A Giants weekend at the NHL draft
Selections of Roman, Tendeck and Kannok Leipert equal most Vancouver players ever taken in a year
The Vancouver Giants had more players selected at this weekend’s NHL Entry Draft than they did in the past four drafts combined.
The notion the Giants are trending in the right direction got an initial boost when the team made the playoffs this spring for the first time in four seasons.
And that was helped along on Saturday when centre Milos Roman (fourth round, 122nd overall, Calgary Flames), goaltender David Tendeck (sixth round, 158th overall, Arizona Coyotes) and defenceman Alex Kannok Leipert (sixth round, 161st overall, Washington Capitals) were all selected Saturday at the draft in Dallas.
The Giants had just two players taken in the previous four drafts — Tyler Benson (second round, Edmonton Oilers) and Ty Ronning (seventh round, New York Rangers) were both picked in 2016.
The last time the Giants had three players chosen in the same draft was in 2008, when Lance Bouma (third round, Calgary Flames), James Wright (fourth round, Tampa Bay Lightning) and Brent Regner (fifth round, Columbus Blue Jackets) were taken.
“It’s a testament to the work that Milos, David and Alex have done, and it’s a testament to their teammates and coaches and other staff last season helping them get to that level,” said Barclay Parneta, the Giants’ new general manager.
“And it’s a testament to (former head scout) Jason Ripplinger, who helped the team get both David and Alex.”
Roman, 18, a Slovak, was in his rookie WHL campaign with Vancouver this past season.
He missed nine games with due to world junior tournament duties, returned for a game and then suffered an ankle injury that put him on him on the shelf for 23 games.
But the 5-11, 196-pound left-handed shot still finished with 32 points, including 10 goals, in 39 regular season games. He added three goals and six points in the seven-game playoff loss to the Victoria Royals.
The Flames traded up to get the pick, dealing a 2019 fourth rounder to the Montreal Canadiens, which certainly suggests they were particularly keen on landing Roman.
“It’s unbelievable. There’s a lot of players on the team I like to watch,” Roman said about the Flames in a text message. “They have amazing fans and an excellent team.”
The Capitals, too, traded to get the selection they used on Kannok Leipert, 17. They flipped sixth-round picks with the Canucks and also sent Vancouver their 2019 sixth rounder.
The Canucks have never drafted a player directly from the Giants since the team’s inception in 2001-02. They did select former Giants Mario Bliznak and Kevin Connauton, but in both cases they were drafted before joining the Giants.
Kannok Leipert, a 5-11, 193-pound right-handed shot, was bothered by a leg injury down the stretch and into the playoffs. He saw limited duty against the Royals in the post-season and had no playoff points. In 60 regular season games, he accumulated five goals and 21 points.
Tendeck, 18, was a WHL Western Conference second all-star team selection this past season after finishing sixth in the league in goals against average (3.02) and fourth in save percentage (.912). He had a 25-16-3-2 record.
The 6-1, 173-pound Tendeck suffered an injury down the stretch. The Giants never revealed what it was, but the timeline for his return made it seem concussion-related.
He played in five of the seven playoff games and had a 3.60 goals against and .868 save percentage.
Tendeck was a sixth-round pick in the 2014 bantam draft. Kannok Leipert was a fourth rounder in 2015.
Roman was the sixth overall pick in the 2017 CHL import draft.