Draft Day!!!!

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

Hey folks, how we doin'?

Finally, the 2008 NHL Draft gets underway today in Ottawa. The Flyers have the 27th pick in the first round, so unless they make a trade or two, I don't expect them to pick until 9:30 or so. Not that the Flyers haven't been busy this offseason. First came the announcement of Sami Kapanen's retirement (so long, Sammy). Rumor has it that he didn't like the fact that the team wanted to go younger. Oh well. Then we traded Ryan Potulny, who couldn't get a spot on the team since we're loaded with centers, to Edmonton. And on Wednesday, we shipped Vinnie Prospal back to Tampa for the Lightning's 7th round pick this weekend and a conditional pick next year.

As far as the potential free agents are concerned, it looks like Jeff Carter will be here for some time, at least according to both John Stevens and Paul Holmgren. R.J. Umberger's name just came up on TSN regarding a possible trade with Columbus, so the jury's out on him. UPDATE - Umberger's just been traded to the Blue Jackets along with our 4th round pick for Columbus's 1st round pick (19th overall) and their 3rd round pick.

So now we have two 1st round picks...

8:28 - Wayne Gretzky steps to the podium and gets a standing O. Poor Gary Bettman probably thought it was for him.

Do the NY Islanders WANT a draft pick this year???

8:36 - And the Isles finally make a pick. No doubt he'll be signed to a 40-year contract.

9:41 - Flyers draft D Luca Sbisa (Lethbridge, WHL).

Holmgren decides to go with defense with our first pick. According to his bio, Sbisa's a puck-moving defenseman who needs to toughen up a bit for the North American game. He better toughen up if he wants to make it on the Flyers' roster. I guess this means that we've reached the end for Derian Hatcher in Philly.

10:16 - The Devils, who traded down to get this pick, draft Mattias Tedenby from HV 71 in Sweden. I figured I'd keep track of what the rest of the Atlantic Division is doing tonight (I missed the Rangers' pick 'cause I was getting some coffee). We've got the 27th pick, which is the final pick for our division. The Pens don't pick until the 4th round, or early Monday morning the way this draft is going.

10:35 - Flyers trade pick #27 to Washington for D Steve Eminger and 84th overall pick

Pierre McGuire on TSN is saying that Eminger wanted out of DC, so this sounds like a good move. No doubt Flyers fans wanted either John Carlson or Jakob Markstrom...

11:00 - That's it for the first round. Still a lot of good talent on the board, but unless the Flyers can move back into the 2nd round, most of it may be gone by the time we select at 67th. From what was done tonight, the Flyers wanted to solidify the blue line, and they may have done it with Sbisa and Eminger. Now just get a good goalie prospect and I'll be happy.