(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
17. Chris Kreider—St Louis Blues (Andover-US High School)-BT
The Pick: Chris Kreider is young, but he already has a lot of tools. He's 6'2, 201lbs, he's tough, he skates well, and he scored 33 goals in just 26 High School games.
Impressive yes, but therein lies the rub: Those games were United Stats High School games, which make this pick a bit of a reach at 17.
Kreider still needs to measure himself consistently against top-end competition, and the fact that he's only going in to Grade 12 next year could raise questions about his maturity and ability to handle the pressure.
Looking at the kid though, if that's going to be true, you wouldn't know it. He's smart enough and humble enough at a young age to know what parts of his game to work on, and he even convinced his parents to get the NHL Network so that he could study the World Juniors.
He's athletic (Kreider also plays lacrosse) and he's a smart kid off the ice as well and loves to challenge himself (he's currently in his second year of Russian at school).
Other Considerations: Peter Holland, John Moore. The Blues have some great depth coming up at centre specifically with Patrik Berglund (NHL All-Rookie this year) and Lars Eller, so if they could find a player who can be big and strong and transfer over to the wing that'd be advantageous. Kreider has the type of power-forward body they need.
18. John Moore—Montreal Canadiens (Chicago-USHL)-Bass
The highest ranked high school player this year, Moore has uncanny skating ability and the wheels to both play offense and retreat to defense for an opposing rush. He scored 39 points in Chicago this season. Scouts are often weary of picking USHL players in the draft, due to the lack of competition they face compared to players playing in Major Junior or even US College. However, there is a consensus that Moore will be able to succeed at the NHL level.
With Mike Komisarek leaving this summer (most likey) and with Andrei Markov and Mathieu Schneider getting up there in years, the Habs need another defenseman to add to their organization’s depth. Moore would be a solid addition to an organization desperate to end their longest championship drought in team history.
19. Peter Holland—New York Rangers (Guelph-OHL)-BT
The Pick: Holland brings good height to the Rangers, and if he can fill out, he'll be a dynamo.
The Guelph Storm product saw a 20-goal improvement from his rookie season in the OHL (2006/07) to this year (28 goals), helping the Storm to the playoffs and finishing second behind Matt Kennedy in team scoring.
More impressively, Holland had four goals in four playoff games in the Storm's opening round series against the Saginaw Spirit.
If Holland can expand his game offensively and continue to work on his defensive play, he'll be a quality NHL'er.
Other Considerations: David Runblad, Stefan Elliot. Considering taking a defenseman with this pick is probably more likely. The Rangers could stand to add a few more bodies to the mix even with the recent signing of Matt Gilroy.
20. David Rundblad—Calgary Flames (Skelleftea-SEL)-Bass
Rundblad is ranked in various places by various publications, but International Scouting puts him in the second round. Nonetheless, the Flames would love to add this speedy Swedish defenseman to complement Backlund, who will most likely be joining the team for the 2009-10 season.
After scoring 1.5 points per game in the Swedish junior league, Rundblad was called up to the Elite League, and managed to put up ten points. He struggled at the WJC with just two points in six games, but many scouts still like the raw talent that he has. He may take a bit longer to develop, especially since he is a defenseman, but the payoff could be enormous.
21.Stefan Elliot—Philadelphia Flyers (Saskatoon Blades-WHL)-BT
The Pick: Time for an interesting stat: There were seventeen teams in the NHL this year that had two defensemen score 30 points or more during the regular season. Of the 13 teams that didn't feature two 30-point defensemen, seven of them made the playoffs.
Of those teams, only two made it out of the first round: the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals (Pittsburgh is a strange team for this stat based on the fact that if Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney hadn't been hurt half the year they wouldn't have qualified for this stat but c'est la vie).
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