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Terrel’s 2014 NHL Draft Rankings – Part 2: 31-45

As the series continues it’s time to look at Terrel’s 31st through 45th ranked players. A important note for Winnipeg Jets fans is that the team does not currently have a second round pick. Their original pick was spent acquiring RW Devin Setoguchi in a trade at last year’s draft. The pick has since passed from Minnesota Wild to Buffalo Sabres in a trade for Matt Moulson at the NHL trade deadline. It would have been pick #39 this year.

If the theme of the first part of this Draft series was the re-entry (5 players re-entering the draft made the list), this edition must be considered the legacy edition. This time there are 4 players with family ties to long time NHLers. The sons of long time NHLers Sami Kapanen, Al MacInnis, and Claude Lemieux all appear on this list. Also appearing is the cousin of long time NHLer and current Chicago Blackhawks Head Coach Joel Quenneville. The brother of 2012 Carolina Hurricane 4th round pick Erik Karlsson also makes an appearance.

Part 1, Picks 46-60 can be found: Here

31. RW Kasperi Kapanen (KalPa, SM-Liiga) – Son of longtime NHLer Sami Kapanen, Kasperi got the rare opportunity to play with his father this year in KalPa in the top Finnish league. Kasperi actually managed to outscore his dad this season. While his stats may not look that impressive he was 2nd on his team in goals only one off the team lead. In fact – if you include the European Hockey Tour – he led the team with 10 combined goals. Kapanen has high end skating ability like his father. He has great agility and speed on the ice. He also has deceptive hands with a knack for finding the scoring areas of the ice. He sometimes struggles with battles in part due to his smallish frame. He still needs work on his defensive reads and positioning.

32. D Anthony DeAngelo (Sarnia, OHL) – DeAngelo is easily the best offensive defenseman in this draft. He is also one of the top skaters in the draft and a wizard with the puck. He often makes great passes to spark rushes or just takes it himself to create loads of offense. In fact, DeAngelo led all defensemen in scoring in the OHL. Why then, do I have him way down in the 2nd round? Well Marc-Andre Bergeron put up 100 points in the QMJHL with a much sturdier frame. DeAngelo, due to his very small frame, struggles greatly in battling for pucks. He also struggles with positioning and takes too many chances. He will need to refine his game quite a bit to adapt to the pro game. However his -34 rating is somewhat deceptive as his team was atrocious with only one player (who played but 4 games) having a positive rating.

33. G Alex Nedeljkovic (Plymouth, OHL) – Nedeljkovic is not your typical NHL goalie. As more and more teams tend towards bigger and bigger goalies, netminders like Nedeljkovic will have to be outstanding to get noticed. Nedeljkovic has certainly been outstanding. He was 2nd in the OHL in save percentage (with 30 more games played than the leader). He was also voted OHL goalie of the year and won a gold medal with US U-18 this season. That’s all building off his OHL 1st team all-rookie selection a year ago. He plays a strong positional game with great post to post speed. He is not an overly aggressive goalie choosing instead to rely on his strong reads while playing deeper in his net. His tight butterfly style is reminiscent of another smaller goalie who has had some success in the NHL – Henrik Lundqvist.

34. D Travis Sanheim (Calgary, WHL) – Sanheim, from Brandon, Manitoba, is a late riser in the draft this year. He continued to build off a strong second half of the year with an outstanding U-18 tournament for Canada. He led the tournament in scoring from the blueline with 6 points. Sanheim has very good size at 6'4'', 205lbs and he compliments that well with a very smooth and powerful skating stride. He plays a strong two-way game making very good reads in both ends. He could stand to use his size more effectively and at times appeared to hesitate to take any chances particularly early on. Some of the early struggles can be attributed from the huge jump from Manitoba Midget AAA to the WHL. He was also caught on a really deep Calgary blueline. He is expected to take a huge step forward next year as he should graduate into Calgary's top 3 scoring D.

35. C Vladislav Kamenev (Metallurg, KHL) – Kamenev, like Sanheim before him, had a coming out party at the U-18's this year. Bounced around from KHL to VHL to MHL this year Kamenev managed to play just 33 games this season with modest stats at all levels. Broke out as the captain and top player of the Russian U-18 squad. The former 3rd overall pick in the KHL draft already has pro size at 6'2'', 205lbs. Kamenev is quite adept at using his size for puck protection. He has quite solid offensive IQ with great vision for playmaking. He also has good hands and a solid shot. Kamenev still struggles with consistency and lacks top end speed. He is a fiery competitor though. One of the question marks with Kamenev, as a top KHL pick, is whether he is willing to come to North America any time soon.

36. D Jack Dougherty (US National Development Program, USHL) – University of Wisconsin commit Jack Dougherty is nice hybrid of old and new school hockey. He is a big strong player who loves to mix it up physically, however he is a smart player that understands play really solid positioning. He makes a real strong first pass, which combined with his strong positioning and battling make him a very effective defensive defender. Dougherty also has an offensive side using his solid passing ability and solid shot. His skating is a minor concern.

37. C Connor Bleackley (Red Deer, WHL) – Bleackley is a hard player to place. He was the captain of the Red Deer Rebels and led the team in scoring. He plays a strong two-way game and works hard at both ends. He has a decent set of hands and solid shot. He is strong on his skates. However, Bleackley just never seems to do anything overly impressive. He has average in size and skating ability. He's a quality character player with above average offensive instincts. Basically the perfect Brent Sutter type of player – conveniently that is who he plays under in Red Deer. Will this transition to the pro game? It's hard to say. I'm not sure Bleackley has top 6 potential at the NHL level.

38. C Ryan MacInnis (Kitchener, OHL) – The son of famed slapshot artist Al MacInnis, Ryan has taken a different path. Ryan has great size standing 6’4” and he likes to use that lanky build to his advantage. He plays a clean game, but does throw some very solid hits. Like his father, MacInnis has a bomb of shot but he needs to work on his release and accuracy. His skating lacks jam like many big lanky players at his age. He makes good reads at both ends of the rink and his positioning helps him in both ends. His 37 points do not look overly encouraging, however that was good for 3rd on his team. The really weak Kitchener team felt comfortable trading #1 center Radek Faksa (#13 pick in 2012 by Dallas Stars) due to emergence of MacInnis as a similiar type of centre.

39. C/LW John Quenneville (Brandon, WHL) – Quenneville is a real jack of all trades type of player. He managed to carve himself out a nice role and finish 4th in points on a deep Brandon team. He is a hard working player that plays 200 feet on every shift. He has decent speed and offensive awareness. He is also exhibits very solid positional play defensively and has the versatility able to assume almost any role. However, his lack of any game breaking skills makes him an interesting case. It is hard to say what kind of upside Quenneville has.

40. LW Brendan Lemieux (Barrie, OHL) – Brendan Lemieux certainly lives up to the reputation of his father; notorious agitator Claude Lemieux. Brendan is an incredibly effective agitator and is no stranger to mixing it up all respects. Brendan has however, shown that he has plenty of skill to back it up as well finishing 3rd on Barrie in points, 2nd in goals. He has a stocky build making him hard to knock off the puck. He is not afraid to drive the net and willing to do the tough things to score goals. However, too often he can get too caught up the extra curricular stuff and needs to focus on playing hockey.

41. LW/RW Juho Lammikko (Assat U20, Jr. A SM-Liiga) – Lammikko is yet another player who really had a coming out party at the U-18's. He led the Finnish team in scoring with 6 points. It was the culmination of several seasons of consistent development as Lammikko came from relative obscurity a few years ago to getting a shot with the big boys in SM-Liiga this year with a 20 game stint. Despite the lack of immediate success in the SM-Ligga, struggles are expected. The development curve is great for the big rangy winger. He is very strong in battles for the puck and has good vision on the ice when he gets the puck. He is a smart player with lots of hockey IQ results in very strong positioning in both ends of the rink. However, he is not the greatest skater and there are concerns whether his offensive game has enough weapons to be an effective scorer at the next level.

42. C/RW Joshua Ho-Sang (Windsor, OHL) – At one point Ho-Sang was considered a potential first overall pick in the 2014 draft. However, as he progressed to the OHL level flaws in his game began to be noticed. Ho-Sang has fantastic speed and great hands. He is a dynamic offensive player at the OHL level. However, there are serious concerns with almost every other aspect of his game. He is poor defensively and positionally (in all 3 zones). He tends to not use teammates as effectively as he should. He struggles in battles and puck protection partly due to his small size. Once you get to near the mid-way of the 2nd round, it's hard to pass up on his natural skill level.

43. LW Shane Eiserman (Dubuque, USHL) – Enigmatic Eiserman is a real hit or miss prospect. Blessed with a big, strong frame and great speed, he can be a real power on the ice. However, there are times where Eiserman seems to disappear. He is great in battles, loves to drive the net, and willing to go to tough areas to score. Like many power forwards though he really needs to work on consistency. He also has minor concerns on positioning as he tends to pursue the puck a little too aggressively – at times throwing him out of position. All in all, Eiserman is a project player but has great upside.

44. LW/RW Anton Karlsson (Frolunda J20, SuperElit) – Like Eiserman, Anton Karlsson is a big power forward with consistency issues. As an underager Karlsson was one of the top players for Sweden at U18 in 2012-13 while wearing an "A". This year he struggled at the U18s, failing to score. This was after playing in WJC for Sweden at 17 and having a great Ivan Hlinka tournament earlier in the year. Karlsson has really good speed, and combined with his solid frame this makes him tough to handle. He does work hard in both ends of rink. His hands and shot make him a solid offensive threat every time he is on the ice. As mentioned above Karlsson has some big question marks in terms of consistency, but that is not uncommon in young powerforwards.

45. D Adam Ollas Mattsson (Djurgarden J20, SuperElit) – Ollas Mattsson has an easy leg up on the rest of the draft class with his size. At 6'4'', 216lbs he already has a pro ready frame. Although limited in terms of offensive upside, Mattsson plays a real smart safe stay at home game. He consistently makes solid reads in the defensive zone and plays strong positionally. He has a good solid skating stride, though he could stand to work on his foot speed. He makes a solid first pass and can move the puck. His limits come into play in the offensive zone as he does not take chances nor create much offensively. he also could stand to use his size a little more effectively. He did not look out of place on a 6 game tryout in the SHL.

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