FOUR LOCAL DRAFT PROSPECTS TO WATCH

BRENDAN GUHLE

Brendan Guhle loves the NHL draft so much that in the last few years he’s tried to figure out how players would be picked in the first round.

“Yeah, I’ve done a little mock draft. … I try to get them so they’re bang on, the pick and the player,” said the defenceman from Sherwood Park who played the last two years with the Prince Albert Raiders, for a time as a teammate of Edmonton Oilers’ prospect Leon Draisaitl.

“I got three right one year and then I got seven right, so I’ve made a bit of progress.”

Guhle, 17, will be at the June 26-27 draft in Florida with his parents, brother, grandparents and a cousin, in a nice suit, not watching on TV from his couch.

If he does another mock draft this year, he likely won’t have his name there.

“I’m pretty confident I’ll be a top two round player but you never know,” he said. “I had a pretty good season with steady progression.”

The six-foot-two, 184-pound Guhle is rated 56th by Central Scouting, the NHL bureau, which would be deep in Round 2.

Guhle saw just about every NHL team at the recent combine in Buffalo. Twenty-four teams interviewed him, including his hometown Oilers, who have two picks in Round 2 and two in Round 3.

Craig Button, TSN scouting guru, had Guhle 61st in his last ranking, which is first pick in Round 3. Bob McKenzie, after talking to a group of scouts, has Guhle at 70, a little later in Round 3.

“He’s a fantastic skater … but when you think of fantastic skaters you think they’ll have fantastic offensive ability, but he’ll be a really good defender. Get the puck out of the zone. He’ll close ice on puck carriers. He’s more of a puck transporter,” said Button.

“He improved a lot this year to where he was assertive with his skating. He’s not a player who’ll run you over. He’s thin but as he matures, he’ll become more confident in his game. He’s solid, not spectacular.”

MATTEO GENNARO

Matteo Gennaro is Fernando Pisani’s cousin, so when it comes to the NHL draft, the St. Albert youngster doesn’t need a history lesson on where the Edmonton Oilers’ playoff hero went back in 1996.

Pisani was an eighth-round draft pick playing for the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s St. Albert Saints. After four years at Providence College and two years in the minors, Pisani became everybody’s favourite player in 2006 when he scored 14 playoff goals for the Oilers.

Gennaro, a talented centre for the Prince Albert Raiders, is rated 127th by Central Scouting, which is early fifth round in a deep pool of players.

Still, he might not even get drafted. He hasn’t put it all together yet.

“You never know where you’ll go,” said Pisani, who was an assistant with the University of Alberta’s Golden Bears last season. “At the end of day you go to a camp and they see what you’ve got. I had to do it the ugly, hard way (195th) and sometimes you are better for it.”

Pisani said his cousin works extremely hard on and off the ice. “He’s a sponge, wants to learn,” Pisani said.

“He’s just a determined, focused kid who wants to get better.”

Pisani, 38, is related to the kid but isn’t into blowing smoke. Rick Jackson from Central Scouting likes Gennaro’s skill set.

“Second-line player, lots of penalty-killing situations, strong on faceoffs. He needs to improve his leg strength,” Jackson said. “I think he’ll get drafted. He’s got a lean frame, long stride, gives a second effort to keeps plays alive.”

Gennaro was in Chicago last week with about 40 young players the Blackhawks brought to physically test. Hard stuff, but rewarding because the Hawks are a powerhouse.

Having Pisani’s guidance is a great resource for Gennaro.

“It’s not a shell shock for me talking to him as a former NHL player because he’s my cousin,” said Gennaro. “It’s pretty easy going but he’s taught me a lot. The dedication, the sacrifice it takes, the importance of working out, staying hydrated, eating healthy, being respectful to people.”

GIORGIO ESTEPHAN

Giorgio Estephan has been under the microscope since he was the fourth pick in the Western Hockey League’s bantam draft in 2012.

He was drafted by the Lethbridge Hurricanes, where player unhappiness and turmoil within the organization seemed to dominate until Peter Anholt came in as coach and general manager midway through the 201415 season.

Estephan’s play improved significantly, as did others.

The six-foot, 188-pound centre is rated 144th by the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau for the upcoming draft. But he might be selected before the fifth round.

“Once (Lethbridge) made the coaching change and brought in Peter, Estephan’s game took off,” said TSN’s scouting guru Craig Button, who has the Vimy Ridge Hockey Academy graduate rated 100th on his pre-draft list.

“Giorgio was back on his heels until then, playing not to make a mistake. On a team that was abysmal, he somehow finished minus 1 at the end of the season and he had 51 points (64 games). His game was in the shadows.”

But Button says there is a lot to like about Estephan. “He’s a smart, heady centreman,” he said. “He knows where to be on the ice and while he has to improve his quickness, he can make a play. He has some thickness to him and doesn’t get pushed off the puck.”

The 18-year-old Estephan could be like Tampa Bay Lightning centre Cedric Paquette, drafted in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL draft, Button said.

“Paquette was competitive and smart in junior and had to improve in some areas and now you watch him (playoffs) and those types of qualities are coveted.”

Estephan said his pre-draft ranking of 144 doesn’t bug him.

“I deal in the here and now and we’ll see what happens on the day,” he said. “I hope I get a call but if I don’t … I’m not going to be watching it (names listed on the computer) continually. I don’t want to stress myself out.”

MICHEAL ZIPP

Micheal Zipp finished the 2014-15 hockey season with the Western Hockey League’s Calgary Hitmen as one of their top four defencemen.

The high school student, rated 189th by the NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau, may or may not go in the NHL 2015 draft this coming weekend. He’s one of those on-the-fence players.

But one thing the amateur scouts have all noticed: He plays aggressively.

Zipp doesn’t plan on sweating the draft. If he get picked, great.

If not, maybe the Edmonton-born defenceman gets an invite to a development camp after the draft. Plus the 18-year-old is still eligible to be drafted in 2016. “I usually watch the draft on TV, it’s a cool experience. But if I don’t get picked, maybe I get an invite (to an NHL camp).”

Zipp received a whole lot more notice with the Hitmen than he did when he played with the Everett Silvertips, where he couldn’t win the trust of coach Kevin Constantine. The Silvertips sent Zipp to the Hitmen in a trade deadline deal in the 2013-14 season.

“I didn’t fit his style,” Zipp said of playing under Constantine. “He tries to bring the analytical style (puck possession), the statistics part of things.

In Calgary, Zipp said the Hitmen expected him to fill bigger shoes because they lost two 20-year-olds. “I was on the penalty-kill, and shutting down the other team’s top guys.”

Zipp has long admired Calgary Flames defenceman Ladislav Smid’s tough-nosed game.

“I saw him growing up in Edmonton (following the Oilers), then got a chance to see him every day at the rink in Calgary. Pretty cool,” said Zipp.

“Micheal’s a gritty son of a gun, really good compete level, definitely finishes his checks,” said Central Scouting Bureau’s Rick Jackson. “His numbers (nine goals) were good. Lots of flow in his game, but he could be more decisive with his decisions.”