2012 NHL Draft Selections' Strong Beginning to the 2012-13 Season

With the exception of three second round picks (Nic Kerdiles---Anaheim, # 36 overall; Brian
Hart--Tampa Bay, #53 overall; and Jordan Martinook--Phoenix, # 58 overall), all of the 2012
first and second round selections have seen action early in the 2012-13 season. Had there not
been an NHL lockout, several of these players would be skating for NHL teams, but, at this time,

of the 60 players selected in the first two rounds, 31 are currently playing in the CHL, 14 on
college teams, 9 are in Europe, and 6 are skating for AHL teams.

Several players in each of the CHL, Europe, the NCAA and AHL have quickly jumped out of the
gate. Of particular interest are the players mentioned below. All stats include games through the
October 22, 2012.

Does playing for a championship-calibre team increase a player’s stock heading into the NHL draft?  It may not be the only reason for a jump in rankings, but it would seem to be a contributing factor. 

The deeper your team goes in the playoffs, the more exposure you get – more scouts, more TV coverage and more opportunities to make an impression. 

Among teams that either won or reached the final of their respective leagues, there were a dozen players that were drafted at least one round sooner than projected.

Here’s a look at 6 of those players.  They all enter the upcoming season hoping to prove that drafting them earlier than expected was a good decision.

Our May/June newsletter included our Top 60 2013 NHL Draft Rankings with quick hitters on each player listed...

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Our 2012 NHL Draft Books are now available on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co-uk

Here are the links:

Our 2012 NHL Draft Guide digital version is now available in our online store. This year’s guide is 165 pages and profiles over 170 NHL Prospects. The guide is just under 60,000 words.

Trying to decide if you should buy our 2012 NHL Draft Black book or the 2012 NHL Draft Guide? Here is some information on the products:

I'll try my best to keep a running update on some players as the tournament moves along.

Tuesday

Branden Troock: He took some bad penalties that hurt his team. I have been a bit underwhelmed by Troock so far in this event after watching some good games with his home club in the WHL. He will need to play physical more often and be stronger on the puck.

Brendan Gaunce: He followed up his strong game on Monday with another good game. He made some strong plays winning pucks down low and was strong on the puck which enabled him to search out his options and make some smart plays. I'm sure if you asked him, he would tell you that he wished he could have finished a couple of his chances. He had a few scoring opportunities but failed to bury. I wish Cameron would have finished a few checks in this one. He passed up a chance to bury Trouba in the 1st period.

Josh Morrissey: My first live viewing was in Windsor in December. He impressed me then and he has impressed me in Brno. Great feet to go along with a good hockey IQ. He made a few subtle plays on the PP that shows what sets him apart from other players. I love his decision making and his ability to make adjustments to the pucks location. He made some great reads that enabled him to keep some pucks in the USA end that others may not have made. He also showed some toughness and physical play for a less tha huge kid.

HockeyProspect.com has a new number one ranked player in our 2012 overall NHL Draft Rankings. Sarnia Sting Centre Alex Galchenyuk as our new #1 ranked player.

HockeyProspect.com’s Mark Edwards spoke about the change at the top, “In December I said to a few of our staff that if Galchenyuk came back this year and proved to be healthy he had a good chance of being our top ranked player. Two short years ago I liked Seguin over Hall and we ranked him #1. I don’t regret that ranking and I feel very confident that Galchenyuk will live up to our #1 billing in 2012. Ryan (Ryan Yessie HP Ontario scout) spoke as far back as last June about this season’s number one. We were high on Alex being our pre-season number one until I saw Galchenyuk in Rochester in July. He looked like he put on a few pounds and we figured we would go with Yakupovto start the season.” Grigorenko was the other part of the puzzle heading into the season, but he has underwhelmed all three of HP’s QMJHL scouts too often this season. “Grigorenko is fine player but he’s not in the mix at the top as far as we are concerned.” Edwards explained. As far as the top two players are concerned HockeyProspect.com scouts have seen the Sarnia twosome play live over 150 times during the past two seasons.

April's newsletter includes a profile of Alexandre Mallet. All of our regular features are also included....

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