draft weekend. This year’s draft will take place in Calgary on June 23rd;
the day previous the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets will pick
current NHL players from the expansion draft list.
such time. It remains to be seen if this will be completed, but the latest
word out of Cowtown is an announcement is forthcoming. Lanny Macdonald as
V.P. of hockey operations, Mike Murphy as GM and an exiled Roger Nielsen as
coach.
interviewing prospects. An oddity, which will make this year’s draft
interesting is the large amount the prospects unable to sign contracts with
teams that drafted them in ’98. These prospects will re-enter draft as a
result. Those who weren’t ranked by CSB all season will suddenly make a
relatively shallow draft pool deeper.
younger player whose potential is yet be known?
with the Colorado Avalanche. By far Abid’s best year was his draft year,
otherwise Abid has been unpredictable and unable to separate himself from
the pack. Probably an early second rounder this time out. Abid had 67 goals
this season.
offensive potential. Papineau possesses an ability to control the game that
Abid doesn’t. The largest knock against Papineau was his lack of success in
the corners. Apparently Papineau and his agent were bidding down, yet even
for less money Los Angeles was not willing to sign him. If there is a team
out there who thinks they can surround him with bigger players, expect
Papineau to go late first round.
Chouinard collected the Quebec league’s Defensive player award the year
after being draft. Unfortunately a sub par year and an attitude problem
dropped Chouinard a few rungs on the depth chart. There must be a team
willing to overlook this past year, and if so Chouinard should go mid first
round.
