and will be 20 in August. He's not an offensive defenseman by any means, but if successful, will be a solid stay-at-home defenseman for the B's. Or, this could be the most irrelevant trade ever, and could be the most quickly forgotten. Time will tell.
I find it interesting that of the eight prospects drafted, four are going to be twenty or older this year. We got four Canadians, three Americans, and one Russian. Two are not eligible to play for the team they played for last year, although one of those two is committed to college. We could easily see a few of these guys in the Bruins system this year rather than their respective junior teams, and that's an exciting thought. I'm particularly interested in where Craig Cunningham ends up. Would also like to see Florek up his offensive production at NMU next year.
Unrelatedly, Tuukka Rask's brother got drafted late by Nashville, just for funsies.
Trade : Vladimir Sobotka for Dave Warsofsky
Verdict: Incredible amounts of WIN. As a BU alum who is insanely proud of her Alma Mater, I could not be more on board with this if I tried. I'm sad to see Sobotka go - he was a gritty center who had flashes of hitting and goal-scoring brilliance, but thinking about it - we have so many skilled centers in the organization, with players like Colborne and Sauve chomping at the bit right behind him. Odds are if he stayed, Sobotka would have been press-boxed or sent to the AHL, allowing Savard, Krejci, Seguin, and Bergeron to play the four center roles, or he'd have been relegated to the fourth-line wing, a position he's admitted to not really being comfortable playing. It's best for his career if he goes to a place where he has an opportunity to excel rather than be stuck in a parade of centers who are more skilled/fit better into the team than he does, rather than have him bounce between the AHL and NHL as he's done for the past three seasons.
Warsofsky is a stud. He's 19 years old and already has a Beanpot, a Hockey East championship, an NCAA championship, World Junior gold under his belt. He scored in the USA-Canada final game, and scored the first college goal at Fenway Park on January 8th, 2010. The only other college player who's as decorated as he is is USA teammate and college rival Chris Kreider, who is a Rangers' prospect. He's played in TD Garden, MSG, and on the international stage, and is committed to BU for next season. He's another smallish defenseman, but he's a goal scorer - 12 goals for BU last season. A Warsofsky-Kampfer D-pair in Providence would be a fantastic way for him to cap out the 2010-2011 season, and it's definitely something we could see next year. So a small salary dump for an awesome unsigned prospect? I totally approve.
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