This year's NHL entry draft starts tonight with round 1 and concludes Saturday with rounds 2-7.
At least three Manitobans have a shot at being picked in the first round tonight...
Moose Jaw Warriors' Quinton Howden (Oak Bank), Warriors Dylan Mcllrath (Winnipeg) and Seattle Thunderbirds' Calvin Pickard (Winnipeg).
The other plotline for tonight that's of course getting lots of headlines if the Taylor Hall vs Tyler Seguin debate on who will go first overall.
Wheat King fans will probably be more interested in Saturday when Mark Stone (ranked 119th by Central Scouting) and Michael Ferland (ranked 146th) are very likely to get drafted.
Does anyone know if Brenden Walker has opted in this year? Based on his exposure during the playoffs and Mem Cup he might might a solid later round steal for some team, or maybe he'll wait until next year to opt in since he's poised for a breakout 2010-2011 season?
Teams that go on Mem Cup runs often see their players benefit from extra exposure to scouts. Any thoughts on whether any of Shayne Wiebe, Jacob De Serres, Brodie Melnychuk or others might warrant a late round pick?
A few links..
Full story from WheatKings.com:
http://wheatkings.com/news_item.aspx?news_id=5455
A nice writeup on NHL.com.. "43 things you need to know about the 2010 NHL entry draft":
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=532698&navid=DL|NHL|home
TSN.ca story on Taylor vs Tyler:
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=325622Lubers Lounge preview:
http://luberslounge.blogspot.com/2010/06/big-weekend-for-wk-pair.html