Bantam draft live blog

Published 3:06 pm Thursday, April 30, 2009

Good morning, and welcome to the 2009 bantam draft real-time bantam draft blog, where I do my best to convince you I know what I’m talking about when it comes to Everett’s selections.

Truth be told, I don’t know anything about the players Everett ends up picking. Few do, and even their knowledge is somewhat suspect considering they’re dealing with 14-year-olds who still have a lot of development to do. When it comes to the players I’ll be relying on outside sources for information, including the Silvertips Web site and Alan Caldwell’s blog.

But hopefully what I can do is put Everett’s picks into some kind of perspective. I seriously doubt any of the teams go into the draft thinking too much about organizational need, given the players are more than a year away from being able to join the team full time and no one knows for certain what their team is going to look like that far in advance. But I imagine there’s some thought in how those players will fit into the grand scheme, particularly when looking at what was acquired from last year’s draft.

In Everett’s case, the Tips took a defenseman in the first round last year (Ryan Murray), and he’s already shown signs of being capable of being No. 1 d-man in the future. Add in that he’s a late birthdate, meaning he won’t be drafted into the NHL until after his 18-year-old season, and I imagine unearthing a possible No. 1 defenseman this year is not a priority. The Tips also have an abundance of smaller skill forwards among their 1993-born players, so I suspect we’ll be seeing a few forwards with size on Everett’s draft list.

Anyway, the draft is just about to start. Portland’s up first.

—- 7:50 a.m.

Hmmm, there seems to be some kind of delay. Given I’m trying to squeeze in my morning routine around the relevant picks, this is rather inconvenient.

—- 7:57 a.m.

And we’re on our way. Puck-moving defenseman Derrick Pouliot out of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, is the first-overall pick by Portland. There was no consensus top pick this year, but Pouliot was among those listed in the top group.

— 8:03 a.m.

I’ll be curious to see what Everett decides to do about drafting a goaltender. Kent Simpson, the Tips’ first-round pick in 2007, is the heir apparent. Therefore, it would seem goaltender is not a priority. But in two season Everett will have a decision to make: either keep Thomas Heemskerk as an overager or turn the reins over to an 18-year-old Simpson, as I doubt they’ll be able to keep the current arrangement going for two-plus seasons. Thus, there probably will be a need for a backup goalie in 2010-11, making a quality 94-born goaltender a useful asset. Just how high will Everett go for its netminder this season?

— 8:07 a.m.

And Everett’s first pick at eighth overall is defenseman Nicholas Walters from St. Albert, Alberta. He measures in at 6-foot and 160 pounds. In 32 games he had four goals, 24 assists and 68 penalty minutes.

Here’s what Tyler Neisz of hockeyprospect.com told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix about Walters: Strong, quick skater, has very good hands. Defensively, he always seems to get the puck out along boards.

— 8:12 a.m.

Everett’s second pick (11th overall) is now in and it’s an exciting one: defenseman Seth Jones from Dallas. Jones happens to be the son of former NBA player Popeye Jones. I don’t know whether he’s committed to the WHL or not, but with two first-round picks I’m not surprised the Tips decided to take a flyer.

Jones is 6-foot-2 and 170 pounds. Here’s Tyler Neisz’s take: Jones’s hockey sense is extremely high for a player this age. Shot is well above average and he’s capable of anchoring a power play.

— 8:17 a.m.

Neisz, by the way, had Walters going ninth overall and Jones 11th (to Everett, so he nailed that one) in his mock draft, so Everett’s picks pretty much held to form.

Interesting that Everett decided to take defensemen with both of its first-round picks. Gotta admit I find that very surprising. But with those two and Murray Everett has its blue line pretty much set for the foreseeable future.

— 8:35 a.m.

Here’s a story about Jones from Dallas’s NBC affiliate.

— 8:50 a.m.

Jon Rosen at the Tips Web site now has comments from Everett director of player development Scott Scoville about Walters and Jones. Jones is considered a top-five talent in this draft, but fell a bit because of questions about whether he’ll play in the WHL or choose to go the NCAA route. The Tips are hoping they can sway Jones their direction the way the did with Peter Mueller.

— 9:05 a.m.

The second round is now underway and Everett selects center Jari Erricson with the 29th-overall pick. Are we sure he’s really from Prince George, B.C., and isn’t an import draft pick?

Erricson measures in at 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds. He played for a team in Kelowna for which Alan Caldwell only has tournament information (it might have just been a traveling team). In those tournaments he played 21 games, totaling 18 goals, 10 assists and 24 penalty minutes.

— 9:10 a.m.

By the way, both Walters and Jones are late birthdates. That means they aren’t eligible for the NHL draft until 2013. Should they come to Everett the Tips won’t have to worry about losing them to the professional ranks until after their 18-year-old seasons.

— 9:45 a.m.

CORRECTION: Walters isn’t a late birthdate (the list I originally looked at apparently had an incorrect birthdate), so scratch that. But Jones is a late birthdate.

— 10:10 a.m.

Another center in the third round (64th overall) as the Tips select Kohl Bauml out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He’s another late birthdate, as well as another guy with a European-sounding name. Still searching for more information about Bauml.

— 10:45 a.m.

More on Bauml via Alan Caldwell. He’s a little guy at 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds. In 63 games for the Saskatoon Outlaws he had 58 goals, 76 assists and 61 penalty minutes. Those are some huge numbers, among the most impressive of any player I’ve seen Everett draft, but obviously you can’t read too much into them.

— 10:50 a.m.

The fourth round is complete and it appears they’re taking the lunch break now, so it might be a while before the next update.

— 11:20 a.m.

OK, maybe they didn’t take the lunch break yet. Everett’s fifth-round selection (95th overall) was goaltender Andy Desautels from White City, Saskatchewan, which happens to be the same hometown as Murray (wonder if they got an additional scouting report here). No height or weight is available for him yet, but in 12 games with the Balgonie Prairie Storm he went 10-1-1 with a 3.00 goals against average.

I guess this answers the goaltending question. Goalie was definitely a higher priority this year than last, when the Tips waited until the eighth round to pick Ryan Cadieux. Desautels was the eighth goaltender taken.

— 12:15 p.m.

Next up for Everett in the sixth round (117th overall) is left wing Jordyn Boyd from Winnipeg.

More on Boyd. He stands 5-foot-10 and 140 pounds. In 30 games with the Winnipeg Hawks he had 13 goals, 17 assists and 26 penalty minutes. He is the younger brother of former Moose Jaw star Dustin Boyd.

— 12:47 p.m.

Everett’s seventh-round (139th overall) pick is defenseman Darian Henry from Strathmore, Alberta, site of the first ever training camp in Silvertips history. He’s 6-foot, 160 pounds. He played for the Okotoks Oilers, but Alan Caldwell did not have any stats on him.

— 1:25 p.m.

The Tips’ take left wing Josh Racek from Colorado Springs in the eighth round (161 overall). Height and weight are unavailable. He had three goals, 10 assists and six penalty minutes in six games with the Colorado Thunderbirds. This has the feel of a stab at a potential NCAA kid.

These appear to be better stats for Racek: 76 games, 46 goals, 60 assists, 18 penalty minutes.

— 1:40 p.m.

The update on Racek over at the Silvertips Web site seems to indicate the Tips were quite pleased with landing him.

— 2 p.m.

Everett’s ninth-round pick (183rd overall) is defenseman Dale Nerland from Okotoks, Alberta. Was he, by chance, Henry’s defensive partner?

More on Nerland. He’s a big and physical guy at 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds. He did indeed play with Henry for the Okotoks Oilers, registering one goal, seven assists and 51 penalty minutes in 22 games.

— 2:30 p.m.

Everett’s 10th-round pick (205th overall) is left wing Rhys Gilbert from North Vancouver, B.C. No height, weight or stats are immediately available, but he did play for the NSWC Winter Hawks.

Gilbert is a gritty forward who comes in at 6-foot, 165 pounds.

— 2:53 p.m.

Everett goes for another goaltender in the 11th round in Mark Valtr from Edmonton.

This is the Tips’ 11th pick of the draft. Everett had three spots open up on its 50-player protected list because of graduated overagers, then five more because prospective 20-year-olds don’t count against the list until the season opens (or the overager cutdown date, I’m not sure which). That means that so far Everett has had to open up three more spots. Last year the Tips dropped veteran Tyler Eskesen in order to make a final pick. I wonder if they had to do anything similar this year.

Anyway, the details on Valtr are that he’s 5-foot-11 and 178 pounds. Playing for the SSAC Lions he went 9-2-3 with a 3.10 goals against average and .867 save percentage.

— 3:05 p.m.

Everett passed in the 12th round so I assume they’re done. I’ll have more reaction, thoughts and analysis later today in a separate post after I talk to all the relevant parties.

And thanks to all of those who tuned in.