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The Jets’ Potential Draft Picks, 70th Overall 2012

Moving into the last of this series (if you haven’t seen the previous two, or want to review, here are the links to the 9th Overall and 39th Overall picks), Presumably the Winnipeg Jets will have quite a bit of flexibility with their third pick. Once you get into the 3rd round, it’s probably not really “wrong” anymore to take a shot at any position, so you can go BPA or position-fill and be doing good for yourself. With this in mind, let’s have a look at the potential players available around the 70th pick, using Derek Zona’s compiled rankings found here, and identify a few quality “fallers” by using Corey Pronman’s rankings over at HP (found here and here; be sure to look at the bottom of the page of the second one for remaining rankings).

UPDATE: Since Zona’s May post (and my writing this one), he’s provided an update for June, found here. I will include those updated rankings below.

Fair warning: I like to mash together the total games played and total boxcars for the players within each season, so we can get a sense of true workload/performance in the previous years. The tendency is to say that European players aren't ready for the full season's workload, but as you'll see between their seasons and international player they frequently log just as much ice time as North American players.

Consensus — Forwards

Brian Hart — LW,RW — Phillips Exeter Academy (USHS-NH) — 6'1" (185cm), 190 lbs (86kg) — May Rk: 68, June Rk: 64

Season Teams Leagues/Tourneys TGP G A PTS PIM
2011-12 Phillips Exeter Academy USHS – NH 29 31 34 65
2010-11 Phillips Exeter Academy USHS – NH 27 29 32 61
2009-10 Brewster Academy USHS – ME 28 27 24 51

Pronman has a nifty little write-up on Hart here; one thing to take away from it immediately is that Pronman is pretty high on his potential as a "toolsy" bigger player who can play a solid physical game when he wants to. In fact, while the consensus ranking has Hart way down at 68th, Pronman has him up at 48th. He has certainly demonstrated consistently-plus talent.

Nikita Gusev — LW — CSKA Moskva (KHL) — 5'9" (176cm), 163 lbs (74kg) — May Rk: 70, June Rk 66

Season Teams Leagues/Tourneys TGP G A PTS PIM
2011-12 CSKA Moskva KHL 76 51 70 121 26
CSKA-Krasnaja Armija Moskva MHL
Russia U20 WJC
2010-11 CSKA Moskva KHL 72 40 47 87 22
CSKA-Krasnaja Armija Moskva MHL
2009-10 CSKA-Krasnaja Armija Moskva MHL 53 18 42 70 14

You might be asking yourself, "How the hell did this guy fall so far?" but your answer is all over the place. For one, most of his stats are in the MHL, not the KHL; for two, his size is part of the reason he hasn't received much of a shot in Russia or in the draft, which leads to number three, the fact that he's 19. Pronman himself makes the note in his description of Gusev (after ranking him 32nd), "I do not place Gusev at this point on my list without knowing he will not get drafted here."

Essentially, Gusev is a prolific, creative player, but his size and (as Pronman notes) his skating make him a question mark for a number of reasons. On the other hand, Pronman's rank does put him ahead of Martin Frk…

Chandler Stephenson — C,LW — Regina (WHL) — 5'9" (175cm), 170 lbs (77kg) — May Rk: 71, June Rk: 63

Season Teams Leagues/Tourneys TGP G A PTS PIM
2011-12 Regina WHL 60 23 23 46 24
2010-11 Regina WHL 65 11 14 25 14
Canada Western U17 WHC
2009-10 Saskatoon SMHL 53 22 51 73 38

An overall creative, flashy forward (see Pronman's analysis), filling out will be a priority but he has good position flexibility and could be a pretty solid player on the powerplay. Good skater, too.

Consensus — Defencemen

Calle Andersson — RD — Färjestad (SEL) — 6'1" (186cm), 201 lbs (91kg) — May Rk: 69, June Rk: 62

Season Teams Leagues/Tourneys TGP G A PTS PIM
2011-12 Färjestad J20/J18 SuperElit, J18 Elit./Alls. 90 19 42 61 76
Sweden U19/U18 International, WJC
2010-11 Malmö J20/J18 SuperElit, J18 Elit./Alls. 52 4 10 14 70
Sweden U17 International
2009-10 Malmö J18/J16, Skåne TV-Pucken, U16 SM, J18 Elit./Alls. 49 2 7 9 50
Sweden U16 International

Andersson is big-bodied and a sound passer, and Pronman considers him average in his own end. Apparently his skating needs work, but that's one of those things that can be expected to improve with higher-level training and age. Pronman actually has him ranked higher than Brady Skjei, so that's something to keep in mind.

Esa Lindell — LD — Jokerit (SM-liiga) — 6'2" (188cm), 190 lbs (86kg) — May Rk: 73, June Rk: 59

Season Teams Leagues/Tourneys TGP G A PTS PIM
2011-12 Jokerit U20, Kiekko Vantaa Jr. A SM-liiga, Fin2 83 25 48 73 42
Finland U18 International, WJC
2010-11 Jokerit U20/U18 Jr. A SM-liiga, Jr. B SM-sarja 33 6 10 16 20
Finland U17 International, EYOF
2009-10 Jokerit U18/U16 Jr. B SM-sarja, Jr. C SM-sarja 49 13 20 33 28

Per Pronman's analysis, Lindell looks good by the boxcars but is pretty much an average talent in everything.

Jaynen Rissling — LD — Calgary (WHL) — 6'3" (191cm), 212 lbs (96kg) — May Rk: 76, June Rk: 96

Season Teams Leagues/Tourneys TGP G A PTS PIM
2011-12 Calgary WHL 60 5 18 23 124
2010-11 Calgary WHL 67 5 16 21 95
2009-10 Calgary WHL 46 1 10 11 23

I see Rissling as a Cody Sol-type player, though not quite as big nor as good at hitting (though probably a smidge better offensively). Pronman didn't think highly enough of him to place him in the Top 100 (nor his Top 125), so my concern with him would be that people are a little too taken up with the physical attributes.

Consensus — Goaltenders

Matt Murray — R — Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) — 6'3" (191cm), 159 lbs (72kg) — May Rk: 74, June Rk: 78

Season Teams Leagues/Tourneys TGP GAA SV%
2011-12 Sault Ste. Marie OHL 36 4.08 0.876
Canada U18 WJC 2.72 0.910
2010-11 Sault Ste. Marie OHL 28 3.79 0.887
Canada Ontario U17 WHC
2009-10 Thunder Bay Kings Midget AAA 40 1.71

The Greyhounds have been pretty bad the last couple of seasons, and rather than distinguishing himself apart from the mediocrity Murray has seemed to be a contributor. I think there might be raw potential, but not the kind worth drafting when the above players are on the board.

Fallers

Nikita Gusev — LW — CSKA Moskva (KHL) — Pronman Rk: 32, Consensus Rk: 70

Calle Andersson — RD — Färjestad (SEL) — Pronman Rk: 35, Consensus Rk: 69

Brian Hart — LW,RW — Phillips Exeter Academy (USHS-NH) — Pronman Rk: 48, Consensus Rk: 68

There's some risk with Gusev and Hart, but Andersson trades risk for limited upside. Either way, it is promising to see that some real quality talent has the possibility of falling to us at the 70th pick. With the June update, of course, it looks like we'll be lucky to see one or two of these guys fall to us.

With the update, here are some new possibilities (player name links to Pronman’s analysis, “stats” to eliteprospects.com data):

Raphaël Bussières (stats)— LW — Baie-Comeau (QMJHL) — 6’0″ (183cm), 168 lbs (76kg) — May Rk: 57, June Rk: 69

Coda Gordon (stats) — LW — Swift Current (WHL) — 6'2" (188cm), 174 lbs (79kg) — May Rk: 80, June Rk: 70

Lukas Sutter (stats) — C — Saskatoon (WHL) — 5'11" (180cm), 185 lbs (84kg) — May Rk: 78, June Rk: 72

Mikko Vainonen (stats) — LD — HIFK (SM-liiga) — 6'3" (190cm), 207 lbs (94kg) — May Rk: NR, June Rk: 71

Valeri Vasilyev (stats) — LD — Spartak Moskva (KHL) — 6'1" (186cm), 203 lbs (92kg) — May Rk: 90, June Rk: 73

Jake McCabe (stats) — LD — Wisconsin (NCAA) — 6'1" (185cm), 201 lbs (91kg) — May Rk: 77, June Rk: 79

As usual, use the comments to debate these players and maybe introduce some other possibilities. We also ought to discuss draft priorities, position-wise. For instance, should we be looking to add a goalie in the first 3 rounds?

Option Votes
Nikita Gusev 4
Brian Hart 1
Jake McCabe 2
Matt Murray 0
Coda Gordon 2
Valeri Vasilyev 0
Mikko Vainonen 2
Lukas Sutter 1
Raphaël Bussières 0
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