2011 NHL Draft: Comparing the Top Choices for the Colorado Avalanche

The 2011 NHL Draft is right upon us all, and the Colorado Avalanche stand poised to select another franchise player as they did when the drafted Matt Duchene third overall in 2009.

It's a bit hard to say who will be taken by the Edmonton Oilers at No. 1, so Avalanche fans can't say with any certainty who the next big thing will be.

What is safe to say, though, is that the Avalanche will be looking at selecting one of four possible players with the No. 2 overall pick.

Depending on whom Edmonton selects, the Avalanche likely choose between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Gabriel Landeskog, Adam Larsson or Jonathan Huberdeau.

All of these players are very talented, but let's take a look at who the Avalanche should draft based off what the Avalanche are looking for.

Skill and creativity with the puck, size, leadership abilities, defensive skills, and player character are just some of the characteristics the Avalanche will be looking for to lead the franchise into the future.

Skill and Creativity

For skill with the puck and creativity, the winner is pretty obvious.

Just look at the video attached, and you will see why Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is easily the most skilled with the puck.

All you hear about this kid is how patient he is and how his vision is some of the best that anybody has seen in a long, LONG time.

He just manages to make plays out of nothing, and can make people look very foolish defending him.

If you were to rank the four players based on skill and creativity, it would probably look like this:

1.  Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (by a long shot)

2.  Gabriel Landeskog

3.  Jonathan Huberdeau (is creative, but not as skilled overall as Landeskog)

4.  Adam Larsson

Size

The Colorado Avalanche were a very small team last year, and it didn't help when so many of their players started going down to injury.

At 6'3" and 200 pounds, Adam Larsson is clearly the biggest of the group by sheer size.

Landeskog is 6'0", but weighs in at 207 pounds, so he is able to play a lot bigger than his stature.

Ranking size would look like this:

1.  Adam Larsson  6'3", 200 pounds.

2.  Gabriel Landeskog  6'0", 207 pounds.

3.  Jonathan Huberdeau  6'1", 170 pounds.

4.  Ryan Nugent-Hopkins  6'0", 164 pounds.

Heights and weight taken from NHL.com's draft page.

Leadership

Leadership is definitely something that the Avalanche need a lot of with the recent retirement of captain and longtime Avalanche veteran Adam Foote.

There is some good leadership in place from Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny, but more leadership from the younger guys is definitely needed.

In what comes down to basically a push, I give the edge to Landeskog over Nugent-Hopkins, but just barely.

Landeskog and Nugent-Hopkins are both the youngest captains in his team's history, but Landeskog is the first European in the history of the Kitchener Rangers, making his leadership and captaincy more exceptional.

The video above shows great examples of Landeskog's leadership, he's always talking to his guys on the bench and on the ice.

His coach also mentions that Landeskog is always the one to get up and say what needs to be said in the room.  Landeskog is a natural leader.

Ranking leadership.

1.  Gabriel Landeskog

2.  Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

3.  Jonathan Huberdeau

4.  Adam Larsson

Defensive Abilities

This one isn't really that fair since only one of the four guys listed is a defenseman, so it's obvious who the best defender is.

If we were to rank the forwards on defensive abilities, I'd have to push with Landeskog and Nugent-Hopkins because they're both good defensively, but in very different ways.

Landeskog has the physical ability to just separate his man from the puck and will get into the corners and outwork his opponent.

Nugent-Hopkins has that Pavel Datsyuk-like ability to just appear from nowhere, lift a guy's stick, and steal the puck away. I guess you could say Nugent-Hopkins is craftier.

Ranking defensive abilities.

1.  Adam Larsson

2.  Gabriel Landeskog / Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

3.  Jonathan Huberdeau

Character

The Avalanche are huge about character players.  Most likely because they just dealt with a couple of players who seemed to quit on their team when the going got rough.

Both of those players are now playing for different teams.

Landeskog is by far the biggest character guy out of all the players mentioned.

Not only is he the best leader of the group (in my humble opinion of course), he is the one who will stand up for his teammates.

By the way, that hit in this video would now be one that is suspended because it targeted the head of the player that was hit.

Ranking character factor:

1.  Gabriel Landeskog

2.  Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

3.  Jonathan Huberdeau

4.  Adam Larsson

In Conclusion

Based off of the criteria that have been set by the Colorado Avalanche for the type of player they are looking for, the answer seems pretty clear to me.

More importantly, this really gives us a picture of who the Avalanche should NOT draft.

Adam Larsson is a solid defender, but he is forgettable.  He doesn't have the ability or leadership skills that the other players do, and Larsson seems poised to stay in Sweden for at least one more year.

For a team like the Avalanche that is looking to get better right away, this seems like an easy pass.

Huberdeau has talent, but really wasn't even on anybody's radar for most of his junior season.

He will do well for whoever drafts him, but his size is less than stellar, and he might not even be the best player on his current team.

Which leaves Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Gabriel Landeskog.

It's no secret to the readers of Bleacher Report that I'm a Landeskog guy, but there is absolutely no doubting that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is also a future superstar in the NHL.

The big challenge for Nugent-Hopkins will be whether he can transfer his game well enough to the NHL, or if the size and speed of the players in the NHL will make that transfer harder.

I think he'll be fine, and could very well end up being similar to Sidney Crosby.

Landeskog, in my estimation, is a Swedish Jarome Iginla: a seamless blend of power and skill, coupled with a very solid defensive game, very physical presence on the ice, a clear leader of men who is willing to drop the gloves to stick up for his guys.

Ranking the best draft choices for the Avalanche:

1.  Gabriel Landeskog

2.  Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

4. (yes, I meant to skip 3) Jonathan Huberdeau and Adam Larsson.

Draft day will be very exciting as the Avalanche move closer and closer to becoming that perennial playoff team they once were.