WINNIPEG, Manitoba – The eyes of the world will be upon St. Paul Minnesota later this month when the 2011 NHL Entry Draft rolls into the Xcel Energy Centre. For the first time in a very long time everyone will want to know who will be drafted first overall and that seems to be everyone’s focus except for Winnipeg, Manitoba. After the City of Winnipeg was selected as the new home for the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday morning, their were many questions to be asked and answered, such as a name for the team, ticket prices, who is going to move from Atlanta to run the front office and the business side of the hockey club. The first question that popped into our minds is where is Winnipeg in terms of the draft and the answer is seventh overall. The seventh overall pick doesn’t sound as good as first overall pick does, but the first pick in the draft does not always produce a star. Winnipeg’s General Manager, if it remains to be Rick Dudley or someone else such as Craig Hesinger, will have a lot of quality players to choose from.
If you pine over the draft guides there are a number of players that would fit into the Winnipeg system right off the hop and if you have been following PHN’s Mock Draft, and we were in the Winnipeg GM’s shoes, our selection would be defenseman Dougie Hamilton. A lot of you might be thinking, who is Dougie Hamilton? Well is he an OHL star that plays for the Niagara Ice Dogs. Hamilton is a great d-man who can play the game on both ends of the ice, and expert on the defensive side of the game and a wiz kid on offence. Hamilton’s offensive numbers are NHL caliber numbers, even for a kid who has 131 games in the Ontario Hockey League.
Hamilton as posted 15 goals 59 helpers for 74 points this past season. That is 58 points more than some veteran d-men in the NHL have posted. Hamilton would be able to step right into the NHL from the OHL and make an impact on an already potent defensive corps. Round two is where fans stop paying attention to the draft, but not unless you’re a scout or GM. You can say what you want about second round picks and under but there a lot of players who get drafted out of later rounds and still produce in the NHL and this might be a blow to the Winnipeg system because they lost their second pick (36th overall) to the Chicago Blackhawks in conjunction with the Andrew Ladd last off season. The third round of the draft we see Winnipeg picking 67th overall. Travis Ewanyk may be the best choice for Winnipeg at this spot if he is still available. Ewanyk is a great centerman from the Edmonton Oil Kings that may need to spend a year or two in the “A” but he will see NHL ice time if needed in a pinch. Ewanyk is a big 6 foot 170 pound center that can score and make a key play if needed. Ewanyk would be a great third line addition to a team that needs scoring on all four lines. Winnipeg has several other picks in rounds four to seven and there are hundreds of players to choose from, but the most important are the first three rounds because they will be the players most likely to leave their junior teams and walk into the NHL right away. So Winnipeg has options going into the draft in three weeks, hope they make the most of their options.
“With the seventh pick in the 2011, the Winnipeg (fill in the blank here) proudly select from the Niagara Ice Dogs, defenseman Dougie Hamilton.” To find out more about Dougie Hamilton click here .
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