The first four prospects I looked at were all forwards, and primarily centres.

Today I will make my first foray onto the blue line, looking at Calgary Hitmen blueliner Jake Bean.

RANKINGS

Central Scouting - 15th NA
ISS - 16th Overall
Bob McKenzie - 12th overall
Mynhldraft.com - 12th overall
McKeen's - 10th overall

Concensus indicates that the top 3 defensemen in the draft (Jacob Chychrun, Olli Juolevi and Mikhail Sergachev) will go shortly after the top 3, so Bean is one of a couple of very quality blueliners that may still be around when the Senators pick at #12.


When you look at scouting reports, Bean exhibits a lot of similar qualities to that of Erik Karlsson - slick skating, puck moving defenseman whose offense overshadows an underrated defensive game. The bonus with Bean would be that while Karlsson and Cody Ceci on the right side, Bean is a lefty and if the Sens choose to go in that direction, could add some balance offensively, along with current top prospect Thomas Chabot, which could be a pretty solid top 4 unit in 5 years or so as Marc Methot and Dion Phaneuf are on the way out. The question is whether the Senators want or need another high risk/high reward defenseman on the ice.

In Bob McKenzie's survey, Bean was even considered the top defenseman in the draft by one scout, and was in the top 10 on 2 lists.

Defensive defensemen are a dime a dozen, and there are some things that can't be taught, and some of those qualities are present in Bean's game even at the tender age of 18.

If the Senators ended up with Bean next Friday night, I don't think they should be disappointed at all.

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