Gearing up for the draft
Published 3:40 pm Wednesday, June 18, 2008
OK, the the AquaSox preseason stuff is complete and they’re in Spokane this week, so I’ve got a brief moment to concentrate on the upcoming NHL draft and its repercussions for the Silvertips.
The obvious story involving Everett is Kyle Beach. What’s most interesting about this is that Beach is probably getting as much publicity going into the draft as any prospect. This despite the fact that he won’t be picked first overall. Despite the fact he’s not likely to go in the top five. But he’s such an in-the-spotlight individual and draws such polarizing opinions that everyone’s talking about him. On the one hand he’s considered the best power forward prospect to come along in years. On the other hand many are put off by his antics. The result is that I’ve heard speculation that he could go in the top five, and I’ve heard speculation he’ll drop out of the first round.
The most recent rumors, however, have his stock going back up. The word going around now seems to be that teams are looking to trade up in order to pick Beach. I suspect the revelation that he played almost the entire second half of the season with a sports hernia is playing a role in that. Cutting through all the attitude issues, the biggest concern about Beach was his dramatic drop off in production in the second half. This helps explain that, and he probably scores some toughness points for playing through the injury.
Now, I’m not sure I’d believe any of the rumors about teams trading up to draft him because teams like to throw out a lot of diversionary smoke prior to the draft. But I don’t think anyone expects him to fall out of the first round anymore.
Beyond Beach it’s not sounding real good for Everett’s other potential draftees. Forwards Matt Ius and Jordan Mistelbacher offer decent size, but their lack of production last season doesn’t help their cause. Goaltender Shayne Barrie might get a look, but as Leland Irving’s backup he didn’t get much of a chance to show the scouts what he can do, and it’s supposedly a really strong draft for goalies this year (there are at least three goalies in the U.S. Division alone who are rated ahead of him). It’s possible Beach will be the only Tip drafted.
