Blades pick blueliner, forward in CHL import draft
KEVIN MITCHELL
The Saskatoon Blades plucked players out of Sweden and Norway Thursday morning.
In a few more months, they ’ll see exactly what they’ve got.
“Those are the two biggest needs we had today and we addressed, hopefully, both of them,” Blades’ general manager Colin Priestner said after his team selected defenceman Emil Malysjev and forward Kristian Roykas Marthinsen in the CHL import draft.
“But until you see the whites of his eyes, you never know.”
Malysiev, from Sweden, was selected 18th overall. Saskatoon had the No. 23 selection, but five teams passed before their pick.
They had the No. 83 pick in the second round — 59th, after passes — and took Norwegian forward Roykas Marthinsen, who played this past season in Sweden after being selected in the seventh round of the 2017 NHL draft by the Washington Capitals.
Priestner said the team targeted both players heading into the draft. The 6-foot-3, 187-pound Malysjev turned 17 in May, and Priester says he’s one of Sweden’s better defensive defencemen in that age group.
Roykas Marthinsen is represented by agent Gerry Johannson, who has several other Blades players in his fold, and he scored 23 goals in 23 games with his Swedish junior team this past season.
“They’re roster players,” Priestner said. “We wanted to enhance our lineup right now. Taking an older forward is a sign that we’re looking to win right away; we want to start winning, and we wanted to take a guy who could help us right away.
“And Emil is a guy who projects really well. If he develops the way we hope he will, we think he’s an Nhl-draft kind of defenceman. We’re really happy about the two players; it’s just a matter of getting them over here, getting the transfer agreements done, and seeing them at camp and how they compare to the video and the scouting reports.”
Priestner says he has no doubt both players will arrive at Blades camp this season. He’s already talked with Washington assistant general manager Ross Mahoney about Roykas Marthinsen, who played on a line with Alex Ovechkin and Lars Eller during the Capitals’ first three days of training camp this past season.
Roykas Marthinsen is currently attending a Capitals’ development camp, alongside new Blades teammate Eric Florchuk.