Draft round-up

Alright, the draft is finally over. I really like how the NHL can blow through six whole draft rounds in about four hours, unlike the NFL who don't finish their draft until the first week of May. Besides the Flyers trading for Pronger, probably the biggest move was Florida trading the rights for Jay Bouwmeester to Calgary for Jordan Leopold and the 67th overall pick. Mind you, they traded the rights to Bouwmeester, which means Calgary has won the chance to talk to him, it's not like he's on the team yet.

Recapping the Flyers draft, let's see what we got here:

1. Adam Morrison, G, Saskatoon (WHL) - He's big, he's young, and he's got talent, so this could be the start of the rebuilding process in goal. However, he's only 18, so I would expect him to stay in Saskatoon for a while.
2. Simon Bertilsson, D, Brynas (Swedish Elite) - Don't know too much about him. I haven't been following up on my Swedish Elite League recently, so I apologize. Add him to the list of Scandinavian defensemen on the club.
3. Nicola Riopel, G, Moncton (QMJHL) - He was the MVP of a league that produced Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur. I'm happy.
4. Dave Labrecque, C, Shawinigan (QMJHL) - Another young kid, but looking at his stats from last season (13G, 48A, 61P, +23), he's more of a setup center than a scoring center. It would be interesting to see his stats on the power play. I'll have to look that up.
5. Eric Wellwood, LW, Windsor (OHL) - He won the Memorial Cup this year with the Spitfires (quite possibly one of the coolest team names in hockey).
6. Oliver Lauridsen, D, St. Cloud State (WCHA) - And yet another Scandinavian defenseman! He's Danish, he's 6'6", and he just got drafted to a city with cheap beer. No problems with this pick.

So there you have it. I would expect Morrison and Riopel to be the focus of this draft group, especially if the Flyers keep the tradition of paying as little money as possible on the goalie. There's no question they have to do better managing the salary cap in the upcoming seasons, which is why I still think they're going to deal Briere before training camp starts. It's just a matter of who can take him.