Tampa Bay Day Two Draft Review

Last season’s catch phrase, “We’re bigger. We’re faster. We’re younger,” appears to still hold true. Of the fourteen players selected by the Lightning over the weekend, only one was under 6’3” … he was 6’2”. Included in this group are hulking 6’7” defenseman Art Femenella and 6’5” forward Dennis Packard.

The average size of the fourteen draftees is 6’3”, 200lbs, three inches taller and ten pounds heavier than last year’s median.

In the 2000 draft, Rick Dudley chose overage European players with three of his ten total selections. It was expected he would do the same again this year, but when all was said and done, Dimitri Bezrukov ended up the only player over the age of nineteen.

The draftees all fit the prototypical Dudley mold, which consists of size, speed, grit and youth. In other words, “Bigger, Younger, Faster.”

While Dudley used his first four selections to take European players (3 Russians, 1 Swede), the next six were used to take North Americans, a bit out of character for Dudley, who is known to have a liking for Europeans. Dudley especially likes Russians, which probably explains why six of the 14 picks were a product of the Russian hockey system.

The first North American selected, 123^rd overall, was Aaron Lobb of the London Knights (OHL). The 6’4” winger is said to be a strong skater who has good passing and puck handling skills. Lobb totaled 48 points while with London this season, including twenty-three goals. He is especially effective in front of the net, with a good percentage of his goals coming on deflections and rebounds. He is praised for his solid play in front of the net and good positional play.

Tampa’s fifth round selection was the EJHL’s Paul Lynch, a smooth skating defenseman with good puck handling and passing skills. His hard shot and ability to pinch in give him good offensive potential, but his defensive game still needs work. Lynch plays a hard-hitting, aggressive style, which the Lightning likes. In 21 games with the Valley Junior Warriors of the EJHL, Lynch had 3 goals, 4 assists and 43 penalty minutes. He tallied 46 points in 23 games the season before, while attending Brooks High School. He was not put in an offensive role during the 2000-01 season, which led to his poor numbers. Valley coach Andy Heinze, brother of Buffalo Sabre Steve Heinze, feels Lynch has much more offensive potential than he has displayed. As he recently told the Hockey Journal, “I get the feeling when you look at Paul, he’s just scratching the surface in terms of what he can bring scoring wise.”

The sixth round saw Tampa bring in a monstrous defenseman that even Kristian Kudroc will have to look up to. 6’7”, 240lb Art Femenella is the second largest player ever to put on a Lighting sweater, just behind 6’7”, 260lb Kyle Freadrich. Femenella, who played the 2000-01 season with the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL, ended the season with only one goal and one assist, but was second in the league in penalty minutes. He has no flashy skills, but with his size he doesn’t need them. He protects his end of the ice and his players well. After a solid season this year, Femenella was selected to play in the UHSL All-Star game for the World Team.

As the seventh round came, so did two more big, fast, young players: Harvard University right wing Dennis Packard came 219^th overall, and defenseman Jeremy Van Hoof, who re-entered the draft after failing to come to terms with the Pittsburgh Penguins, at 222^nd overall.

In 33 games with the Crimson, Packard, a freshman, had eight points (4g, 4a). He played the 1999-00 season on the U.S. National Under-18 team, where he tallied 13 goals and 15 assists in 67 games.

Van Hoof had one goal and fourteen assists during the regular season with the Ottawa 67’s and another three goals and four assist through 20 playoff games.

Jean-François Soucy was the Lightning’s first 8^th round choice at 252^nd. The Montreal Rocket’s LW has 11 points (3g, 8a) in 27 games this season.

Russian Dimitri Bezrukov became the first European pick for Rick Dudley on day two, selected at 258^th overall. The 6’3”, 196lb winger from Kazan played the 2000-01 season with Nfetekhimik of the Russian Hockey League, where he totaled 17 points and 54 PIM in 35 games. At 24, Bezrukev is the oldest of Tampa Bay’s draft selections. With four years experience in Russia’s top league, he could have an immediate impact on the club.

The Bolts’ final three selections came in the ninth round. Rick Dudley chose Vitali Smolyninov, from Neftechimik of the Russian Jr. League, 261^st overall. He then selected another Russian, Ilja Solarev, at 281. Solarev played five games last season with Molot-Prikamie Perm of the RHL. He did not post any points in his brief appearance. Finally, with the last selection in the draft, the Tampa Bay Lightning chose Swedish Junior League defenseman Henrik Bergfors. In 14 games with Södertälje SK, Bergfors had one goal and 16 penalty minutes.

In the few spare moments that Rick Dudley was not announcing his many draft picks, he was executing trades…five to be exact. “I don’t even remember how it happened,” Dudley told the Tampa Tribune after the draft. “But because there were so many players we liked – and as we looked a lot of those guys were still available – we kept saying, ‘We need more draft picks’.” And it was draft picks he got. Saturday morning, the Lightning held 9 picks…by Sunday afternoon, Dudley had turned those into 14 selections and defenseman Nolan Pratt.

Pratt is expected to fill the defensive hole that seems to be looming amongst the offensive minded defenseman on Tampa’s blueline. Pratt had one goal and two assist with the Avalanche this season and is yet another “Dudley” type player.

After two exhilarating days of drafting and dealing, the Lightning added 15 new bigger, faster, younger faces to their line-up.

Tampa Bay Draft Trades

June 24, 2001

Acquired Philadelphia’s 4^th (123^rd overall), 5^th (138^th overall) and 7^th (219^th overall) round picks in the 2001 draft, for a 3^rd round selection in 2002

Acquired two 6^th round (184^th and 188^th) choices to Los Angeles for a 5^th round (152^nd) selection, all in 2001

Acquired Nolan Pratt from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Los Angeles 6^th round (184^th) pick in 2001

Acquired Philadelphia’s 8^th round (252^nd) selection in 2001 for a 7^th round pick in 2002

Acquired Colorado’s 9^th round choice (289^th) for a 9^th round pick in 2002

June 23, 2001

Acquired New Jersey’s 2^nd round (61^st) selection from Washington for the New York Islander’s 2^nd round choice in 2002

Acquired New Jersey’s 3^rd round (94^th) selection from Ottawa, for a 4^th round (99^th) pick and Buffalo’s 7^th round (218^th) pick.

Draft Summary

3	C	ALEXANDER SVITOV	11/3/82	6′ 3″	198	RUS	OMSK
47	C/LW	ALEXANDER POLUSHIN	5/8/83	6′ 3″	198	RUS D1	TVER
61	D	ANDREAS HOLMQVIST	7/23/81	6′ 3″	187	SWE JR	HAMMARBY
94	RW	EUGENI ARTUKHIN	4/4/83	6′ 4″	213	RUS	PODOLSK
123	RW	AARON LOBB	6/10/83	6′ 4″	193	OHL	LONDON
138	D	PAUL LYNCH	4/23/82	6′ 3″	195	EJHL	VALLEY JR. WARRIORS
188	D	ART FEMENELLA	6/6/82	6′ 7″	234	USHL	SIOUX CITY
219	LW	DENNIS PACKARD	2/9/82	6′ 5″	214	ECAC	HARVARD
222	D	JEREMY VAN HOOF	8/12/81	6′ 2″	200	OHL	OTTAWA
252	C	J.F. SOUCY	3/25/83	6′ 3″	180	QMJHL	MONTREAL
259	LW	DIMITRI BEZRUKOV	11/9/77	6′ 3″	196	RUS	NIZHNEKAMSK
261	F	VITALI SMOLYNINOV	8/5/83	‘ “		RUS	NEFTECHIMIK JR.
281	LW	ILJA SOLAREV	8/2/82	6′ 3″	176	RUS	PERM
289	D	HENRIK BERGFORS	5/15/82	6′ 4″	225	SWE JR	SODERTALJE – SWE JR.