Arctic Ice Hockey’s First Annual NHL Mock Draft: Pick #25

Hey all! Welcome to Arctic Ice Hockey's first annual NHL Mock Draft. Over the next thirty days, Ryan, Tim and myself will attempt to telepathically channel the minds of NHL General Managers as they complete their final rankings in preparation for the 2012 NHL Draft being held June 22, 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA.

In some instances, our analysis will require less insight than others *cough* *Edmonton* *cough*.

So without further adieu, we present our loyal readers with the twenty-fifth overall pick of Arctic Ice Hockey's 2012 Mock Draft.

Doug Armstrong: With the twenty-fifth overall selection in this years draft, the St. Louis Blues are pleased to select…

Rankings: CSS (12 NA), ISS (22), TSN (18), Hockey Prospectus (24)

The Skinny: At the twenty-fifth pick, Pouliot is the consensus BPA remaining on the draft boards. While the Blues possess tremendous prospect depth on defence, it will be difficult to pass up on Pouliot given his skill-set.

Hockey Prospectus:

Pouliot is a pretty gifted offensive defenseman who has put up a fair amount of points the last two years on a powerhouse Portland team, but I’ve also gotten conflicting reports on him from scouts. Pouliot makes his living with the puck as he’s an above-average puck-handler who looks smooth and coordinated when he’s controlling the puck and is able to make opponents miss. Pouliot shows good creativity and translates that into his distribution game too. He’s an accurate passer who can make a great outlet, has confidence and poise under pressure and when distributing into tight lanes and also doesn’t hesitate from attempting the difficult feeds and has the ability to be effective doing so. Pouliot is a solid skater who moves around fine. I would like to see a little more speed from a player his size to push his offensive projection over the top but it certainly is a notable strength. Pouliot’s defensive game is what I get very split reports on from scouts. Some say he’s great defensively, some say he’s very physical, and others say he’s very soft and is so bad defensively he should be converted to forward. I stand around the middle as I think he can be decent physically, although his size/strength still make it a weakness. I think he can be fine in his own end as well, but he hurts himself with getting too cute in his own end or having a brain cramp as opposed to not having a feel for the position. – Corey Pronman

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