Now that the NHL draft is over, next up on the agenda for the Silvertips is the CHL import draft, which takes place Tuesday. The import draft distributes European players among the CHL’s 60 teams to help fill each team’s two import roster spots.
The WHL is last in the rotation this year, and the WHL has more teams than either the OHL or QMJHL. Therefore Everett, which had the fourth-best record in the WHL last season, is going to be picking late. The Tips officially hold pick No. 55 in the first round and No. 115 in the second round, though there’s sure to be some byes along the way that will change those numbers.
Everett general manager Garry Davidson has already said he intends to use both of his picks. Russian winger Nikita Scherbak is still on the Tips’ roster, but since he’s an overager he’s currently exempt from Everett’s protected list and therefore doesn’t count as one of the Tips’ two Euros (and he’s not expected back anyway, as he’s slated to play professionally in the Montreal Canadiens organization). Russian forward Ivan Nikolishin was traded to Red Deer during the bantam draft in May. Thus Everett is eligible to draft two players Tuesday.
It’s hard to say what the Tips are going to do with their import picks. Davidson said the positions of the players he picked would depend upon whether Everett was able to land any of the elite-level forwards in their system this offseason. Well, it seems 2013 first-round bantam pick Tyson Jost is out, considering the BCHL’s Penticton Vees already announced he would return for 2015-16 and named him captain. However, we still don’t know what’s going to happen with Auston Matthews, with the latest rumblings out of Switzerland being that it’s becoming increasingly questionable whether he’ll be approved for a work permit. So the Tips are going to have to make their picks with uncertainty still hovering over their roster.
So forward? Defenseman? Who knows? And, of course, goaltenders are ineligible for selection — I still don’t really understand the CHL’s rationale for that.
—- UPDATE, 5:10 p.m.
Just thought I’d add this:
I’m very excited and blessed to have the opportunity to join my hometown team next week for development camp! @ArizonaCoyotes #hometown
— Tristen Pfeifer (@tristenp71) June 28, 2015
Pfeifer is the second Everett free agent to receive an invitation to an NHL development camp. Goaltender Austin Lotz was invited to development camp with the Buffalo Sabres.
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