A clue to Seth Jones’ destination?

Published 9:38 am Sunday, May 17, 2009

I’m not sure how to interpret this.

Dallas-based defenseman Seth Jones, Everett’s second first-round pick in this year’s bantam draft, is, of course, not a lock to come to the WHL as he’s still weighing the decision whether to choose the major-junior or college route.

Well, last week the USHL held its player drafts, the USHL being the top junior league in the U.S. and a feeder league into universities, as players do not lose their NCAA eligibility for playing in the USHL. Jones, universally acclaimed as a top prospect, wasn’t selected until pick No. 191(15th round) of the entry draft by the Waterloo Black Hawks. On the surface this would seem to be good news for the Tips as it implies the USHL teams don’t think he’ll play in that league.

But, there’s more to consider. First off, the USHL holds two drafts, an entry draft and a futures draft. The entry draft is for players the teams expect to play immediately, while the futures draft is for players who won’t join the league for at least a year. So Jones, by being taken in the entry draft, was lumped in with a bunch of older players. And looking at these rules for the futures draft, Jones was too young to be drafted as a futures player, as he was born in 1994 and this year’s futures draft was for 93-born players. Therefore, at least one team believed Jones was good enough to take two years before he’d normally even be considered for the entry draft. It seems like a Larry Bird move to me.

The Black Hawks, by the way, also drafted Jones’ older brother, Justin, with pick No. 230.

So what do I ultimately read from all of this? Not much. However, Larry Bird was still taken sixth overall by Boston in the 1978 draft, even though he was still a junior. Jones wasn’t taken until the speculative rounds of the USHL draft. So maybe this is still a good sign for Everett.