The Jets' Potential Draft Picks, 9th Overall 2012

Part of the reason I love this time of year are, obviously, the playoffs, but we also get a chance to see the various scout rankings for the upcoming draft. It's a bit of information that, with our 9th overall pick, we need to pay great attention to; those top 10 picks are the kinds of picks you build a franchise around, or at the very least they become important building blocks. Thankfully, we have the dogged work of guys like Derek Zona and Corey Pronman to help us with our analysis, Zona for his development of the Draft Consensus Top 100, and Pronman for the fact that he's one of the few draft analysts who generates his list with possession in mind and he's rarely hyperbolic in regards to potential. Please, please, please, do check out his Top 100 List and be sure to check in as he provides in-depth analysis of the picks. He should be the first guy you turn to for this stuff.

With Derek's and Corey's information available to us, I want to take a look at some of the guys who might be around for our 9th pick(using Derek's ranks). Then, using Corey's, I'll look at some guys of value who might fall to us there. In two later pieces, I'll look at our 39th and 70th picks as well.

Generally, I'm going to look at three forwards, three defencemen that the Consensus rankings suggest will be available at our three picks (starting with this installment, the 9th pick), and then three fallers (per Corey's ranks) from either position.

Consensus --- Forwards

Teuvo Teravainen --- LW,C --- Jokerit (SM-Liiga) --- 5'11" (180cm), 165 lbs (75kg)

Season	Teams	Leagues/Tourneys	TGP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2011-12	Jokerit, Jokerit U20	SM-Liiga, Jr A. Liiga	82	39	36	75	20
	Finland U20/U18, Kiekko-Vantaa	International/WJC, Finland 2
2010-11	Jokerit U20/U18	Jr. A SM-Liiga, Jr. B SM-Sarja	76	14	44	58	61
	Finland U18/U17	International/WJC/WHC
2009-10	Jokerit U18/U16	Jr. B SM-Sarja, Jr. C SM-Sarja	70	47	60	107	42
	Finland U16	International

Sometimes when you look at guys like Teravainen it's hard to get a sense of just how much they play during the year; European players put in a lot of international time, but the focus always seems to be on the length of their regular season (~35-45 games). For all these players, I'm going to lump together all their international, regular season, and playoff statistics. While this is a questionable practice in some ways, the inclusion of all those international games (I think) brings to us an idea of European players' performance against players their age (in the same way CHL stats do for North American players).

Pontus Åberg --- LW,RW --- Djurgården (SEL) --- 5'11" (180cm), 187 lbs (85kg)

Season	Teams	Leagues/Tourneys	TGP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2011-12	Djurgården, Djurgården J20	SEL, SuperElit	75	22	17	39	8
	Sweden U19/U20	International
2010-11	Djurgården, Djurgården J20/J18	SEL, SuperElit, J18 Elit/Alls.	66	32	35	67	49
	Sweden U18	International
2009-10	Djurgården J20/J18	SuperElit, J18 Elit/Allsvenskan	67	42	47	89	46
	Sweden U17	International/WHC

Zemgus Girgensons --- C,RW --- Dubuque (USHL) --- 6'2" (188cm), 198 lbs (90kg)

Season	Teams	Leagues/Tourneys	TGP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2011-12	Dubuque	USHL	55	28	33	61	75
	Latvia U20	WJC
2010-11	Dubuque	USHL	67	28	36	64	62
	Latvia U20	WJC
2009-10	Green Mountain	EJHL/EmJHL	50	29	32	61	21
	Latvia U18	WJC

Though it's closer to worth the risk, I'd prefer if the Jets picked one of these guys. I've professed my love for Teravainen before, but Aberg and Girgensons provide some guys with a bit better track record of two-way play; Girgensons is already going the college route, and I really like the polish that comes from guys who make that decision. Obviously, if Alex Galchenyuk falls to here we better take a chance, but I highly doubt that will happen. Radek Faksa, incidentally, actually falls below Sebastian Collberg (after Girgensons) in the Consensus Rankings.

Consensus --- Defencemen

Jacob Trouba --- RD --- United States NTDP (USHL) --- 6'2" (188cm), 194lbs (88kg)

Season	Teams	Leagues/Tourneys	TGP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2011-12	Unites States NTDP	USHL	34	5	18	23	43
	USA U20/U18	WJC
2010-11	United States NTDP/USNT U18/U17	USHL/USDP	92	14	29	43	100
	USA U18/U17	WHC/WJC
2009-10	Compuware U18/U16	MWEHL/Midget AAA	41	14	14	28	42

Griffin Reinhart --- RD --- Edmonton (WHL) --- 6'4" (193cm), 198lbs (90kg)

Season	Teams	Leagues/Tourneys	TGP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2011-12	Edmonton	WHL	71	13	29	42	56
2010-11	Edmonton	WHL	55	7	25	32	46
	Canada Pacific U17	WHC
2009-10	Edmonton	WHL	39	12	30	42	38
	Vancouver NW	BCMML

Cody Ceci --- RD --- Ottawa (OHL) --- 6'1" (185cm), 209lbs (95kg)

Season	Teams	Leagues/Tourneys	TGP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2011-12	Ottawa	OHL	82	19	56	75	20
2010-11	Ottawa	OHL	79	9	28	37	34
	Canada U18	WJC
2009-10	Ottawa	OHL	82	4	11	15	12
	Canada Ontario U17	WHC

A quick note: I put "RD" only to denote that they shoot right.

Trouba is talked up quite a bit in many circles, but I have to say that by the numbers I'm more intrigued by Reinhart and Ceci. The latter two have played well enough to merit 3 years of CHL experience, which is saying something about their overall game.

Fallers

Radek Faksa --- C --- Kitchener (OHL) --- 6'3" (191cm), 203lbs (92kg) --- Pronman Rk: 10, Consensus Rk: 15

Season	Teams	Leagues/Tourneys	TGP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2011-12	Kitchener	OHL	81	33	42	75	61
	Czech Republic U20	International/WJC
2010-11	HC Trinec U20/U18	Czech U20/U18	74	35	41	76	72
	Czech Republic U18	International/WJC
2009-10	HC Trinec U20/U18/U16	Czech U20/U18/U16	51	28	25	53	66
	Czech Republic U16	International

Teuvo Teravainen --- LW,C --- Jokerit (SM-Liiga) --- Pronman: 5, Consensus: 9

Sebastian Collberg --- RW,LW --- Frolunda (SEL) --- 5'11" (180cm), 174lbs (79kg) --- Pronman: 11, Consensus: 14

Season	Teams	Leagues/Tourneys	TGP	G	A	PTS	PIM
2011-12	Frölunda, Frölunda J20/J18	SEL, SuperElit, J18 Alls.	92	26	30	56	44
	Sweden U20/U18	International/WJC
2010-11	Frölunda, Frölunda J20/J18	SEL, SuperElit, J18 Alls.	70	41	42	83	16
	Sweden U18/U17	International
2009-10	Mariestad, Mariestad J20/J18	Sw Div1, J20/J18 Elit	64	49	43	92	48
	Västergötland	TV-Pucken
	Sweden U16	International

Pronman, by design, has the defencemen bumped down a bit lower, so that's why we're seeing all forwards here. Faksa and obviously Teravainen are the most impressive to me, and I'd be happy with either.

One thing these cumulative totals calls to mind is the myth that European players have "short" seasons, but also the different effect of European development on the boxcars. Many 1st-round European prospects have already dominated their junior counterparts and, by their draft year, are playing semi-NHL talent (but too often with low TOI). That guys like Teravainen and Filip Forsberg are able to put up points anyway is a testament to their talent.

So have at it in the comments and the poll: who's your guy? Has that changed as the season (and the information) has progressed?