Sens make Hitmen goalie Driedger a third-rounder
Silence reigned in the Driedger household on Saturday morning in the city summer did not forget. Winnipeg. With mom Cindy and dad Kelly helping out over at the grandparents’ house, 18-yearold Chris and 16-year-old Alex slept the morning away.
Their reverie was interrupted by an urgent phone call from Pittsburgh.
“My agent called,” Chris Driedger said a couple hours later. “And then my phone starting blowing up 30 seconds later.”
Mentally prepared to go completely overlooked in the NHL Entry Draft, the Calgary Hitmen goaltender could hardly believe the words coming out of his agent’s mouth.
The Ottawa Senators selected him in the third round (76th overall) to make him the first and only WHL goaltender claimed in 2012.
“I wasn’t expecting to go that early on,” Driedger said. “I was going to get up in about an hour, and I was just going to watch it from there.
“Turned out I should have been watching it earlier.”
Driedger saw no reason to set his alarm clock early after a season of highs and lows in the draft rankings.
Those highs and lows coincided with inconsistency on the ice while sharing playing time with Brandon Glover.
Driedger finished the season rated 13th among North American goaltenders after cobbling together 24 wins.
No wonder he opted for a couple extra hours of shut-eye Saturday morning.
“You’re never sure,” he said. “I was expecting to maybe be a fifth, sixth or even seventh round pick if I were to go at all. Honestly, you just have no idea what the scouts are thinking. “Clearly, third I wasn’t expecting that at all.”
The Sens expect big things from the six-foot-two, 187-pound Driedger. Literally.
“A big body,” Ottawa director of player personnel Pierre Dorion told reporters when asked about the selection of Driedger. “We’re really confident that this goalie will turn out to be a good goalie down the road.”
The Hitmen are banking on Driedger being a good goalie this season after they dealt Glover to the Seattle Thunderbirds for a third-round pick. The crease is his to lose.
“I’ll start the season in Calgary,” Driedger said, “and hopefully have a great year and impress and make the Sens feel like they took the right pick.”
ICE CHIPS: The Anaheim Ducks selected rookie D Kenton Helgesen in the seventh round (187th overall). The Washington Capitals claimed D Jaynen Rissling in the seventh round (197th overall). “I’m excited for Chris, Kenton and Jaynen,” Hitmen head coach Mike Williamson said in a news release. “Getting drafted is one step closer towards realizing their dreams of playing pro hockey.”