Plenty of chatter but no moves so far this weekend. Regardless of the amount of trade activity today, it will be a busier draft day than usual with all 7 rounds going down today at the Prudential Centre starting at 3 p.m. EST. Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. on TSN.
As it stands now, the Leafs will pick in each round, selecting 21st, 51st, 82nd, 117th, 142nd, 172nd & 202nd today.
I can’t imagine much changes – Dave Morrison told us as much – with it being Nonis’ first draft at the helm, given he was already an assistant GM for four years and it’s the same Leafs draft team sans Burke. But for what it’s worth, I’ve amassed Dave Nonis’ drafting record as Canucks GM after the jump:
[table “148” not found /]So: a good 2004, and very poor 2006 and 2007 drafts.
In terms of the national background of his draft selections: Before last year’s draft, Michael calculated the percentage of Europeans Burke drafted over his previous 7 drafts and it came out to a mere 15.9 percent (8 out of 52, with no Russians, Slovaks or Czechs selected). Nonis’ four drafts in Vancouver saw his draft team select eight Europeans in 24 selections, which is 33.3%.
Onto some draft day links…
Hockey’s Future Leafs Draft Preview. Yep, strong on D and depth forwards, high-end skill needed.
The Leafs have qualified all over their RFAs thereby retaining their rights. Fraser rejected his QO as it was a two-way deal.
The Leafs met with soon-to-be free agent Vincent Lecavalier yesterday, as did half of the league. The Leafs, Canadiens, Blues, Ducks, Stars and Flyers all met with Vinny in New York, with the Flames and Wings on deck for tomorrow and the Panthers planning to meet with him post draft.
Kris Letang update from Pierre Lebrun.
Broad Street Hockey takes a shot at measuring the strength of competition among the top CHL prospects in today’s draft class. Klimchuk and Petan show well among the late-first round prospects.
Here’s a good profile on Nicolas Petan.
Nathan Horton will hit free agency and there’s talk of Tyler Seguin being in the market (Do I have to say it)? The Lightning apparently are interested.
