OTTAWA -- In 30-plus years of scouting, the past eight with the Minnesota Wild, Tom Thompson will comfortably assert that this is the best crop of promising, precocious defencemen he's ever seen.
And given that a franchise-style, puck-moving defenceman might be on top of virtually every NHL team's wish list, that sheds an intriguing light on the 2008 entry draft, which starts tomorrow.After the Tampa Bay Lightning select Steven Stamkos with the No. 1 pick, the next six players chosen could be defencemen. The record for defencemen selected in the opening round is the 13 taken in 1996. Given that 15 of the top 30 North Americans, plus three of the top eight Europeans, are all defencemen, that total could easily be exceeded.
The only real wild card in the top eight is the dynamic Russian left winger Nikita Filatov, who may compare to Stamkos on the skill side. The issue there is the uncertainty some teams feel about selecting Russian players, given the absence of a transfer agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation.
It may well be that the first team that really needs to make a decision on Filatov is the Toronto Maple Leafs, given that he will likely still be available at No. 7. Do the Leafs finally address their need for a homegrown, front-line rearguard? Or do they opt for Filatov, on the grounds that young talented Russians are leading the turnaround in both Washington and Pittsburgh?
Much will depend upon how the draft unfolds around them. Complicating matters is the fact that the Los Angeles Kings pick second and their general manager, Dean Lombardi, tends to swim against the conventional tide, year after year.
Example: With the fourth choice overall last season, Lombardi opted for a long shot - defenceman Thomas Hickey, ranked 30th overall by Central Scouting - instead of the easy choice, Karl Alzner, another defenceman. The Capitals got Alzner, who proceeded to win most of the awards in the Western Hockey League this past season.
If the Kings had opted for Alzner, they would almost certainly be in the market for Drew Doughty, the talented young rearguard from the Guelph Storm. But Doughty might be too much like Hickey in terms of size (5 foot 11) and skill set, so an alternative would be Zach Bogosian, an American from Massena, N.Y., who has been compared in some circles to a young Chris Pronger in terms of passion, but without the 6-foot-5 wing span.
Even though he will almost certainly pick Doughty, Lombardi's history is such that he could just as easily throw everything out of whack by opting for 6-foot-7 Tyler Myers, one of two Kelowna Rockets defencemen projected to go in the top 10. Myers is rated fourth overall by Central Scouting but is thought of as a project with a Zdeno Chara-like upside. If Myers doesn't go second, he could slip to seventh, eighth or ninth and beyond.
That's what makes the draft so intriguing - the uncertainty on two levels. Of drafting teenagers before they are fully developed, physically and otherwise and of projecting what a given team may or may not like about a prospect, after exhaustive testing at the NHL scouting combine, and extensive interviewing before the actual draft.
"It's easy to sound corny, but Guy [Lapointe, the Wild's co-ordinator of amateur scouting] and I agreed after the combine that this is probably the highest group of quality people that have ever come through," Thompson said. "It was remarkable that way. They're determined, yet friendly and confident. They're good.
"That's the best thing about the interviews. We're not going to bump somebody up from 50 to 30 because he's such a nice guy. I think it works the other way, you're looking for red flags, this year, there were not many red flags."
Thompson calls this year's draft class "well-above average" and much deeper than a year ago when the Wild traded up six places to draft Colton Gillies in the first round because they weren't thrilled with what they thought would be available at 19th overall.
"This year, we're picking 24th," Thompson said. "Who knows what might happen? But even if nothing happens and we pick 24th, we are going to be choosing among several people and we're going to be very glad to get the guy that we're going to get - and we're going to have pangs that we didn't take two or three other people.
"So it's deeper. And this is the deepest group of defencemen I've ever seen. And these are guys that don't have many things lacking. They're big enough, they skate well, they're aggressive, they're smart and they're ready to go."
By all accounts, they'll be going all right - beginning tomorrow night.
TOP 5 DEFENCEMEN AVAILABLE IN 2008 ENTRY DRAFT: ACCORDING TO THE NHL'S CENTRAL SCOUTING BUREAU
1. Zach Bogosian, Peterborough Petes, 6 foot 2, 197 pounds.
Overall rank: 2.
Scouts say: A big player not afraid to use his size, his combination of skating ability and willingness to play physically set him apart. There are some bigger, taller defencemen available, who have to grow into their body, but not the athletic Bogosian, who is fully proportioned and ready to make that step into the NHL quickly. To improve, he needs to learn when to make the right choice of supporting or leading a rush.
2. Drew Doughty, Guelph Storm, 6 feet, 210 pounds.
Overall rank: 3.
Scouts say: Exceptional hockey sense and puck-handling ability. His strengths are poise and defensive acumen - that is, the ability to know when to jump up in the rush, the ability to know when to stay back. Needs to pace himself better, so that he is as strong at the end of a game as at the beginning. Otherwise, he is a defenceman around which a team is going to build its next 10 years.
3. Tyler Myers, Kelowna Rockets, 6 foot 7, 204 pounds.
Overall rank: 4.
Scouts say: "His height differentiates him from the rest of the draft-eligible defencemen - he towers above all the other players. He is not often burned by the small, quick players and because of the emphasis in today's NHL on a lack of restraining type of play, Tyler has adjusted well to that and is more ready to play in the new NHL than a lot of the other smaller players. Improvements can be made with his continued maturity - especially in foot speed and co-ordination. Excellent shot from the point on the power play already.
4. Luke Schenn, Kelowna Rockets, 6 foot 2, 216 pounds.
Overall rank: 5.
Scouts say: One of two draft eligibles who played for Canada's world junior team (Doughty was the other), he is perhaps the most NHL-ready of the Fab Five. Big and strong, compares favourably to Ed Jovanovski. Plays with a tough edge, but has the ability, if caught up ice, to work hard and get back in time to recover. Decision-making needs improving, especially when he moves to the next level.
5. Alex Pietrangelo, Niagara Ice Dogs, 6 foot 3, 206 pounds.
Overall rank: 6.
Scouts say: A poised player, tall and still growing into his body, he brings a keen ability to know when to pass the puck out of the zone, when to carry the puck out of the zone and he's unflustered in the face of a hard fore-check. Plays with a calm, cool and collected attitude that sometimes causes him to be questioned for his assertiveness, but he doesn't play with any kind of fear for what is coming at him. Possibly the best top-end potential of the group, with Chris Pronger-like size and visibility.
Eric Duhatschek
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