The start of the NHL draft is less than 24 hours away, but there’s a good chance it’s going to pass Everett by this year.
The draft is in Philadelphia this year, with the first round taking place Friday night and rounds two-through-seven occurring Saturday. However, there are no Everett players who are likely to be selected.
Just one Everett player cracked the NHL Central Scouting Service’s final rankings as goaltender Austin Lotz was ranked 22nd among North American goaltenders. However, Lotz was ranked 10th among North American goalies last year the first time he was draft eligible, yet was passed over, so his chances seem pretty slim this year.
As for skaters, Everett didn’t have anyone make the final rankings. forwards Ivan Nikolishin, Tyler Sandhu and Dawson Leedahl were all ranked at some point during the season, but they all fell off by the time the final rankings came out in April. For perspective, Central Scouting ranks about 200 North American skaters. If a player isn’t ranked in about the top 100 then the chances of getting picked are questionable. So not getting ranked at all makes being drafted a longshot. But who knows, all it takes is one team to see something in a player worth taking a chance on.
Since Everett began play in 2003, there have been three NHL drafts in which no Tips were picked. Two of those were 2004 and 2005, which were before any players selected in the bantam draft by Everett were eligible, so they kind of don’t count. The only other year no Tips were picked was 2011 (1993-born players), and Everett only missed out because Ryan Murray was a late birthdate and thus had to wait another year.
Last year Everett had two players drafted. Defenseman Mirco Mueller was selected 18th overall in the first round by the San Jose Sharks, and defenseman Ben Betker was picked in the sixth round by the Edmonton Oilers.
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