In surprisingly the same amount of time it took to go through the first round last night, the NHL finished up the final 6 rounds of the annual entry draft this morning. The Wild held a pick in every round this morning and in every round but the second, it was the 7th pick of the round (The second round pick was 16th in the round, which was acquired in the Marek Zidlicky trade). Here is the list of players the Wild drafted today:
2. Raphael Bussieres LW Baie-Comeau (QMJHL)
3. John Draeger D Shattuck-St. Mary's (MN)
4. Adam Gilmour C Nobles (MA)
5. Daniel Gunnarsson D Lulea (Sweeden)
6. Christoph Bertschy C Bern (Swiss)
7. Louis Nanne LW Edina HS (MN)
Add the first round pick Matt Dumba to that list, and you have 3 defenseman taken with the first 5 picks in the draft. So clearly, there was more of an emphasis on that position for Chuck Fletcher and his staff.
Its far too early to grade this draft. It will take quite some time before we know the answer on any of these picks, so judging any of them would be a complete waste of time right now.
I've already seen some negativity regarding the team's final pick, Louis Nanne (Yes, the grandson of former North Star Lou Nanne). People seem to think the team picked him just to say we have some Minnesota players in our system. Come on folks, be real. The team drafted him, and all these players because they felt they were the best player available on the board. Quit making such idiotic remarks.
Now that the draft is over, we now look ahead to 8 days from now when NHL Free Agency begins. Its the day we all have been waiting for, but will it be as glamorous as we all hoped?
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