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The NHL Draft is just days away and the Anaheim Ducks are set up well with two first-round picks. I’ve already done a series looking at who the Ducks could select with the sixth-overall pick and over the next three days, I’ll look at 11 prospects who the Ducks could select at 27th overall.
Before doing this, I created a list of 23 players who I think are unlikely to slip as far as 27th. Those players are: Lafreniere, Byfield, Stutzle, Raymond, Perfetti, Rossi, Drysdale, Holtz, Quinn, Sanderson, Askarov, Lundell, Mercer, Guhle, Jarvis, Zary, Holloway, Lapierre, Amirov, Schneider, Bourque, Gunler and Perreault.
If any of those players are available, the Ducks should have an easy pick. However, assuming they won’t be, here are the first set of players:
JUSTIN BARRON
Barron, a right-shot defenseman with a late birthday, spent his third season with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2019-20. He had 19 points in 34 games but missed a good chunk of the season with a blood clot.
BRENDAN BRISSON
Brisson also has a late birthday and spent his first USHL season with the Chicago Steel, where he registered 24 goals and 59 points in 45 games.
With Brisson, I think it’s very hard to project what kind of player he’ll become or how high his ceiling may be. He’s not my first choice for the Ducks to take here but he’s certainly an option.
TYSON FOERSTER
Foerster is a very interesting prospect, as different scouts have him ranked in very different spots, though most have him ranked to go late in the first round or early in the second round.
Foerster had 36 goals and 80 points in 62 games with the OHL’s Barrie Colts. He has a very hard shot and can also be positioned in a similar spot to Alex Ovechkin on the power play to unleash one-timers.
I find his situation similar to that of Tyler Toffoli, who had similar point production in his NHL draft year but his skating was a weak point that factored into him being drafted in the second round rather than the first round. Despite the skating issue, if Foerster is available, he could be a good option for the Ducks.
Check back in the coming days for parts two and three!
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):