Just saw my first full 7 round NHL mock draft of the off season and it included a few incoming/current Wisconsin Badgers. While the 2010 Draft isn't expected to be significant in terms of high end draft picks for the Badgers, it is expected that Brendan Woods (Muskegon, USHL), Jason Clark (Incoming Freshman), and John Ramage (Current Badger) will be drafted anywhere from rounds three through seven.The guy putting together the mock draft in this case used some mathematical calculations to try and determine his selections. I'm not going to go out and tell you to use this mock draft as gospel because Taylor Hall will not be drafted third, and Cam Fowler at 20 is an absolute joke. However, it does give us a pretty good idea of where our Badgers will be selected.
First off the board according to this guy is going to be Brendan Woods. Woods is an interesting case because he missed half of his draft year with a pretty severe leg injury. Once Woods came back to his Chicago (USHL) squad, it took him a while to get used to the pace of play in the USHL as it was his rookie year. Woods turned it on at the end of the season recording 6 of his 10 points this season in the last 10 games. This guy has Woods going in the fourth round to Montreal. Woods was selected in the USHL Expansion Draft and will spend next season with Muskegon before coming to Wisconsin in 2011.
The next Badger off the board in this Mock Draft comes just 20 picks later when the Sharks use their 5th round pick to take Shattuck St. Mary's forward and incoming Badger recruit Jason Clark. Clark's size/skill package is going to be intriguing to a lot of NHL teams and it would not surprise me at all to see Clark go higher than the fifth round.
The last Badger player taken in this mock is sophomore to be defenseman John Ramage. Rammer really burst on to the scene with his performance at the World Junior Championships where team USA won gold. Ramage also had a great freshman season for the Badgers playing rock solid defense being paired up with Brendan Smith and also chipping in a few points. This mock draft has him going in the 6th round to Calgary, but I personally think that there will be a team that will step up and draft him higher. Ramage proved at the WJC that he can be a shut down defender against the top players in the world in his age group.
As a point of reference, keep in mind that incoming recruits Frankie Simonelli and Michael Mersch are NOT eligible for the 2010 draft. A player needs to turn 18 by September 15th and neither one of them will turn 18 until October so they will be in the 2011 Draft next summer. Also, incoming recruit Mark Zengerle is not eligible for the Draft because he already turned 21.
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