30. New Jersey Devils : Kasperi Kapanen 29. Los Angeles Kings : Brendan Lemieux 28. Tampa Bay Lightning : Julius Honka 27. Chicago Blackhawks : Conner Bleackley 26. Montreal Canadiens : Nick Schmaltz 25. Boston Bruins : Alex Tuch 24. Anaheim Ducks : Jack Dougherty 23. Colorado Avalanche : Travis Sanheim 22. Pittsburgh Penguins : Nikolay Goldobin 21. St. Louis Blues : Joshua Ho-Sang 20. San Jose Sharks : Brendan Perlini 19. Tampa Bay Lightning : Ivan Barbashev 18. Minnesota Wild : Roland McKeown 17. Philadelphia Flyers : Sonny Milano 16. Columbus Blue Jackets : Jakub Vrà¡na 15. Detroit Red Wings : Adrian Kempe 14. Dallas Stars : Robby Fabbri 13. Washington Capitals : Dylan Larkin
12. The Arizona Coyotes select Right Wing Jake Virtanen of the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL
6’1, 212lbs, 1996-08-17 : 17 years old
71 – 45g – 26a – 71p
I kind of wanted to put Kapanen here because of the Coyotes obsession with drafting NHLers kids or relatives, but decided against it (also I have Kapanen taking quite the tumble). His shoulder injury that will keep him out several months next season for Calgary should have no impact on where he is drafted in my opinion, we know what he is all about, it isn’t like he missed the entire season and teams are going on blind faith of the year before, he played out the whole year. It isn’t the same as guys like Cowen, Rielly, Galchenyuk or Connolly who were out basically the whole year and teams had to go on a sample size and the previous year to judge their talents.
The former First Overall Selection in the 2011 WHL Draft blends high-end scoring ability with game breaking speed, matched with a physical brand of hockey. Sounds perfect right? Why isn’t he higher? Well the main reason is the worry about his hockey sense apparently. People wonder what his impact will be in the NHL and whether he can bring his style to the next level. Personally I think he’s a slam dunk pick. His speed is out of this world…and he likes to hit? That alone is enough to carve out an NHL career as a role player, and then you add his amazing wrist shot and ability to attack defenders well in tight and you have the makings of a star. I’ll admit I hadn’t seen him play once before the U18 tournament, so I really just had the opinions of people who watch the Dub all the time and the consensus seemed to be “Why is he ranked so low?… At the U18’s he was Canada’s star, he snatched the opportunity dropped by Perlini and became the leader on the ice in the offensive zone. His speed simply makes him dangerous at any time, it’s a game changer.
Like many young speedsters defense is something he will need to adapt and evolve to. That’s one of the things that will make or break whether he becomes a top-6 scoring threat or as Craig Button eluded a “Raffi Torres… at the NHL level. That and whether that game breaking speed and ability to beat defenders one on one will translate to an NHL where those kinds of opportunities are more scarce…especially in the Western Conference playoffs.
Phoenix will likely want the best forward prospect they can nab. While he isn’t exactly a “Tippett Player,… neither is Domi and they were willing to nab him. Again, I have that sneaking suspicion he goes earlier (I think Vancouver would love to grab a BC Boy), but there are reasons why I have him here that will be reasoned out in the next few articles.
Comparison : Erik Cole
Thanks for reading.