A Roman Empire? Giants hope so
Let the “Roman Empire” promotions with the Vancouver Giants begin.
The Giants, the Western Hockey League club that calls the Langley Events Centre home, have never been shy about their sales pitches, and they landed a ready-made one Wednesday when they used the sixth overall pick in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft on Slovak centre Milos Roman.
Most importantly, they think they added someone to help anchor their second line, playing alongside the likes of James Malm. Vancouver brass have been talking up a first unit of Tyler Benson, Ty Ronning and off-season trade pick-up Brad Morrison.
Vancouver also drafted German forward Yannik Valenti, 16, with the No. 66 selection Wednesday, but the club says he won’t join them until 2018-19.
Roman, 17, is listed at 6-feet and 194 pounds, and various publications have him as a possible firstrounder in next year’s NHL Entry Draft — SBCollegeHockey.com has Roman as an A-level prospect for that draft, while Thedraftanalyst.com suggests he should go 11th overall.
He played for the Slovaks with then-Giants winger Radovan Bondra at last year’s world junior tournament, producing a goal and an assist in four games.
Roman has taken part in the last two Ivan Hlinka Under-18 tournaments, including putting up five assists in four games last summer.
He spent the majority of last season with a HC Frydek-Mistek, a men’s team in the Czech2 league, and produced four goals and two assists in 29 games.
“I am really happy about it,” Roman said about the draft via text message, “and that I am coming to a good team and a beautiful town.
“I spoke with Rado about Vancouver and he said to me that it is an amazing place with great people. He also said that the Giants are a good team to play for.
“I hope that I can help them get wins and I will try to be the best for the team.”
As for a scouting report on himself as a player, Roman explained: “I try to be a valuable player on both offence and defence. I think I am good at reading situations on the ice. I try to create good possessions for my teammates and I know how to score, too.”
Vancouver’s first-round pick, fourth overall, in last summer’s CHL Import Draft was Czech winger Filip Zadina, but he opted to stay in Europe last season. Vancouver dropped him from its roster early in the campaign, and he was picked at No. 11 on Wednesday by the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Zadina tweeted on Wednesday: “I’m really excited to be part of great organization.”
Last season, Halifax featured Nico Hischier, the Swiss centre who went No. 1 overall in this month’s NHL Entry Draft to the New Jersey Devils.
Zadina, too, is pegged as potential early selection for next year’s NHL draft. Vancouver would have had to give Zadina an active roster spot for all of 2016-17 to keep his rights for this coming season, and they felt better about having Bondra and Russian defenceman Dmitry Osipov in the lineup on a nightly basis at the point they had to decide.
The import draft often doesn’t play out in order of talent, since the process is largely about a particular team’s ability to attract a player to North America. For instance, Hischier was the No. 6 selection by Halifax last summer and former Giants goalie Marek Schwarz was the No. 40 pick in the 2004 import draft after going at No. 17 to the St. Louis Blues in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
CHL teams are only permitted two imports.
The Giants ended up dealing Bondra to the Prince George Cougars and Osipov to the Brandon Wheat Kings in the lead-up to the Jan. 10 trade deadline as part of their rebuilding plans. The Giants have missed the playoffs three straight seasons and four of the past five.
The Giants added Bartek Bison, 19, a forward from the Netherlands, in the Bondra trade but released him this summer. That allowed them to make the Valenti selection, though the Giants admit he won’t be coming West for a full year.