Round 2, Pick 22: Matthew Poitras. Decent pick, but probably better options. Poitras had a good amount of success this past year in the OHL. He’s a very fast playmaking center who has a very solid and well rounded offensive toolkit. My favorite attribute of his is his work ethic; he never takes a shift off, always has his feet moving. He’s going to be a bit of a project I think, and he needs to get significantly stronger before leaving the OHL. He seems very light and easy to push off of the puck in my viewings. I project that he has middle-six potential, probably a strong 3C but maybe a lower-end 2C. Better options were available I think (Zhilkin, Trikozov, Kaskimaki etc.) but not a bad pick at all. My Grade: C

Round Four, Pick 20: Cole Spicer. Really good pick. Spicer is one of my personal faves in this draft class. Really hard working center with a strong 200 foot game. High IQ player, was buried a bit on a strong USNTDP squad but showed his worth in the WJC U18. Needs to produce offense more consistently, but overall looks to be a strong pick for the fourth round. I project another middle six forward, again likely third line. My Grade: A-

Round Four, Pick 22: Dans Locmelis. I didn’t get to watch Locmelis enough this season to make a full report on him, but from what I watched, he’s pretty solid. Good two-way center, really High IQ, seems to be in the right place at the right time constantly. Any European player who earns himself a spot on the pro roster kid season deserves some attention, especially when he started the year in the U18 squad, moved up to U20, then the SHL. That shows fast improvement. Could be a good pick, but it’s a wait and see type of pick. My Grade: B

Round Five, Pick 3: Frederic Brunet. Alright, 3 solid picks in a row. Saw a lot of Brunet last year in the limited ice he got, and liked some of his potential. Really good skater, strong puck moving defender with good size. Needs to develop as a defender in his own end. Overall, a solid pick for a late rounder. I project that he could be a third pair defender, but he’ll need a defensive anchor alongside him (Ryan Mast?). My Grade: B-

Round Six, Pick 22: Reid Dyck. The obligatory Don Sweeney goalie pick. I happen to be quite low on this Dyck, despite his incredible size. Dyck happens to find a way to make himself small in the net, and no one wants their Dyck to look smaller than it actually is. Still, this Dyck happens to be quite quick and agile when in action, which is good in the hockey world, bad pretty much everywhere else. Projection wise, I think this Dyck has the chops to be a backup at most, but many seem to be higher on him than I am, so we’ll see how he performs. My Grade: D

Round Seven, Pick 7: Jackson Edward. Big defensive defenseman who can skate fairly well and has displayed really good defensive abilities and a high IQ. So, why didn’t he get picked sooner? Well, he’s so incredibly inconsistent, it scares me that he won’t be able to develop into anything more than depth player. Could be a high reward player tho. My Grade: B


Also as I’m writing this as an aside: Seattle and Columbus fans should be dancing in the streets right now! Haven’t missed pick yet between the two of ‘em. Blackhawks and Bruins scouts should be taking notes from them.

As an aside, the draft class has, for the most part, has looked extremely solid at dev camp this far. Dyck has looked better than the other goalies at camp. Poitras looks like one of the better players on the ice over the last couple of days, and Spicer has fit in very well as a middle-of-the-pack prospect in the system, which is better than I expected for an 18 year old 4th round pick. The only players that've looked out of place are Brunet and Locmelis, the latter of which is only from time-to-time, whereas Brunet has had a rough go of things over the last two days, especially yesterday.