Canadians unlikely to CRACK Top 3 B2
Dahlin will be No. 1 pick by Buffalo Friday, then it’s anyone’s guess who goes after that
The suit was a Christmas present from a team sponsor.
It’s light blue. Not exactly what you would call flashy, but at the same time it’s not a colour that Evan Bouchard would normally pick out. He wore it once, then decided to pack it away.
“I thought I should save it for something special,” he said. “I’ll wear it at the draft.”
The only question is when it will make an appearance.
As the highest-scoring defenceman in the Ontario Hockey League last season — Bouchard’s 87 points for the London Knights were the most as a draft-eligible defenceman since Ryan Ellis, the 11th overall pick in 2009, had 89 — the Oakville, Ont. native is believed to be the top Canadian prospect. Normally, that would mean he will get picked inside the top three. But this isn’t a normal year.
Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin, who has already been given the “generational talent” tag, is undoubtedly going to be selected first overall by Buffalo. After that, the next-best options appear to be Russia’s Andrei Svechnikov, Filip Zadina of the Czech Republic and American Brady Tkachuk, who are considered Nhl-ready wingers.
For the first time in close to 20 years, it’s almost guaranteed a Canadian will get shut out of the top three. And with so many similarly skilled defencemen clustered together, there’s a good possibility Bouchard and Noah Dobson of Summerside, P.E.I., could be waiting around after the top five or even top 10.
“I don’t think there’s a franchise-type player in this year’s draft when it comes to Canadians,” said Mark Seidel, chief scout with North American Central Scouting. “There’s not a superstar that we’ll be saying how did he fall that far? But in terms of depth, the Canadians still blow everyone away.”
In Seidel’s latest rankings, Dobson is the fifth-best prospect, followed by forward Serron Noel at No. 8 and Bouchard at No. 9. According to TSN head scout Craig Button, Dobson is ranked eighth and Bouchard ninth with Noel as the top forward at 14.
“It’s no big deal,” Button said of the lack of Canadians at the top of the draft order. “I never fuss by that. We have a lot of top-end players. There’s going to be years where there’s a lot of Canadians at the top and others where there’s not. There’s a lot of good Canadians coming out next year. At the end of the first round, there will be more Canadians drafted than any other country.”
Indeed, it’s difficult to get up in arms in a year where Canada won gold at the world juniors — the third straight year the country reached the championship final — as well as last year’s under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup.
It was only three years ago that Connor Mcdavid was the top pick in the 2015 draft. A year later, Quebec-born Pierre-luc Dubois went third overall, while five Canadians went in the top 10 in 2017, including Winnipeg ’s Nolan Patrick (No. 2) and Calgary’s Cale Makar (No. 4).
Next year, even more talent is coming with Cranbrook, B.C.’S Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs of Okotoks, Alta., expected to challenge American centre Jack Hughes for the No. 1 spot.
And based on team need, it wouldn’t be surprising if the teams picking in the top five — particularly Montreal, Ottawa and Arizona — choose a defenceman such as Bouchard or Dobson over a winger. That is if they don’t prefer Sweden’s Adam Boqvist or American Quinn Hughes.
“It’s a good year for defencemen,” said Seidel. “I would never, ever draft by position, especially in the first round, but I think those two guys (Bouchard and Dobson) have a very good chance of being a top defenceman. That could enter into it.”
Bouchard, who has been compared to Washington’s John Carlson for his big, booming shot and effortless ability to put up points on the power play, stood out in the second half of last season when London traded away most of its best players. Everyone expected the team to tumble down the standings. Instead, the opposite happened.
“It could have been easy for us to go down the other way,” said assistant GM Rob Simpson. “But our winning percentage was better post-trade. All the credit goes to Evan. He did a lot of great things in our dressing room.”
“We were a top team for a few years, but it was good for me to go through that,” said Bouchard. “There was a lot more responsibility. I tried to make everyone comfortable in the room. Everyone knew it was going to be tough, but we didn’t expect to lose. We kept that winning mentality.”
Dobson, who came out of nowhere this year, had a far more successful season, winning a league championship and a Memorial Cup with Acadiebathurst, where he played a starring role as one of the younger players on the team.
“It was a great chance to showcase myself,” said Dobson, who has been compared to St. Louis’ Alex Pietrangelo for his two-way game. “I knew if I had a really good tournament I would have a good chance to leave a good impression. I was playing my best hockey.”
So where does Dobson believe he will get picked? Well, not No. 1, he said.
“Dahlin is ahead of the pack,” he said. “But you want to be the next guy picked after him. At the end of the day, I want to be the best defenceman.”