Official NHL Draft Thread

[Tigers#1]

NEW YORK - Following is the order of selection for the first round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, Saturday, June 22 (rounds 1-3) and Sunday, June 23 (rounds 4-9) at Air Canada Centre, Toronto. The order of selection for all rounds will be announced next week, following the awarding of compensatory draft picks.
1. Florida
2. Atlanta
3. Columbus
4. Tampa Bay
5. Pittsburgh
6. Nashville
7. Anaheim
8. Minnesota
9. Calgary
10. Florida (from NY Rangers)
11. Buffalo
12. Washington
13. Washington (from Dallas)
14. Edmonton
15. Montreal
16. Ottawa
17. Washington (from Vancouver)
18. Los Angeles
19. Phoenix
20. Dallas (from New Jersey)
21. Chicago
22. NY Islanders
23. Phoenix (from St. Louis) -- optional to Philadelphia
24. Toronto
25. Carolina
26. Dallas (from Philadelphia via Washington)
27. San Jose
28. Colorado
29. Boston
30. Buffalo (from Detroit)


Trades Involving First-Round Draft Picks

Pick 10 (NY Rangers to Florida): Florida traded Pavel Bure and its 2nd round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft to NY Rangers for Igor Ulanov, the rights to Filip Novak, the Rangers’ 1st and 2nd round picks in the 2002 Entry Draft and 4th round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft (March 18, 2002).

Pick 13 (Dallas to Washington): Dallas traded its 1st round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft to Washington for Philadelphia's 1st round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft (previously acquired by Washington), Washington's 2nd round pick in 2002 and 6th round pick in 2003 (June 12, 2002).

Pick 17 (Vancouver to Washington): Vancouver traded its 1st round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft and 3rd round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft to Washington for Trevor Linden and the NY Islanders’ 2nd round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft (previously acquired by Washington) (Nov. 10, 2001).

Pick 20 (New Jersey to Dallas): Dallas traded Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner to New Jersey for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay and New Jersey’s 1st round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft (March 19, 2002).

Pick 23 (St. Louis to Phoenix): St. Louis traded Michal Handzus, Ladislav Nagy, the rights to Jeff Taffe and its 1st round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft to Phoenix for Keith Tkachuk (March 13, 2001).

Pick 23 (Phoenix to Philadelphia, optional): Philadelphia traded Daymond Langkow to Phoenix for the choice of, at Philadelphia’s option: (1) St. Louis’ 1st round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft (previously acquired by Phoenix) and Phoenix’s 2nd round pick in 2003, or, (2) Phoenix’s 2nd round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft and 1st round pick in 2003 (July 2, 2001).

Pick 26 (Philadelphia to Washington): Washington traded Adam Oates to Philadelphia for Maxime Ouellet and Philadelphia’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks in the 2002 Entry Draft (March 19, 2002).

Pick 26 (Washington to Dallas): see pick 13.

Pick 30 (Detroit to Buffalo): Buffalo traded Dominik Hasek to Detroit for Vyacheslav Kozlov, Detroit’s 1st round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft and a conditional pick in the 2003 Entry Draft (July 1, 2001).

[fenwayfaithful]

I think we all know who is going #1 and that is Jay Bouwmeester.

I'm hoping the Bruins can somehow manage to have Johnny Boychuk fall to them. He is a very solid defenseman that could really help the Bruins out in a few years.

Another player I like is Adam Henrich. He's big and very talented. He would look good in the black & gold, but it's unlikely. He'll probably be a top 20 pick.

[I Are Baboon]

BOOO!!! No first round pick for Detroit! Well, the did get Hasek for that pick, and he helped them win the cup. So I guess it was worth it. :biggrin:

In a couple of years, the Wings are going to be skating around on walkers and wheelchairs. :ohno:

[Tigers#1]

Originally posted by I Are Baboon

In a couple of years, the Wings are going to be skating around on walkers and wheelchairs. :ohno: I disagree. Jiri Fischer is a great young defenceman, and he's only 21. Pavel Datsyuch(?) is an excellent young player. Sean Avery, and Ryan Barnes are 2, big players who should help the team next year, and there's still Jason Williams, Jesse Wallin, Maxim Kuznetsov, Aren Miller, Philippe Audet, and Jason Elliott. Plus, Shanahan, Lidstrom, Fedorov, Draper, McCarty, Holmstrom, Malyby, and Dandenault are all in the prime of their careers.

[Tigers#1]

TORONTO - Ah, the plot thickens.
Actually, the plot lines surrounding the 2002 NHL Entry Draft at the Air Canda Centre on June 22 and 23 (Saturday, ESPN2, 1-4 p.m., TSN 1-6 p.m.) are so thick you can stand a spoon in them.

The 2002 Entry Draft isn't regarded as a deep draft according to many scouts. That isn't to say talented players aren't available. They are. In fact the top 10 or so prospects are players most teams would be happy to add to their mix.

And that's where it gets interesting. Very interesting, in fact.

Medicine Hat Tigers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is the top North American skater according to the NHL's Central Scouting Service. A big defenseman with great instincts and skating ability, Bouwmeester is a tremendous prospect, and seemingly perfect for the Florida Panthers, who hold the top selection in the first round.

But not so fast Panthers General Manager Rick Dudley told reporters earlier in the week.

"It's not a slam dunk," Dudley said. "There are some really talented people in this draft, including a goaltender."


The goaltender is Kari Lehtonen from Finland and he has been turning heads to the point where he could turn many projected first rounds into so much scrap paper.

"He is as solid a goaltender as anybody coming out of the draft," Pittsburgh Penguins head scout Greg Malone said. "He's probably as good a goaltender that's come along in a long, long time."

"We think he's the best goalie to come along in a long time," Tampa Bay Lightning head scout Jake Goertzen said. "He's so big (6-foot-3, 189 pounds), and he moves really well and he's practically unflappable."

"We've isolated three guys who are the top, top end and have kind of distanced themselves a little bit," Panthers Director of Amateur Scouting Tim Murray told David Neal of the Miami Herald.. "I'm not saying the guys underneath them aren't good. We've got three guys who we, as a group consensus, feel are the top three guys in the draft."

Lehtonen is one of them. The goalie was the playoff MVP for Jokerit last season, which is a feather in his cap.

"I've liked a lot of goalies in my nine years of scouting, and he's right behind [Panthers goalie Roberto] Luongo in my top two goalies," Murray said.

Forward Rick Nash of the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League, North America's second-rated skater is another top-flight prospect to be considered. And don't forget Bouwmeester, who still captivated Murray.


Joffrey Lupul, Bouwmeester's Medicine Hat teammate, is under strong consideration for a high pick in Saturday's draft.
"He's probably the best skating defenseman any of us have seen [ever]," Murray told Neal. "Rick's talked about it, too. He's a special skater. It's so rare that a guy that size is so agile and has such great speed."

And that makes him hard, very hard to pass up. But keep in mind the Panthers have flexibility. They also acquired the New York Rangers' selection (10th overall) in the Pavel Bure trade.

"If we'd trade a pick, this would more likely be the one," Dudley said.

The Atlanta Thrashers have the second selection and already boast a pair of blue-chip youngsters in forwards Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk. The Thrashers may well opt to make a deal for the selection in order to secure some immediate help for next season.

The Columbus Blue Jackets already have moved to add another first rounder, securing the 20th overall pick from Dallas in the trade for goalie Ron Tugnutt. The Buffalo Sabres also have two first-round selections (11 and 30), while Phoenix has the 19th and 23rd picks.

An interesting team to watch will be the Washington Capitals, who have three first-rounders, the 12th, 13th and 17th selections.

New York Islanders GM Mike Milbury has made many moves at the last couple Entry Drafts, and he told reporters he'd like to do it again.

"I'm expecting it to be quieter than it has been in the past," Milbury told Newsday's Alan Hahn. "But I'm trying to make it noisy."

Milbury indicated he will be looking to upgrade the players on Alexei Yashin's line.

"I'm still not satisfied we have the right combination of guys playing with Alexei Yashin," said Milbury, who acquired Yashin, Mike Peca and Adrian Aucoin at the 2001 Entry Draft.

The Tampa Bay Lightning may well be another team looking to make some noise come Saturday. GM Jay Feaster told Damian Cristodero of the St. Petersburg Times that he is willing to talk about the fourth-overall selection.

"Yeah, we're going to see what's out there," Feaster said Tuesday. "We're talking to teams and getting a sense of what's out there. ... Some teams think there is going to be real good players at four, so there is some interest there.


Decision makers had a chance to see and meet prospects like Jay Bouwmeester, above, at the NHL Prospect Fitness and Medical Assessments on June 1, 2002.
"I just don't agree with this perception that it is a weak draft," he said. "You may not find a superstar player, but you're going to get a player at four that's going to be a solid player in the National Hockey League. I think that's true even later in the first round. There are guys who are going to play, so you're giving up a heck of an asset."

But should trade talks not work out, Feaster said he would be happy to use the pick.

"I don't think at all that we're weak at four," he said. "And for the same reason, if we don't find something that we like and have to walk up to that podium to make a pick, we're not going to be embarrassed by that either. We're going to get a player that's going to play. The issue is going to be how quickly he can play."

Players in this range will be NHLers at some point down the line. Right wing Scott Upshall of the Kamloops Blazers scored 31 goals and 51 assists in 61 games last season. Another interesting forward is Joffrey Lupul, Bouwmeester's teammate at Medicine Hat. He scored 56 goals and 51 assists in 72 games last season and may be the best pure scorer available.

Defensemen who figure to go high up are Boston University's Ryan Whitney and Finland's Joni Pitkanen, the top-rated European skater.

Ironically, Vancouver Canucks GM Brian Burke, who shook up the first round in 1999 when he acquired the selections to take both Henrik and Daniel Sedin, hinted he would wait until No. 49 overall to make the Canucks' first selection. Burke traded a first-rounded to Washington this past season to acquire forward Trevor Linden.

"I'm content to stay with 49," Burke said. "The fact of the matter is that a number of teams with high picks are perfectly willing to trade them. So that's a red flag that this might not be the best draft in the world."

The quality of the 2002 Entry Draft will be determined in the years to come. But in the short term, it is shaping up as one of the most interesting drafts in recent years.

[Tigers#1]

No. Team Player Pos. League
1 Columbus (from FLA) Rick Nash LW London (OHL)
2 Atlanta Kari Lehtonen G Jokerit (FIN)
3 Florida (from COB) Jay Bouwmeester D Medicine Hat (WHL)
4 Philadelphia (from TAM) Joni Pitkanen D Karpat (FIN)
5 Pittsburgh Ryan Whitney D Boston U. (Hockey East)
6 Nashville Scott Upshall RW Kamloops (WHL)
7 Anaheim Joffrey Lupul C/RW Medicine Hat (WHL)
8 Minnesota Pierre-Marc Bouchard C Chicoutimi (QMJHL)
9 Florida (from CGY) Petr Taticek C Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)
10 Calgary (from FLA-NYR) Eric Nystrom LW Michigan (CCHA)
11 Buffalo Keith Ballard D Minnesota (WCHA)
12 Washington Steve Eminger D Kitchener (OHL)
13 Washington (from DAL) Alexander Semin LW Cheljabinsk (Russia)
14 Montreal (from EDM) Chris Higgins C Yale (ECAC)
15 Edmonton (from MON) Jesse Niinimaki C Ilves (FIN)
16 Ottawa Jakub Klepis C Portland (WHL)
17 Washington (from VAN) Boyd Gordon RW Red Deer (WHL)
18 Los Angeles Denis Grebeshkov D Yaroslavl (Russia)
19 Phoenix Jakub Koresis C Plzen (CZE)
20 Buffalo (from COB-DAL-NJD) Dan Paille LW Guelph (OHL)
21 Chicago Anton Babchuk D Elektrostal (Russia)
22 N.Y. Islanders Sean Bergenheim W Jokerit (FIN)
23 Phoenix (from STL - opt. PHI) Ben Eager LW Oshawa (OHL)
24 Toronto Alexander Steen C Frolunda (SWE)
25 Carolina Cam Ward G Red Deer (WHL)
26 Dallas (from PHI-WAS) Martin Vagner D Hull (QMJHL)
27 San Jose Mike Morris RW St. Sebastien's (USHS)
28 Colorado Jonas Johansson W HV 71 (SWE)
29 Boston Hannu Toivonen G HPK (FIN)
30 Atlanta (from COB-BUF-DET) Jim Slater C Michigan St. (CCHA)

[Tigers#1]

No. Team Player Pos. League
31 Edmonton (from BUF-ATL) Jeff Deslauriers G Chicoutimi (QMJHL)
32 Dallas (from COB) Janos Vas W Malmo (SWE)
33 N.Y. Rangers (from FLA) Lee Falardeau C Michigan St. (CCHA)
34 Dallas (from PHI-TAM-OTT) Tobias Stephan G Chur (SWI)
35 Pittsburgh Ondrej Nemec D Vsetin (CZE)
36 Edmonton (from NAS) Jarret Stoll C Kootenay (WHL)
37 Anaheim Tim Brent C St. Michaels (OHL)
38 Minnesota Josh Harding G Regina (WHL)
39 Calgary Brian McConnell C Boston U. (HE)
40 Florida (from NYR) Rob Globke C-RW Notre Dame (CCHA)
41 Columbus (from BUF) Joakim Lindstrom F Modo (SWE)
42 Dallas (from WAS) Marius Holtet C/W Farjestad (SWE)
43 Dallas Trevor Daley D Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)
44 Edmonton Matt Greene D Green Bay (USHL)
45 Montreal Tomas Linhart D Pardubice (CZE)
46 Phoenix David Leneveu G Cornell (ECAC)
47 Ottawa Alexei Kaigorodov C Magnitogorsk (RUS)
48 St. Louis Alexei Shkotov RW Elektrostal (RUS)
49 Vancouver Kiril Koltsov D Omsk (RUS)
50 Los Angeles Sergei Anshakov L CSKA (RUS)
51 New Jersey Anton Kadeykin D Elektrostal (RUS)
52 San Jose (from PHO) Dan Spang D Winchester (USHS)
53 New Jersey Barry Tallackson RW Minnesota (WCHA)
54 Chicago Duncan Keith D Michigan St. (CCHA)
55 Vancouver (from NYI-TAM-WAS) Denis Grot D Elektrostal (RUS)
56 Boston (from STL) Vladislav Evseev LW CSKA (RUS)
57 Toronto Matthew Stajan C Belleville (OHL)
58 Detroit (from CAR) Jiri Hulder C Liberec (CZE)
59 Washington (from PHI) Maxime Daigneault G Val D'Or (QMJHL)
60 Tampa Bay (from SAN) Adam Henrich LW Brampton (OHL)
61 Colorado Johnny Boychuk D Calgary (WHL)
62 St. Louis (from BOS) Andrei Mikhonov C-LW Sudbury (OHL)
63 Detroit Tomas Fleischmann C-W Vitkovice (CZE)
Pick 46 - assigned to Phoenix for loss of Group III player Jeremy Roenick. Pick 48 - assigned to St. Louis for loss of Group III player Pierre Turgeon.
Pick 51 - assigned to New Jersey for loss of Group III player Alexander Mogilny.
Pick 52 - see pick 23.
Pick 58 - Detroit will receive Carolina's 2nd round pick in the 2002 or 2003 Entry Draft, at Carolina's option.

[Tigers#1]

No. Team Player Pos. League
64 New Jersey (from ATL) Jason Ryznar LW Michigan (CCHA)
65 Columbus Ole-Kristian Tollefsen D Lillehammer (NOR)
66 Los Angeles Petr Kanko RW Kitchener (OHL)
67 Florida Gregory Campbell C-LW Plymouth (OHL)
68 Vancouver (from TAM) Brett Skinner D Des Moines (USHL)
69 Pittsburgh Erik Christensen C Kamloops (WHL)
70 Phoenix (from NSH) Joe Callahan D Yale (ECAC)
71 Anaheim Brian Lee D Erie (OHL)
72 Minnesota Michael Erickson RW Minnesota (WCHA)
73 Minnesota Barry Brust G Spokane (WHL)
74 Toronto (from CGY) Todd Ford G Swift Current (WHL)
75 Ottawa (from NYR) Arttu Luttinen F IFK (FIN)
76 Buffalo Michael Tessier LW Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL)
77 Washington Patrick Wellar D Portland (WHL)
78 Dallas Geoff Waugh D Kindersley (SJHL)
79 Edmonton Brock Radunske W Michigan St. (CCHA)
80 Phoenix (from MON) Matt Jones D North Dakota (WCHA)
81 N.Y. Rangers (from OTT) Marcus Jonasen W Vasteras (SWE)
82 Buffalo (from VAN) John Adams D Boston College
83 Vancouver (from LOS) Lukas Mensator G Karlovyvary (CZE)
84 New Jersey (from PHO) Marek Chvatal D Trinec (CZE)
85 New Jersey Ahren Nittel LW Windsor (OHL)
86 San Jose (from CHI) Jonas Fiedler RW Plymouth (OHL)
87 N.Y. Islanders Frans Nielsen C Malmo (SWE)
88 Toronto (from BUF) Dominic D'Amour D Hull (QMJHL)
89 St. Louis Tomas Troliga C-LW Spisska Novaves (SVK)
90 Calgary (from TOR) Matthew Lombardi C Victoriaville (QMJHL)
91 Philadelphia (from CAR) Jesse Lane D Hull (QMJHL)
92 Washington (from PHI) Derek Krestanovich C Moose Jaw (WHL)
93 San Jose Alexander Kozevnikov LW Kryjla (RUS)
94 Colorado Eric Lundberg D Providence (Hockey East)
95 Detroit (from Boston) Valtteri Filppula C Jokerit (FIN)
96 Columbus (from DET) Jeff Genvoy C Des Moines (USHL)