Around the WCHA: NHL Draft & Expansion

Been awhile since I've done one of these. I was bored so I took a look at the NHL Draft from a WCHA prospective. 25 current or future WCHA players were drafted. Out of 210 that isn't too bad.

minnesota and St. Cloud led the way, each having 6 players drafted. The highlights for minnesota were Nick Leddy who somehow went to the Wild over Jordan Schroeder who was then stolen (figuratively speaking) by Vancouver a few picks later. Nashville also grabbed a steal in the 2nd round w/ Zach Budish. Saw him at the HS Elite League last year; he's a beast. In the short term I wish all three, well anyone wearing the ugly 'm' for that matter, the worst.

St. Cloud had a lot of mid-round picks. MN HS's all-time scoring leader Ben Hanowski was the first Huskie taken in the 3rd round, and he was later joined by Mike Lee who is going to be a good goalie for the Huskies. He might actually be deserving of accolades unlike Bobby Geoffert.

Duluth, North Dakota and Denver all had three picks. Duluth had the highest pick of those schools w/ late 1st rounder Dylan Olsen. He was considering UW before choosing to play at the DUMP. Didn't have room; rather have McD, Goloubef, Smith and Gardiner back then a freshman from Jr A. DU had back to back picks in William Wrenn and Drew Shore in the 2nd round, both products of the US NTDP. Many people had Shore as a late 1st rounder in mock drafts, and he adds to DU's talent ladened forward corp next season. North Dakota had some late round picks.

Unless this is your first day reading the blog or you have been on vacation, UW had two players selected. Troy Hesketh (3rd round to Edmonton) and Craig Smith (4th round to Nashville). Scroll down if you want to learn more.

Not to be missed, Colorado College and Alaska Anchorage each had a recruit drafted. CC might have a problem as 1st rounder John Moore is still undecided on where he will be next season, CC or OHL.

Michigan Tech didn't have any selections...and no players were selected from Mankato since their freshman regularly are well beyond their draft age, and no one respects a Purple Cow.


Lastly, in case you forgot, the WCHA is expanding to 12 teams in 2010/11 w/ the addition of Bemidji State and Nebraska Omaha. Over at Goon's World, Goon has been all over this, and has some good links in case you are interested. One talks about the prestige of the WCHA, and the other is a linkorama.