Today's the day that many local hockey fans have been looking forward to for a couple seasons now... the NHL draft goes tonight and tomorrow in Montreal.
For anyone that hasn't watched a draft before, things can at times move a little slowly.. but this year should be a lot of fun with the Wheat King content that will be in first round.
TSN will be broadcasting live starting at 6 PM.
A few important links..
TSN's Draft Centre:
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/
NHL.com's draft section:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/eventhome.htm?location=/features/draft
Final Central Scouting rankings of players eligible to be drafted this weekend:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=31411
Hockeysfuture - Great hockey prospect site that's always all over draft day:
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/
First round draft tracker/draft order/live pick-by-pick list:
http://www.tsn.ca/draftcentre/feature/?id=9157
Also keep an eye on
Luber's Lounge, which I'm sure will have a good amount of coverage from a local perspective.
Brayden Schenn is ranked as the #4 skater in North America, with most mock drafts you see having him be drafted in the top 7.
Scott Glennie is ranked 7 after rocketing up the rankings this year. Could have a chance of cracking the top 10.
Defenceman Brodie Melnychuk is ranked 83rd.
Wheat King list player Kirill Gotovets is ranked 179.
Other Wheat Kings that are of draft age (but may not have necessarily opted in) include Aaron Lewadniuk, Nathan Green, Jesse Hall, Jay Fehr, Paul Ciarelli, Mark Schneider, Jordan Hale, Darren Bestland, Stephane Robidoux, James Priestner and Andrew Hayes. Keep an eye on some of the Europeans going in the first few rounds... the Wheaties have two spots to fill. You never know what names you'll see come up on WHL import draft day.
I'll stick with my prediction that Toronto will end up with Schenn and that Glennie will go if not #10 to the Oilers, then top 12.
Would be great to see Melnychuk go third round.
The story today will obviously be Schenn and Glennie, but does anyone see any players outside of the ranked three getting taken in the later rounds?