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Notes on Steve Santini being named to USA's World Hockey Championship roster, John Quenneville's strong playoff run in Brandon (WHL) and more:
1) I think Santini was really smart to accept an offer to play for USA at the upcoming WHC. Not only does he get to play for his country against stiff competition but he gets an opportunity to make a good impression on Devils head coach John Hynes in the process.
Hynes wants to win, obviously, but I'm sure he'd also like to see what he has coming in Santini and will surely give him his share of minutes; especially with such a young and inexperienced surrounding blue line.
Not including Santini USA's defensemen are David Warsofsky, Noah Hanifin, Connor Murphy, Jake McCabe, Brady Skjei and Chris Wideman.
How many of those guys are guaranteed to get top-4 minutes? There are some promising young players in that group but Hanifin is probably the only lock. As long as Santini doesn't stand out for the wrong reasons he'll be given plenty of minutes.
If Santini does struggle at least Hynes and the Devils will know he needs at least a year in Albany.
2) John Quenneville continues to light it up in Brandon as he tallied another goal and an assist last night in the Wheat Kings' series clinching win over the Red Deer Rebels.
Quenneville leads the playoffs in goals with 13 and is tied for 1st in points (24) with teammate Nolan Patrick, who will probably be the top pick in 2017.
Up next for Quenneville in the WHL Final is Mathew Barzal and the Seattle Thunderbirds.
3) The NHL draft lottery goes tonight and, as I'm sure most of you know, the New Jersey Devils have just a 3.5% of winning the top pick.
While they have a minimal chance of winning the lottery, since the top three picks are all chosen from the bouncing balls they do have a couple more cracks at moving up than they normally would.
Chances are they won't win any of the top three picks, obviously, but there's an even smaller chance someone below them in the standings will. In other words the Devils will probably end up staying pat and picking 11th.
Either way, tonight should be a fun night.
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