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NHL Draft: Streak comes to an end for Wolverines

By Jason Paul | June 20, 2008

First Round streak ends for Wolverines

The first round is in the books and the Wolverines had no players selected this year, ending their streak of seven consecutive years with a first round draft pick. The last time the Wolverines didn’t have a first round draft pick was in 2000, when their lone draft pick that year was Andy Hilbert in the 2nd round (37th overall) by Boston.

Cammy traded to Calgary

Before the draft has even begun, Los Angeles has shipped former Wolverine star Mike Cammalleri to Calgary for the Flames #17 overall pick. The Kings then sent the #17 and #28 first round selections to Anaheim for the #12 pick.

Draft has begun…

#1 Tampa Bay – No surprise, Steven Stamkos of the Sarnia Sting (OHL) goes #1 overall.

#2 Los Angeles – Defenseman Drew Doughty of the Guelph Storm goes #2. He was the top rated d-man in the draft. I believe there is a group of four blue liners that are considered the top tier.

Trade - Florida trades forward Olli Jokinen to Phoenix for defensemen Keith Ballard and Nick Boynton, and the #49 pick.

#3 Atlanta – Defenseman Zach Bogosian of Peterborough (OHL) goes #3. He and Doughty could have gone either way. The top rated American in the draft, NHL Central Scouting had him ranked the #2 North American skater in their Final Rankings (#3 in Mid-Term), while Doughty was #3 in the Final and #2 in the Mid-Term.

Trade – Montreal trades the #25 overall selection and their 2nd round pick in 2009 to Calgary for Alex Tanguay and a 5th round pick (138 overall) in this year’s draft.

#4 St. Louis – The Blues select defenseman Alex Pietrangelo from the Niagara Ice Dogs of the OHL. He’s a 6’3, 200 pound blue liner who the commentators said is more of a project than Doughty and Bogosian. They said think Chris Pronger without the nastiness. Has offensive potential, but will probably need to fill out his body and put on 30 pounds.

#5 NY Islanders – On the clock and could get interesting. The Islanders just said they don’t know if they are keeping the pick or not. They are still waiting to hear back.

Trade – The Islanders send the #5 pick to Toronto for the Maple Leafs #7 pick and… we’ll find out after the commercial break! The Leafs are expected to take defenseman Luke Schenn, the last of the “big four” defensemen.

Leafs are also giving up a second and third round pick in either this or next year’s draft (conditional).

#5 Toronto – Defenseman Luke Schenn (Kelowna – WHL) goes to the Leafs.

Trade - Columbus trades the #19 overall pick and their third round pick (67th overall) to Philly for R.J. Umberger and the Flyers 4th round pick (118th overall).

#6 Columbus -Top rated Russian Nikita Filatov goes to the Blue Jackets.

Trade – Islanders trade the #7 pick to Nashville for the #9 pick and #40 pick.

#7 Nashville – The Predators select Colin Wilson from Boston University.

#8 Phoenix – As always, Wayne Gretzky gets a standing ovation. The Coyotes select Mikkel Boedker from Kitchener of the OHL.

#9 NY Islanders – I wonder if they’ll trade it again… Nope, they finally make the pick. Josh Bailey from the Windsor Spitfire (OHL). Big year for the OHL!

#10 Vancouver – Each member of the Canucks staff is wearing a guitar pin in memory of defenseman Luc Bourdon, who was killed a few weeks back in a motorcycle accident. Bourdon was the Canucks first round pick three years ago.

With the 10th pick, the Canucks select Cody Hodgson from the Brampton Battalion (OHL).

Sorry, had to step out, so catching up…

#11 Chicago – Kyle Beach
#12 Buffalo – Tyler Myers
#13 Los Angeles – Colten Teubert
#14 Carolina – Zach Boychuk

Trade – Nashville trades #15 to Ottawa for #18 and a third round pick in 2009.

#15 Ottawa – Taking a page out of the Red Wings book, the Senators take Erik Karlsson from Sweden.

#16 Boston – The Bruins select Denver University recruit Joe Colborne of the Albert Junior Hockey League. He’s big at 6’4, 190 pounds, but the commentators said he could be a boom or bust pick. Plays a Joe Thornton style game, but is a long way from being Joe Thornton is what they said.

#17 Anaheim – The Ducks take Jake Gardiner from Minnetonka High School (Minnesota High School Hockey). He will be heading to the University of Wisconsin this fall and is considered one of the fastest guys in the draft.

#18 Nashville – The first goalie is off the board… Chet Pickard from Tri-City (WHL).

#19 Philadelphia – Defenseman Luca Sbisa of Lethbridge (WHL).

#20 NY Rangers – Michael Del Zotto, a defenseman with the Oshawa Generals of the OHL.

Trade – New Jersey Devils trade pick #21 to Washington in exchange for picks #23 and #54.

#21 Washington – Swedish forward Anton Gustafsson goes to the Caps. Bob Mackenzie had him pegged around the #30 slot, when the Wings pick. Said a reason he was ranked a bit lower was due to a herniated disc in his lower back causing some concern among teams.

#22 Edmonton – Jordan Eberle from Regina of the WHL.

Trade – New Jersey trades pick #23 to Minnesota for #24 and a third round pick in 2009.

#23 Minnesota – Defenseman Tyler Cuma from Oshawa of the OHL.

#24 New Jersey – Mattias Tedenby, a 5’8 Swedish speedster.

#25 Calgary – Craig Nemisz of the Windsor Spitfire (OHL).

#26 Buffalo – Small center Tyler Ennis of Medicine Hat (WHL).

Trade – Philly trades #27 to Washington for defenseman Steve Eminger and pick #84.

#27 Washington – Big defenseman John Carlson from the USHL, who will be heading to the London Knights after backing out of his commitment to UMass. TSN has his style of play comparable to former Wolverine Mike Komisarek.

Trade – Anaheim trades #28 to Phoenix for #35 and #39.

#28 Phoenix – Russian left winger Viktor Tikhonov goes to the Coyotes. A bit surprising they didn’t draft any defensemen in the opening round after a few months ago GM Don Maloney said they were thin on blue liners and only had Michigan defenseman Chris Summers who was ready to make the jump, then they traded a pair of young defenders today for Olli Jokinen.

Note – There have been 13 trades in the first round tonight, which is equal to the number of trades in the opening round of the last four drafts combined.

#29 Atlanta – Daultan Leveille from St. Catharines (Junior B) who will be heading to Michigan State. Said to possess elite speed the likes of Phil Kessel and Andrew Cogliano. Naturally, Pierre Mcguire calls another kid heading to college a “project.”

#30 Detroit – Steve Yzerman getting the standing ovation as he makes the pick, goaltender Tom McCollum of Guelph (OHL).

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