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. Arizona Coyotes : Jake Virtanen 11. The Nashville Predators : William Nylander 10. Anaheim Ducks : Jared McCann 9. Winnipeg Jets : Nikolaj Ehlers 8. Toronto Maple Leafs : Nick Ritchie 7. Carolina Hurricanes : Haydn Fleury 6. Vancouver Canucks : Leon Draisaitl 5. New York Islanders : Kevin Fiala
4. The Calgary Flames select Left Wing Michael Dal Colle of the Oshawa Generals in the OHL
6’2, 186lbs, 1996-06-20 : 18 years old
67 – 39g – 56a – 95p
Often just included into the exclusive “Top-5,… Dal Colle continues to intrigue being the largest player of the big 5. An elite playoff performance has him fighting hard to gain a spot earlier than five, and it’s hard to argue that he didn’t carry the offense for the Generals (8g and 20p in 12 games). He finished sixth overall in scoring in the OHL and first for OHL draft eligible players (Bennett highest PPG). The big winger has the size and skill that teams will hope can be molded into more than just a big scoring threat. The Woodbridge native really seemed to turn the corner last season as the season was ending and you could see that he was starting to hit the highs he was expected to when drafted 7th overall in the OHL Bantam Draft. This year he was one of the more dominant offensive forwards in the OHL, though was at his best when Scott Laughton (Flyers) came back for his last hurrah in the OHL. Dal Colle turned a one line team into a surprise Eastern Conference Finals appearance.
A major factor in whether Dal Colle will at 4 or slip to 5-6-7 etc. is whether or not teams think he can make the move to centre at the next level. This season he was moved to the wing to give Laughton somebody to play with on the vastly deplete Generals, but last season he did very well in his own right as a rookie playing the second line centre role. Teams hoping for a skilled centre with his size will be highly tempted to try it. The Flames are such a team in my estimation and we’ve seen Burke try moving wingers to centre before (though it failed), maybe if they do it before 7 seasons had passed it might work out better though right?
Defensively you have a mixed bag, some claim he is great and a complete 200 foot player, others that he is suspect at best in that regard and it was one of the main motivators to the move to the wing. It’s hard to argue that Scott Laughton did the heavy lifting defensively for that line and that Laughton-Jenner were one of the toughest tag teams to play against the year before. He himself takes pride in his two-way game and he seems genuine in trying to improve his play without the puck. We’ll see how it pans out; I know if we’re going by the Ivan Hlinka that he was very spotty in his own end during that tournament.
Lastly for some of the good. Dal Colle is dynamic with the puck on his stick and drives possession like crazy. When he gets the puck, something good will happen, plus despite his slim build at the moment he’s a tough player to take the puck off in the corners. He has a really good top gear speed, though needs to continue to improve reaching it. His weakness back in Minor Midget was all about his acceleration and the rapid improvement over only two years is staggering.
Whoever gets Dal Colle will be getting a highly skilled dynamic forward who if given the time to grow could be a very good player at the next level. Personally I think it’s Calgary.
Comparison : Bobby Ryan
Thanks for reading.