2011 NHL Entry Draft: The Top 10 Draft Picks
The end of the season has come, the draft lottery has occurred, we now know the draft order of the bottom 10 teams of the NHL. The order will be as follows.
Edmonton, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York Islanders, Ottawa, Atlanta, Columbus, Boston (via Toronto), and Minnesota.
The NHL draft is probably the deepest in professional sports. With several major junior leagues and international prospects to pick from, the teams in the NHL are able to find quality players that could potentially start for their teams well into the second round and even beyond.
With a pretty talented draft class coming in, let's take a look at the top 10 picks of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
10. Minnesota Wild: Tyler Biggs
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The Wild are a team that likes size and ability. The big problem that they run into is that they are pretty good defensively, but never seem to live up to their full potential on offense.
Tyler Biggs could be a big help with this. He brings a lot of good size for an 18 year old, 6'2" and 200 lbs, and captains the USHL U.S. National Development team.
The biggest downside to this draft pick is that he hasn't had the benefit of Major Junior Hockey, which plays more than 60 games per season, so the long NHL haul might take him a lot of time to get used to.
He does have a big upside though. He has a lot of size and ability, and has the potential to be a great power forward in the league, something that the Wild would definitely like to have.
9. Boston Bruins (From Toronto): Mika Zibanejad
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The Bruins get to be a really good team that gets richer this year, as they have Toronto's draft pick at number nine this year.
The Bruins are pretty loaded on the defensive side of the puck, so I'm going to guess that they'll be thinking offense with their draft pick here.
There were no pictures of Mika Zibanejad, but he is another very talented Swede that could help the Bruins out a lot.
With questions as to whether Marc Savard will be able to come back to hockey and be as effective as he had been, making a pick like this to bring some more skill and offense to their team does make sense.
The Bruins will also have the benefit of not having to rush their draft pick along, since they are already doing quite well with their current line up. If Zibanejad proves he's ready, the Bruins will take him on, if not then there is no real pressure for the Bruins to throw him in right away. Wins all around.
8. Columbus Blue Jackets: Ryan Murphy
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The Blue Jackets struggled both with scoring goals and with allowing goals this season, finding themselves in the bottom 10 in both categories this past year.
One way they can try and remedy both of those situations for this coming year is with Ryan Murphy, probably the best offensive defenseman in the draft this year.
His offensive upside is quite good, as he has tallied 26 goals and 53 assists, for 79 points, this year for his junior team. 26 goals for a defenseman, in only 63 games is a staggeringly large number.
The only real down side to Murphy is his size. He is kind of a waterbug, at only 5'11" and 176 lbs, so he may have to eat some potatoes and get his size and strength up to a point where he isn't one of those types of smaller defensemen that get pushed around in their own zone.
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7. Atlanta Thrashers: Ryan Strome
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It is a shame to see the Thrashers at this spot in the draft after the great start that they had in the season.
Part of the reason for their fall was the lack of scoring at the center position. Their to scoring center was Nik Antropov, with a whole 16 goals, 25 assists for 41 points. Look for them to remedy this by drafting Strome.
Strome has been a scoring machine for the Niagara Ice Dogs of the OHL. In 65 games, he has 33 goals and 73 assists for 106 points.
He has some good size that will help him as he develops in the NHL. He is 6'1" and 183 pounds. As he matures, he will get bigger, and he will fit in with the type of game that the Atlanta Thrashers like to play.
6. Ottawa Senators: Jonathan Huberdeau
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The Senators were the team that scored the second fewest goals in the NHL this past year with just 190, so offense is definitely something they will need to look for.
Huberdeau provides them with that offense. He has 105 points for the Saint Johns Sea Dogs this year, 43 of them goals.
He isn't that big, at just 6'1", and will probably need to spend some time in the weight room, at just 171 lbs, but he can help provide the Senators with a little extra scoring.
The Senators are more apt to go for offense since they seem to have their man in net. Craig Anderson really provided them with a spark towards the end of the season, and earned a nice contract extension as a result of it.
Huberdeau seems to make the most sense for the Sens.
5. New York Islanders: Dougie Hamilton
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The Islanders are another team with a lot of young talent up front that could go either way. It is possible that they could take Jonathan Huberdeau to help with the scoring, but the big issue with the Islanders is their defense.
I think Dougie Hamilton can do a lot for this team. First off, he's a big defenseman. Hamilton is 6'4" and 193 pounds. He is also a right handed shot, which seems to be in the minority among defensemen at the moment, though that could just be my imagination.
Hamilton is solid defensively, and has posted a mark of +35 for his junior team this year. Now +/- isn't always a very good stat, but it can be very telling in juniors where there is a lot of scoring. If you are this type of +, then you're doing something right.
He also has a good offensive touch. Hamilton has tallied 12 goals this year, and 46 assists. He could give the Islanders a good point shot in even strength and power play situations, and a sizable defenseman on the penalty kill. Put him on in any situation, and you won't be sorry.
4. New Jersey Devils: Sean Couturier
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This pick is really a toss up, as there are a couple of pretty darn good young scorers available to the Devils at the number four pick.
It's really a mystery how the Devils struggled to score so terribly this year. Ilya Kovalchuk, the $100 million man did not live up to his contract even a little bit this season and handicapped the team in the players that they were able to dress because of his incredibly high cap number.
The Devils were last in the league in goals scored, with a measly 171, nearly 20 goals fewer than the next closest team, so they are definitely in need of scoring.
I'll give the edge to Sean Couturier here because of his size. At 6'4", he is able to fit into a team that likes to play a physical game. Though a new head coach may change their defense first philosophy, and may change the needs of their team.
Even so, Couturier brings a lot of great scoring to the team. He has 96 points in 58 games this year for his junior team, and could help bring a lot of scoring to a team that was the very definition of anemic this season.
3. Florida Panthers: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
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The Panthers are a team that actually weren't all that bad when it came to goals against, this year. They were right in the middle of the pack at 14th in the NHL. The big problem that they seem to have is scoring goals.
The last two seasons, the Panthers have been in the bottom four of the NHL in goals scored. Their leading scorer, with 49 points, is Stephen Weiss, their third line center. The Panthers need a young scorer that can also set up other players. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has to be their man.
While the chances of him actually falling to number three seem rather remote, RNH makes the most sense going to the Panthers.
His stats are outstanding for his junior team. He has 31 goals and 75 assists (106 points) for the Red Deer Rebels this year, showing his ability to be both a sniper and a playmaker at the same time. This rare combination makes him a huge threat and great asset for any team moving forward.
He has earned high praise from scouts. Ken Hitchcock has compared this guy to both Joe Sakic and Pavel Datsyuk. If he is able to live up to that kind of comparison, his hockey career will be very successful.
The only real downside about Nugent-Hopkins is that he is small. He's 5'10" and 170 pounds. If he can get bigger, or at least stronger, he'll survive longer in a game that seems to have more and more questionable hits.
2. Colorado Avalanche: Gabriel Landeskog
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The Colorado Avalanche are another team that could be suckered in by the RNH hype.
With Ken Hitchcock commenting that he thingks Nugent-Hopkins reminds him of Joe Sakic, that naturally made Avalanche fans take notice.
Again, I don't think that Nugent-Hopkins isn't worthy of the praise thrown his way, he just doesn't seem to be the best choice for either of the top two teams in the draft.
For the Avalanche, Landeskog makes more sense for a couple of reasons.
First, RNH is another center. At the moment, the Avalanche have several centers in their line-up. Stastny, Duchene, O'Reilly, McClement, and Dupuis. The Avalanche also have signed last year's first round draft pick, Joey Hishon, to an entry level contract and he will be competing for a spot on the team this year in training camp. Too many centers, why add another one?
Second, the Avalanche need size. Especially since they traded away Chris Stewart, who will be an elite power forward in the NHL. Landeskog is 6'0", 207 pounds and knows how to use it. Descriptions of his game have called him "the Swedish Jarome Iginla" because of his ability to play both a physical game, and a skill game.
He's also been describes as the "most NHL ready player of the draft." To me, this is an absolute no brainer for the Avalanche. Landeskog can make a difference right away, and will add a more of a physical presence to a team that was very soft this season.
1. Edmonton Oilers: Adam Larsson
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With the number one overall pick in the NHL draft, it would make the most sense if the Edmonton Oilers selected Adam Larsson.
I know that TSN and many other draft boards have Ryan Nugent-Hopkins going number one, and the thought of having RNH setting up Taylor Hall makes a lot of people salivate in Edmonton, but only two teams in the NHL gave up more goals than Edmonton did this year. Those teams were the Thrashers and the Avalanche.
Edmonton has a lot of great talent up front as it is, and are going to be set for a nice long while with Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle leading the way, their defense is really where they are suffering.
Adam Larsson could step in on day one and make a difference for this team. He is a big, strong, very good stay at home defenseman that can improve their defense and penalty kill right away.
Larsson is NHL ready, understands pressure situations through his international play, and won't be intimidated by anybody because of size or ability. He'll help the Oilers in a huge way.
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