Silvertips draft power play specialist

Published 11:25 pm Thursday, May 1, 2008

The Everett Silvertips went into Thursday’s WHL bantam draft seeking offensive impact from its first-round selection.

The Tips found it, although from a different direction than they were perhaps expecting.

Unable to trade up for one of the draft’s top offensive centers, Everett instead landed arguably the draft’s top offensive defensman, taking power-play specialist Ryan Murray with its first round pick.

Everett selected Murray, a native of White City, Saskatchewan, ninth overall in the draft, which took place in Calgary, Alberta. The Red Deer Rebels had the draft’s first pick and selected playmaking center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins from Burnaby, B.C. Nugent-Hopkins was one of several players considered worthy of the first-overall pick.

Murray was one of 11 players — six forwards, four defensemen and one goaltender — selected by Everett in the draft, which distributed 1993-born players from western Canada and the western United States among the league’s teams.

Although the Tips were unable to make a move for one of the draft’s top centers, in Murray they were happy to snag a player who’s style has never before appeared in a Silvertips uniform.

“I thought things shook out pretty well for us,” Everett general manager Doug Soetaert said. “We tried to move up, we had a couple offers on the table, but nothing worked out. But we’re very pleased with the defenseman we got. We really haven’t had a D-man in our organization like Murray.”

How so? The 5-foot-10, 160-pound Murray is a pure offense initiator, capable of carrying the puck up the ice as well as make plays in the offensive zone. In 25 games for the Balgonie Prairie Storm, Murray compiled 11 goals and 31 assists, leading the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League’s bantam division in scoring among defensemen, as well as helping the Storm finish second in the standings.

“We’re pretty excited about him,” Everett director of player development Scott Scoville said. “We’ve never had a guy like that before. If you look at our team, we’ve missed having a D-man who can run our power play (with forwards Dan Gendur and Peter Mueller often drafted into that duty). So we’re real excited to add him to the mix.”

Murray, who’s also described as a high-character individual, was happy about being selected ninth overall, although he admitted not knowing much about the Tips.

“It feels pretty good, I’m pretty excited,” said Murray, who added that he’s committed to the WHL. “I know it’s going to be a real good experience and I was pretty excited to be drafted that high.”

Murray won’t be coming to Everett alone. In the second round, Everett traded up to select Murray’s teammate, center Tyler Giebel, 27th overall.

“That’s real good,” Murray said about having his teammate also drafted by Everett. “It’s good to have a friend along with you.”

The Tips forked over a third-round pick in the 2009 draft in order to swap positions with Prince Albert — a high price to jump up just four spots — and land Giebel, a skilled two-way forward from Balgonie, Saskatchewan.

“We felt he was the last player available to fill that role (the offensive center the Tips weren’t able to get in the first round), so we didn’t want to lose him,” explained Soetaert, noting that the Tips had a spare third-round pick in next year’s draft thanks to the Ondrej Fiala trade.

“When you want something, you go after it.”

The 5-foot-10, 155-pound Giebel tallied 29 goals and 27 assists in 25 games for the Storm, finishing tied for fourth in the league in scoring with 56 points.

It was the second time in three years the Tips took bantam teammates with their first two picks. In 2006, Everett selected right wing Kellan Tochkin and defenseman Jeff Regier, teammates for the Abbotsford Hawks, in the first and second rounds, respectively.

The Tips are also hoping for big things out of their third- and fourth-round picks.

In the third round, Everett selected left wing Joshua Winquist. Similar to Giebel in size (5-foot-10, 150 pounds) and style (a solid two-way player), the native of St. Albert, Alberta also possesses a good shot. He had 39 goals and 26 assists in 32 games for the St. Albert Sabres this season.

In the fourth, round the Tips took defenseman Michael Berry. A player Scoville raved about, the 6-foot, 180-pounder out of Edmonton, Alberta, is a hard-nosed defenseman who also has a cannon for a shot. He had 18 goals and 23 assists in 33 games for Edmonton CAC.

Everett selected one American, taking right wing Austin Wuthrich from Anchorage, Alaska, in the 12th round.

Everett also made a pair of moves Thursday tangential to the bantam draft.

First, the Tips traded their first-round pick in this year’s import draft (27th overall) to Regina in exchange for Regina’s first-round pick in the 2009 import draft. The trade indicates Everett intends to go with Russian center Vitaly Karamnov and Slovakian left wing Lukas Vartovnik, both of whom will be 19-year-olds, as its two European players again next season.

Then, in order to free up a spot on their 50-player protected list for their final draft pick (Wuthrich), the Tips released left wing Tyler Eskesen. The 18-year-old Eskesen played sparingly for Everett last season as a rookie, registering no points in 28 games.

Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog