Import draft primer
Published 10:10 am Tuesday, June 26, 2007
The CHL import draft is tomorrow and I’ve been asked about how it works, so I figured I’d share the little I know with everyone.
First the specifics: The import draft includes the entire CHL (WHL, OHL and QMJHL) and is the way teams acquire players to fill their two European roster slots. Everett, based on the strength of its record last season, is picking dead last at 60th. There are two rounds to the draft, but Everett is likely to pick just once because Lukas Vartovnik will probably fill the other spot. Everett’s first-round selection is scheduled to be made around 4:15 p.m.
But here’s where the import draft differs from the bantam draft. The import draft is often referred to as an agents draft. That’s because player agents have substantial influence in determining where a player ends up. The agents have all the bargaining power because they can just keep their players in Europe if they don’t like the CHL team that drafted them. Therefore, there’s a lot of negotiating that goes on before the draft, draft position isn’t nearly as important, and many teams have a good idea who they’re going to get beforehand. A good example would be the 2004 draft when the Vancouver Giants were able to get arguably the two best prospects available (first-round NHL draft picks Andrej Mezaros and Marek Schwarz) in the same draft.
As a result, it’s possible Everett could land a player better than the 60th best, provided that player wants to play for the Tips badly enough. However, by all accounts this is a pretty lean year for Euros — the normal process is to come to North America immediately after being drafted by an NHL team, and there were fewer Europeans taken in the NHL draft this year than in a long time. So I wouldn’t expect the Tips to end up with a major impact player.
The other thing I’ll be eyeing with curiousity is whether Everett will venture away from the former Czechoslovakia for a player. Every Euro to ever play for the Tips (Ivan Baranka, Martin Rucizka, Karel Hromas, Ondrej Fiala, Vartovnik) has been from either the Czech Republic or Slovakia. We’ll see if that trend continues.
