Rolling the dice
Charlottetown Islanders aim at top-shelf offensive Euro in Wednesday’s CHL import draft
Jim Hulton knows it won’t be easy obtaining what he wants in Wednesday’s Canadian Hockey League import draft, but he’s determined to maximize the pick his Charlottetown Islanders are slotted in.
“The object going in is to get a high end offensive player,” said Hulton, the Islanders head coach and general manager. “It’s not as simple (at 50th), so we have a bit of an expanded list.” Charlottetown chooses 50th overall of 60 teams in the first round. CHL teams are allowed two European players so with Finnish defenceman Saku Vesterenin slated to return in the fall, the Isles won’t select in the second round where its 110th. It can’t trade the pick and means it must pass. Like the North American draft, drafting Euros is an inexact science.
Some work out like the Czech Republic’s Filip Chlapik taken in 2014, who had 79 goals and 220 points in 173 regular season games with the Islanders and added another 30 points in 27 playoff games. Ottawa nabbed Chlapik in the second round the 2015 NHL draft and moves on to the pros this season. Some don’t, a la German native Marco Sedlar, drafted in 2013. Sedlar had just two goals in 11 games and was back in Deutschland by Christmas of that year. Sedlar had 12 points in 38 games with Landshut EV of the German league last year. Age can be a factor, too. Some players can be older (the P.E.I. rocket selected Jonathan Persson in 2003 then almost 19-years-old)), while some like Vesterenin are selected at 17.
And that’s Hulton’s direction, although he’s not aiming at a certain country
“We’re looking at a 2000-born player. We’ve got a variety of player (on our list). It’s a matter doing your homework.” Regardless, Hulton’s prepared to wade into the murky waters of international hockey organizations that often demand a pretty penny to release a player to North America.
In the mid to late-2000s Russian hockey authorities were notorious for stonewalling player releases with exorbitant release prices. That’s changed over the last half decade, only, said Hulton, to be replaced by another country.
“A lot has changed in the last five years. Sweden (now) is difficult in getting guys out. They have a club system where the top end guys are signed to pro contracts (with the clubs). You have to do your research beforehand so you don’t get burned,” he said.
The Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League select first overall, followed by the Moncton Wildcats, the Kootenay Ice (Western Hockey League), the Guelph Storm (OHL) and the Sherbrooke Phoenix in second through fifth, respectively.
The draft starts at noon Atlantic time.