NHL Draft: Clark Taken In Third, Ramage Fourth

In a draft that provided little in the way of surprises, two Wisconsin Badgers heard their names called right around where they expected.

Jason Clark (pictured), a rangy six foot two forward from the Shattuck St. Marys program was selected in the third round of the 2010 NHL Draft being held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The incoming freshman went off the board with the #82 pick overall to the New York Islanders.

Clark, a skilled big man is expected to be an immediate contributor to the Badgers offense. After losing multiple regulars off last seasons roster, Clark will be looked upon to play big minutes next season.
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A player who may be a little more familiar to the average Badger fan, Johnny Ramage heard his name called in the fourth round. The 6'1, 184 lb defenseman from St. Louis was taken 103rd overall by the Calgary Flames.

Ramage, who was passed over in the NHL Draft last season had a breakout year for the Badgers as a freshman. Paired up with All-American and Hobey Baker finalist Brendan Smith, Ramage was one of the most consistent players on the roster. Ramage saw his stock skyrocket with a Gold Medal performance at the World Junior Championships that saw him play huge minutes in huge spots.

John's father, Rob, who played 16 seasons in the NHL spent parts of two NHL seasons with the Calgary Flames. The elder Ramage recorded 23 points in 80 games while playing in Calgary. Rob finished his NHL career with 564 points in 1044 career NHL games.
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I got this video off of UWBadgers.com and it's a nice interview with Jason Clark after he was drafted by New York. Very nice interview. Also, the UWBadgers.com article had this interesting anecdote which is pretty impressive, "The selections of Ramage and Clark extend Wisconsin's streak to 13 consecutive years during which it had at least one student-athlete selected in the NHL draft. Since Jeff Rotsch was drafted in 1970, only during 1983 and 1997 were the Badgers shutout at the draft."

NHL Draft Linkorama

The NHL Draft starts tomorrow night from L.A. The first round will be shown on Versus, and I believe it starts at 6 PM CDT. A few Badgers could hear their names called this weekend, but it would be shocking to hear any of their names tomorrow night.

Baggot has a post about the Badgers w/ a good chance to be picked:

Winger Jason Clark, an incoming freshman, is projected as high as the third round. Defenseman John Ramage, a sophomore-to-be at UW, is projected between the third and fifth rounds. Winger Brendan Woods, a committed recruit for 2011-12, is projected between the third and fifth rounds as well. Center Mark Zengerle, an incoming freshman, is projected to be a late-round pick.

I didn’t know that Zengerle was eligible; I thought he was too old, since he turned 21 last month already. Anyway, Saturday should be fun to see where the Badgers fall and to whom (if they get picked by the Rangers…). Baggot also comments on the WCHA’s chances in the first round and gives a good summary of the potential players who could hear their name called tomorrow night:

North Dakota (defenseman Derek Forbort and center Brock Nelson) and Denver (wingers Beau Bennett and Jason Zucker) have two, while Coloardo College (center Jaden Schwartz), Minnesota (center Nick Bjugstad) and Minnesota-Duluth (defenseman Justin Faulk) have one each in the first-round discussion.

Forbort and Bjugstad are locks, while Nelson and Bennett have seen their value rise as the draft approaches. If you want to check out more on these future WCHA opponents or a host of other kids who will be picked this weekend, Western College Hockey has a great post of links on the draft.

I haven’t really seen anything on Woods or Clark, but there are quite a few links out there to information on John Ramage. Hockey’s Future lists Ramage as their #4 NCAA prospect (incoming freshman are not included). Inside College Hockey also has him on their list. From HF:

Ramage is a defensive defenseman who plays with an edge. He thrives on the physical side of the game, and with some added size and strength, could become a more dominating player for opponents to contend with. Like the rest of Wisconsin’s defensive unit, Ramage possesses great puck-moving ability. He displays good poise, patience and makes very good outlet passes. Although he may never post many points, Ramage does have some offensive upside to his game. He has an excellent shot and can get pucks to the net. Ramage is a powerful skater with nice strides but will need to improve moving his feet more consistently, particularly in one-on-one situations. He was a key cog on the Badgers penalty-killing unit this season, displaying some terrific shot-blocking and smart defensive zone play.

From INCH:

Scout's Take: "You know what you're gonna get with John—a defensive defenseman in every sense of the word. The first time I saw him, I couldn't believe how physical he was, and he always plays hard. He was good [with the U.S. team] at the World Junior Championship. He might not make the long-bomb pass to a forward, but he'll make a good first pass out of the zone.

"The thing I worry about with John is his skating. If he can lengthen out his stride, he's got a chance to go places. I see him getting taken somewhere between the late third round and the end of the fifth round."

I also found, through WCH, a great link from an Anaheim Ducks blog about Ramage. In case you forget, two summers ago, the Ducks picked Jake Gardiner and Justin Schultz in the 1st and 2nd round of the 2008 draft. The Ducks and their fans have to be happy w/ the way their prospects are developing, and this blogger thinks the Ducks should look to grab Ramage in the 3rd round to add to the collection. It sounds like they’ve watched a few Badger games and had this to say:

Upside?

Perfect Attendance - Ramage is incredibly consistent with a high compete level. His basement value above the shoulders is very high

Movable Part - Despite being the team's rookie stay-at-home defenseman, Ramage did play in multiple situations for the Badgers, showing off an impressive shot and some puck confidence in addition to his defensive skills.

Downside?

Sizable Disadvantage - While not small, Ramage is not the prototypical big stay-at-home defenseman. Martin Madden and Bob Murray were comfortable taking a chance on a diminutive offensive defenseman (Sami Vatanen) in the 4th Round last year, and there may be defensemen with more upside, even in the 4th Round, drawing attention away from Ramage.

A Different Tune - He was still fine tuning his one-on-one skills, and he will have to finish his career at Wisconsin without Osiecki. It's hard to project how his amateur development will proceed.

Lastly, INCH actually has a cool article about the NHL's best and worst NCAA picks since 2003. No surprise, several Badgers net honors as the best for their respective teams:

Carolina: Jamie McBain, D, Wisconsin (2/63, 2006)
Based on a terrific AHL rookie year and a fantastic 14-game stint in the NHL, it looks like the 'Canes got a steal late in Round 2.

Nashville: Ryan Suter, D, Wisconsin (1/7, 2003)
The Preds guaranteed themselves a dozen years of steady play on the blue line by taking Suter and Shea Weber in '03.

Ottawa: Brian Elliott, G, Wisconsin (9/291, 2003)
The second-to-last pick in the 2003 draft has a 46-26-7 record for the Sens, including a 29-18-4 mark this past season.

San Jose: Joe Pavelski, F, Wisconsin (7/205, 2003)
The Polish Prince could never score another NHL goal and still rank as one of the biggest draft steals over the past seven seasons.

One player is listed as worst:

Chicago: Jack Skille, F, Wisconsin (1/7, 2005)
Solid AHL performer can't crack the big club. He went one pick before Devin Setoguchi, who has 51 goals in his last two seasons in San Jose.

To be fair to Jack, the salary cap has been what has been holding him back from cracking the ‘Hawks roster, which INCH obviously doesn’t point out. W/ Buff and others getting traded to Atlanta the other day, I think Skille’s time will start in Chicago next season, he better be ready!

INCH also lists a few other Badgers who recently signed including Brendan Smith and Blake Geoffrion. I think both will acquit themselves well at the next level. INCH must not have gotten the news last summer, since they still list Ryan McDonagh as a Montreal prospect. Newsflash INCH, he was traded to the Rangers a year ago and there has been hoopla about him signing for the past month!

NHL Mock Draft (Woods, Clark, Ramage)

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.

NHL Draft Day 2

I'm shocked by this, at #71 the Edmonton Oilers have selected Badger recruit Troy Hesketh from Minnetonka HS who committed during the past season. I think the Badgers got another steal here on the blue line. Baggot had mentioned he had a growth spurt recently which increased his draft stock, but now he's an Oilers prospect. Troy was not ranked in the final Central Scouting rankings.

Now add Madison's own Craig Smith to the list of drafted players. He is now a Nashville prospect going #98 in the 4th round. A couple Predators' prospect at forward for the Badgers this season, joining Blake Geoffrion.

4 Badgers make Final NHL Draft List

The NHL released their Final 2009 Central Scouting lists today and one current Badgers and three future Badgers were among the N. American skaters ranked. In numerical order:

D John Ramage - 97th (87th in mid-term)

F Tyler Lapic - 114th (111th)

F Jordy Murray - 175 (191)

F Craig Smith - 177 (Not ranked)

Nice to see Craig Smith crack the list after his stellar year in the USHL. Unless I'm mistaken, this would be his 2nd year of draft eligibility.

The the 2009 NHL Draft will be held on June 26 & 27 in Montreal. The NY Islanders won the draft lottery tonight and their is a good chance John Tavares will be stuck in that desolate organization.

These rankings don't factor in goalies and European players.

Draft Notebooks

Picture from College Hockey News









I noticed that we failed to link the draft notebooks and such from the major college hockey news sources (USCHO, College Hockey News and to a much much much lesser extent Inside College Hockey). Not much going on, so here is some reading to pass the time.

USCHO:

NCAA 1st Round Review

NCAA has good Second Round (though apparently USCHO doesn't count Derek Stepan as a recruit or can't count past 3.)

College Hockey News:

Draft Roundup

INCH:

1st Round Notebook

2nd Round Notebook


INCH's 2nd round notebook is why they are the the most worthless College Hockey news outlet. On the 2nd day of the draft, Wisconsin has 6 kids drafted, 4 in the 2nd round alone, yet they don't mention any of this. The only mention of Wisconsin is Ryan McDonagh being drafted by Montreal in 2007. College Hockey is a small family, and one of the family members has 6 young men drafted (best NCAA draft for the 2nd year in a row), that isn't good enough for a paragraph in your notebook? They must still be pissed about the NCAA Regional and some Wisconsin fans throwing coins onto the ice during the North Dakota game. Not to mention on the top of their site right now is a picture of BC w/ President Bush and they label him "a lame duck". Regardless of if I like or dislike our current President, INCH is not the place for political commentary, and way to ruin the caption of the picture for the 2008 NCAA Champs.

Hockey's Future Reviewing the Draft

Though the draft is a week old, I still like talking about it. Hockey's Future has been doing reviews of the NHL club's drafts. The don't have all of them out yet, but a good start.

The New York Rangers made Derek Stepan the 51st pick overall, and they say some nice things about Derek. His dad was drafted by the Rangers back in the day as well.

The Montreal Canadiens took Ratty Johnson in the 7th round. The Canadiens project Ratty to becoming one of the more dominant players in College Hockey. Well, twist my arm, I won't be complaining if that happens.

Lastly, they did a broad overview of NCAA Hockey's day(s) at the draft. Cody Goloubef has a nice quote worth repeating here:

“It's an honor to be here,” said Goloubef. “It's every kid's dream to be drafted in the NHL, no matter where you go...You play against men at school. Being young, everybody is bigger and stronger than you are. Everyone targets you because maybe you're not going to be as good or be as big or strong. But I fought through that, worked hard with (University of Wisconsin assistant coach) Mark Osiecki all year long to keep my game up and become a difference-maker out there. He’s a big part of why I'm so successful, so I've just got to thank him.”

A lot of nice things said about Coach Osiecki, can't help but draw more top college bound Dmen to Wisconsin in the coming seasons.

NHL Draft Thoughts

I didn't do very well w/ my pre-draft picks. I guess I had faith that Patrick Wiercioch would go before Justin Schultz, but other than that I wasn't very right. I thought some NHL teams would take fliers on a few of our recruits in the 6th and 7th rounds, maybe even the 5th.

All in all, I'm kinda glad I wasn't home to watch the 2nd day of the draft. It was an exciting 2nd round no doubt, but after that, a long wait. I was surprised to see Patrick Johnson drafted initially, but after thinking about it, I guess its not anymore of a stretch than a handful of other recruits who weren't drafted. I don't think anyone would argue that Patrick was one of, if not the hardest worker on the team last year. Sure he benefited from playing w/ KT and Geoffrion (pts wise), but Patrick made a lot of his own stuff happen through hard work. I'll be interested to see who his linemates will be this season, but I know one thing he'll bring his best every night, and hopefully that included a beat down of Joe Finley at some point.

Jake Gardiner was no surprise. After reading more about him, he certainly sounds like a project w/ his recent conversion to the blue line. Sure sounds like he has the talent, now Coach Oz needs to start molding him into a NHL caliber player. I think its fair to say that next season will be a rollercoaster ride for young Jake. The WCHA will really test him. Hopefully Jake understands the time this development will take, and won't rush himself.

The 2nd Round was impressive for other blue line recruits too. Cody Goloubef is a great pickup for Columbus, hopefully they don't need his services for a few seasons. He is a favorite of 60's, but really grew on me too as the season went one, and I would like to see 2 more years of him in Madison. Wiercioch and Schultz should be interesting to watch in Juniors again this season. Derek Stepan definitely went higher than I expected (but I don't know much), and I keep getting the feeling that after him, Jordy Murray and Matt Thurber get a few WCHA games under their belts, we'll forget all about the void left by Kyle Turris' departure.

Nick Pryor joined Wiercioch and Schultz as 2009 recruits when he was drafted in the 7th round. He must have had an impressive 2008, because he wasn't even on Central Scouting's mid term rankings, and just made the final cut. Looking forward to seeing him play in the USHL next season. He deserved to be drafted after providing our humble blog with the great reports from Russia awhile back.

As for the guys not drafted, Matt Thurber, Tyler Barnes and Jordy Murray were surprises for me. Someone commented somewhere either on Buckyville or USCHO, that Barnes didn't have much ice time against other great talent to gauge his true abilities. That makes some sense I suppose, he should get a better measuring stick next year in the USHL. Jordy Murray and Matt Thurber on the other hand, both were on championship teams this year, and both played huge roles in their teams achieving that level of success. As Andy Baggot said in his blog, NHL teams will regret not taking Thurber, and I think the same will be true for Murray. I believe they are both eligible for the 2009 NHL Draft still, and after good showings in the WCHA, a lot of teams will wish they had spent a 6th or 7th rounder on one of these kids. Hopefully they go much higher next season.

I think similar can be said for Barnes, Brock Montpetit, Chase Drake and Aaron Crandall. They weren't drafted this season, but should all be eligible next season (feel free to leave a comment if I'm wrong). Good seasons in the USHL should help their stock rise. That list doesn't include Jefferson Dahl and Gavin Hartzog either. Prehaps their names will be in the mix next season at this time as well for the 2009 NHL Draft.

Though the 2009 NHL Draft is a long way away, I wouldn't be surprised to hear 5+ more Badger player's names called, most of them being 19 year olds. I'm sure there will be great 18 years from around the world anxious to be picked, but the coaching staff has put together a great group of players who after another season of development, will prime for selection.

An irrelevant Patrick Johnson blurb

As you know, I'm an Oilers fan, so I tend to stop by a variety of Oilers blogs on a semi-regular basis. Some of the Oilogosphere members, most notably Lowetide, have been less-than-thrilled with the Oilers use of their 7th round pick and have suggested better uses for the pick. I was pleasantly surprised to see Lord Bob offer Patrick Johnson as a missed opportunity, as I didn't really expect Patty to be on the radar of any non-American hockey fans.

Missed Opportunities: Patrick Johnson (#206 to Montreal) is a pretty good young player who put up 21 points as a true freshman with Kyle Turris and the University of Wisconsin. Numbers like that in your first year in the NCAA are pretty healthy, and even though size is a real issue he might have been worth a flier.

Of course, the random opinion of a random Oilers fan means absolutely nothing, but hey, it's about Patrick Johnson, and who doesn't like reading nice things about Patrick Johnson?

Post-Draft Wrap-Up

• In his post-draft wrap-up on HIW, DPlaya includes (among other things) links to articles with quotes from Chase Drake (who wasn't drafted) and Patrick Wiercioch (who was drafted by the Sens). He also mentions that the Sens will be buying out Ray Emery's contract, perhaps opening the door for top goaltending prospect Brian Elliott.
  
  
• Uwbadgers.com can't comment on the recruits who haven't signed LOIs yet, so they indicate that 4 Badgers were chosen in the draft. Milewski has the complete list of the 7 Badgers who were selected, and he wasn't kidding when he said it was a long wait between the 2nd and 7th rounds.

• With 5 picks in the top 2 rounds (picks 17, 37, 42, 43, 51) and 4 defensemen chosen in the top 2 rounds (picks 17,37,42,43), Milewski argues that this might be the best draft ever for the Badgers. Baggot takes it a step further and argues that this might be the best draft ever for a college program, as no school has ever had 5 players taken with the top 51 picks. The UW record for number of Badgers chosen in a single draft is 8 (1982: Eric Faust, Patrick Flatley, Tony Granato, Jim Johannson, Dave Maley, Ted Pearson, Ernie Vargas, Marty Wiitala), but only two those players went in the top 2 rounds.



• Overall, the 2008 draft was the "Year of the Defensemen" and that seems to hold for the Badgers this year as well. Baggot points out that in the last 3 drafts the Badgers had 8 defensemen taken in the first 2 rounds, to which Mike Eaves says ,"It's a growing reputation. The proof is in the pudding." And Anaheim GM Brian Burke (who selected 3 Badger defensemen in this year's draft) says, "The thing that sold it for us is that Wisconsin is a top program for developing players." (So, does this mean they'll let the 3 players they picked stick around for a bit?)
  


• In the above Baggot post, Baggot expresses suprise that Thurber was not selected as the RLR listed him 84th and called him and "underrated gem". And apparently Baggot lost a friendly wager with Ray Thurber when he guaranteed Ray that Matt would be selected.

Draft-Day Interviews

Earlier I was lamenting that I had neglected to turn on the tivo and thus did not have any direct quotes from Cody Goloubef's interview during today's draft coverage. Luckily (and not surprisingly), Todd Milewski has saved the day for me and has a transcript of the interview which I'll go ahead and post here because I really enjoyed this interview. As I mentioned before, Cody was composed and well-spoken, and I'm so glad he's a Badger.

Green: Cody, I mean, this has got to be an exciting moment for you. Columbus Blue Jackets, what do you know about this hockey club?

Goloubef: It's a young hockey club, fairly new into the league. They want to win. They've got a lot of young guys. It's just a great organization. It's going to be fun to play for them.

Green: You grew up in southern Ontario, in Oakville, I believe, correct? So when you were growing up there and playing amateur hockey, was there a player in the National Hockey League that you really dreamed of becoming close to his abilities?

Goloubef: I think Tomas Kaberle out of Toronto. I'm a big Toronto fan so I watched him a lot. I just liked the way he is with the puck, real smooth and steady. That's been a guy I've always tried to mimic my game toward.

Green: What do you know about Ken Hitchcock and the coaching staff? Hitch is a disciplinarian, he's a guy that is very much an accountability type of guy, and I'm sure that probably is something that you're also used to.

Goloubef: That's something I've gotten used to at school right now with coach Mike Eaves. Real tough. He holds you to your mistakes and gives you a pat on the back when you do great. So I think it's going to be a good fit for me, something I've been preparing for and I'm looking forward to it.

I wish I had video or audio from that interview, as I liked it better than the other 2 interviews I found. The Blue Jackets have a decent interview on their front page. Gotta like Cody's attitude about not being picked in the 1st round and about working on his game. NHL.com also had an audio interview with Goloubef.

NHL.com also has an audio interview with Patrick Wiercioch, who didn't sleep much last night after being "in awe of all the great players still left" after the 1st round ended. Seems like a nice kid.

Unfortunately, NHL.com doesn't have interviews with any of the other Badgers selected, and I couldn't find any additional interviews on team websites.

However, the Ducks website has audio comments from their Director of Amateur Scouting Alain Chainey on their 2nd-round picks Justin Schultz and Nick Pryor. Calling Schultz a "very good hockey player", Chainey was quite complimentary of Schultz's hockey sense, skating, puck-moving ability, and offensive skills. Regarding Pryor, Chainey felt his talents were "worth taking a chance on" despite his size due to his skating and puck-moving abilities.

Wish I had interviews with the rest of the Badgers selected in this draft. If anyone finds any additional interviews, please let me know and I'll add them in. Thanks!

7th-Round Badgers

Patrick Johnson was selected with the #206 pick by the Montreal Canadiens. Congratulations, Ratty!

Nick Pryor was selected with the #208 pick by the Anaheim Ducks. Congratulations Nick!

Well, that's it for the 2008 NHL Entry Draft . . . 7 Badgers selected, including 1 whom wasn't necessarily expected to be drafted (although he certainly played well last season) . . .

A couple of non-Badger notes from the 7th round:
- Wisconsinite Nate Condon was selected with the #200 pick by the Colorado Avalanche.
- David Carle, who was recently diagnosed with career-ending hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, was selected with the #203 pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning. It appears that TB used their last-round pick to select David as a nice gesture to him. TB was aware of his condition when they drafted him, as he had notified the NHL and withdrawn from the draft. David attended Shattuck with the son of new TB owner Oren Koules.

2nd-Round Badgers

(A number of Badgers are going in the 2nd round. I'll continue to update this post as players continue to be picked and as players are interviewed.)

Cody Goloubef was selected with the #37 pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Congratulations, Cody!

Patrick Wiercioch was selected with the #42 pick by the Ottawa Senators. Congratulations, Patrick!

Justin Schultz was selected with the #43 pick by the Anaheim Ducks. Congratulations, Justin!

Derek Stepan was selected with the #51 pick by the New York Rangers. Congratulations, Derek!

One of the commentators made a brief comment about 2 Wisconsin kids (Schultz and Gardiner) going to Anaheim. Something complimentary about Eaves and something to the effect of the importance of going to a good program.

Nice interview with Cody Goloubef. I continue to be impressed with this kid, as he was composed (didn't seem nervous about being interviewed on national TV) and quite well-spoken. I don't have exact quotes (forgot to set the tivo), but when asked about what he knew about the BlueJackets, he said they're a young team that is looking win. When asked about the BlueJackets' coach being tough, he said he thought it'd be a good fit for him -- he's used to Coach Eaves being tough -- holding players to mistakes, but also recognizing good play as well. They had some nice video of Cody from Badger games, including a sweet pass to Kyle Turris.

2nd round is over . . .

Ducks take Gardiner #17th overal. Goloubef will have to wait until day 2.

The Anaheim Ducks just drafted Minnetonka, MN defenseman Jake Gardiner #17th overall in the 2008 NHL Draft. Gardiner will be a freshman for the Wisconsin Badgers this fall.

Last winter I lived in Minneapolis and was friends with a scout from the Des Moines Buccaneers. One day we got talking about Jake Gardiner when we found out that Wisconsin had become interested in him. This was in the time that Gardiner was making the decision on if he was going to be a full time defenseman or forward. This scout told me that if Gardiner decides to become a defenseman and goes to Wisconsin that he will be a first round NHL pick in the 2008 draft. I actually laughed at him when he first said this. I guess he's the one who is laughing now.

Congratulations Jake on being drafted in the first round of the 2008 draft. You deserve it and we can't wait to see you this fall in the Cardinal and White.

Blog update from Todd Milewski. (The Capital Times)
Blog update from Chris Dilks. (Western College Hockey)

Current Badger defenseman Cody Goloubef was not selected in the first round and will have to wait until tomorrow to find out where he is selected. There was a 50/50 chance that he could go in the first round but it didn't work out. Not a lot of surprises in the first round so far. Only 4 NCAA bound players were selected. Colin Wilson of BU at #7, Joe Colborne of Denver University at #16, Jake Gardiner of Wisconsin at #17, and Daultan Leveille of Michigan State at #29.

Colin Wilson first NCAA Player selcted

As expected Colin Wilson from Boston University is the first NCAA player selected and the second American. (Zach Bogosian went #3 to the Atlanta Thrashers) The next NCAA player to be selected with probably be Joe Colborne who is a Denver recruit. Expect him to go anywhere from 14-25 but probably around that #17 pick. After Colborne you have to look at Wisconsin recruit Jake Gardiner in that 18-35 range, Ohio State recruit Zac Dalpe in the 25-40 range, Minnesota recruit Aaron Ness in the 25-40 range and Wisconsin defenseman Cody Goloubef who is a bit of a wild card could go anywhere from 23-60.

Personally I think one of these players is going to probably be selected higher then we expected. I'm going to guess that it's Goloubef and say that he ends up going #21 to the New Jersey Devils.



Update:

The second NCAA player off the board is Denver recruit Joe Colborne. Colborne goes #16 to the Boston Bruins. I had him in that 14 to 25 range but probably about 17. I guess I was off by 1. Colborne played last season in the Alberta Junior Hockey League for Camrose. Colborne is arguably the #1 recruit in college hockey this season although I think Jordan Schroeder would argue that.

Link to blog post from the DU blog.

Update 2:

Wisconsin recruit Jake Gardiner was the second NCAA Player selected at #17 overall. A bit higher then I had expected but it's a good pick. The Devils have traded down from 21 to 23 so they won't be taking Goloubef at 21 like I had predicted but it's certainly possible they take him at #23.

Update 3:

Devils trade down to #24 swapping picks with the Wild and gaining a 3rd round pick next season. Could this be Goloubef at #24 to the Devils?

Update 4:

Goloubef still on the board after 29 picks. Might have to wait until tomorrow to see where he goes. The third NCAA player was selected at #29 with Daultan Leveille going to the Thrashers. He will be a freshman at Michigan State next season.

Badgers at 2008 NHL Draft

The 2008 NHL Draft is this Saturday so I thought we should put together where the current and future Badgers are in the draft rankings. Last year was a special draft for Wisconsin with 3 first round picks. This one won't yield as many first rounders, but we could have upwards of 12 players with Badger ties selected. You can find that information on our new blog for longer posts here.

Chris at the Western College hockey blog had a great idea when he created Western College Hockey 2 for longer blog posts. We are going to use that as well with a second blog to cover longer posts. You can find the link to our second blog here. It's still being put together but I wanted to get everyone the information on players with Badger ties asap.

If your bored on a Wednesday....

Then here are some links to Badger articles to occupy your time.

Heres an article on Cody Goloubef on nhl.com (Thanks to Todd Milewski)

Here is an article again courtesy of Milewski on recent commits Michael Mersch and Frankie Simonelli on getting drafted by OHL teams.

uwbadgers.com has come up with their 4th installment of pre-season videos.

uwbadgers.com did a question and answer session with Pat Johnson and Mike Davies.

In WCHA news, Joe Finley confirms hes coming back next season to play for the Sioux. Any forward with ANY speed in the WCHA is actually excited he's coming back to get torched for another season.

Just wanted to thank Ryan at the USHL blog for linking us. He does a fantastic job over there you guys should all check it out.

Photo courtesy of the Daily Cardinal

2008 NHL Entry Draft Guide Update

NHL Central Scouting must have finished their long long coffee break because they have finished their previews of every players that they have ranked in their 2008 Draft Guide. That includes several Badger recruits.

Tyler Barnes #114

Chase Drake #136

Jordy Murray #173

Brock Montpetit #199

Nick Pryor #208

Aaron Crandall #24 (for North American goalies)

Most don't include much, but hey they all deserve some recognition.

Badgers in the Upcoming Draft

In his post on the Badger Blog, Baggot indicates that 9 Badgers could be chosen in the upcoming draft and that 2 (Gardiner and Goloubef) may go in the 1st round. He also reports that 5 Badgers are in the top 100 in the latest RLR report.

I'm an idiot when it comes to these things and don't know how often the RLR comes out. So I don't know if there were RLR rankings in May. But I do have the RLR rankings from April. Anyway, here are June's RLR rankings, with April's rankings in parentheses:

29 (29) - Jake Gardiner (D '08 recruit)
47 (81) - Cody Goloubef (D)
55 (90) - Justin Schultz (D '09 recruit)
84 (89) - Matt Thurber (F '08 recruit)
89 (85) - Tyler Barnes (F '09 recruit)

Goloubef and Schultz moved up quite a bit. Schultz's ranking surprised me a little bit given DPlaya's combine report, but I suppose he's got a year to work on his conditioning.

In it's draft analysis, RLR had 3 Badgers (Thurber, Barnes, Wiercioch) listed as mid-round sleepers and 2 Badgers (Wiercioch, Stepan) listed as top underrated players.

And what's not to like about this?

Gardiner was among RLR's top skaters available, while Goloubef and Thurber were listed among those with the most natural hockey sense.

On Goloubef: "Thinks the game beautifully and sees plays developing before anyone else.''

On Thurber: "Best in the draft at playing without the puck.''

The Goloubef quote really makes me smile. As does the Thurber quote -- IIRC, Eaves said somthing similar about Thurber in the most recent video preview.

2008 NHL Entry Draft: Patrick Wiercioch

Photo from NHL Entry Draft Guide

The 2008 NHL Entry Draft Guide has been updated and now includes the projected 3rd round of North American players, including Defenseman Patrick Wiercioch at #77.

A few thoughts on Patrick from a scout and his former USHL coach:

NHL Central Scouting’s Jack Barzee
“Patrick, a smart player with excellent hands, was used heavily on the power-play in Omaha. He needs to improve his skating and agility, but compensates with his ability to stick handle his way out of trouble. Improvement on his strength and development at University of Wisconsin should positively compliment his puck moving ability.”

Omaha Lancers head coach Mike Hastings
“Patrick, with his unique combination of hockey sense and size, has developed into one of the best all around defenseman in our league. As he matures physically you will see him develop into a dominant defenseman that can impact a game in many ways.”