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. The Winnipeg Jets select Left Wing Nikolaj Ehlers of the Halifax Mooseheads in the QMJHL
5’11, 165lbs, 1996-02-14 : 18 years old
63 – 49g – 55a – 104p
The slight Dane is one reason why this draft is so difficult to predict. His dominating season in the Q has him on the doors of the perceived “top-5… that nobody thinks will change. The top-5 being a mix of Reinhart, Ekblad, Dal Colle, Draisaitl and Bennett in no particular order. We saw this phenomenon in the 2009 draft where there was a solid block of 5 players (Tavares, Hedman, Duchene, Kane and Schenn) that everybody predicted and expected would go down like that with maybe Hedman squeezing ahead at best, then after the top-5 it was anybody’s guess. Ehlers is in that “anybody’s guess… territory. To put it bluntly, he dominated this season domestically and though facing the dregs of the junior world in the Division 1 international tournaments was dominant there as well. He was awarded the QMJHL and CHL Rookie of the Year award, becoming the third straight to win those dual honours (Zykov and Grigorenko). He was a staggering +65 this season and while +/- is generally garbage, I think it was worth noting, not due to any particular defensive prowess, but because when he and his line were on the ice, nobody in the Q could stop them.
A lot of people think he played primarily with Drouin, this is false. Though he did often play with him when they needed a goal. Much like Crosby-Malkin, they only play together when things get desperate and on the power play. So no, Ehlers is not simply the product of a ultra-talented super star. He is a speedster, it’s hard to quantify without direct head-head races but he is certainly in that class of elite skaters with Fiala and Virtanen. He has the ability to burst past defenders with ease and is often finding himself in breakaway and one on one positions. On the power play…he and Drouin are a dream; both are so shifty and so talented that it’s almost unfair for the opponent.
He scores a lot of goals off the rush as playing his off wing allows him to cut in for shots easily and sets him up for easy one-timers. His wrist shot at full speed is great and he always seems to get his shots off. I would quantify him as a finisher over a playmaker, though with his level of skill that distinction is negligible. Obviously he needs work on his defensive zone coverage, at junior his speed and ability allows him to get away with it because he controls the play constantly and the Moosehead basically owned the puck the majority of their games.
To get to the next level he will need to gain strength and step away from some of the unnecessary dangles that he will try every now and then. Those things work in junior, but will get him caught in open ice against NHL defenders. The Jets have done very well at drafting outside of maybe Scheifele which is too early to tell, I think the trend continues. They need a little bit of everything. Ehlers as many have pointed out constantly could go earlier…maybe even at 5 where I had him originally.
Comparison : Phil Kessel
Thanks for reading.