The dust has settled on the 2011 NHL entry draft and it was certainly worth watching, not just for the draft itself, but for all the trades related to it. The festivities really started on Thursday when the Philadelphia Flyers decided to change the face of their team by sending
Mike Richards and
Jeff Carter to the Western Conference. You really can't separate the draft itself from the transactions that happen around it, so we'll grade the teams on the trades they made as well as the prospects they drafted.
Read Corey Abbott's Eastern Conference Analysis
http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nhl/38175/97/east-conference-draft-review
Anaheim Ducks - B-The Ducks traded the 22nd overall pick to Toronto for the 30th and 39th picks. They started off by selecting
Rickard Rakell to cap off the first round. Rakell should develop into a great defensive forward, but he doesn't have a lot of offensive upside and he's consequently projected to be a bottom-six forward. However, Anaheim used the 39th overall pick on a player that could end up having a much greater impact on their organization: goaltender
John Gibson. Gibson was arguably the best netminder available in this year's draft and although he will need some time to further develop while attending the University of Michigan, he might be the Ducks' starting goaltender someday.
Calgary Flames - B+The Flames grabbed
Sven Bartschi with the 13th overall pick. The Swiss native proved himself with the Portland Winterhawks by scoring 34 goals and 85 points in 66 regular season games before adding another 10 goals and 17 assists in 21 playoff contests. They also cleared up some much needed cap space by trading away
Robyn Regehr and
Ales Kotalik during the draft. With those two off the books, they had plenty of leeway to ink
Alex Tanguay to a five-year contract.
Chicago Blackhawks - A+The Blackhawks era of cap trouble may finally be over. While the draft was underway, they finally found a trade partner for
Brian Campbell and his horrid $7.14 million annual cap hit. They also sent restricted free agent
Troy Brouwer to Washington for the 26th overall pick. With two first round selections, Chicago took forwards
Mark McNeill and
Phillip Danault. McNeill projects to eventually be a good power forward at the NHL level while Danault is likely to become a second or third liner. It's also worth noting that they took
Brandon Saad with the 43rd overall pick. He's a great two-way forward and although he still needs some work before he makes the jump to the NHL, he might prove to be a steal as a second rounder.
Colorado Avalanche - AIt's easy to look good when you get to pick 2nd and 11th overall. After Edmonton predictably took
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Avalanche decided to go with
Gabriel Landeskog, who is regarded as the most NHL-ready prospect in this year's pool. Landeskog can do a bit of everything and he has the potential to develop into a great first liner. Colorado then used the 11th overall pick to take
Duncan Siemens, who will need more seasoning than Landeskog, but Siemens could prove to be just as valuable someday. He has demonstrated plenty of offensive potential, but he's also physical. He should eventually become a blueliner that pleases both fantasy owners and his team.
Columbus Blue Jackets - A+It might seem odd to award an 'A+' to a team that didn't even pick in the first round, but when you consider what they did with that pick, it's really not a stretch. They packaged the 8th overall selection with
Jakub Voracek and a third rounder to get
Jeff Carter from the Flyers. Carter is signed to a long-term contract at a very reasonable price - especially when you consider how high the salary cap has climbed recently. More importantly, he's the first line center that the Blue Jackets have always needed, to play alongside
Rick Nash. Nash has shown that he's capable of producing alongside almost anyone, but Carter and Nash should be an explosive duo. They also selected
Boone Jenner early in the second round. Jenner is generally regarded as a safe pick, but not the most offensively gifted out there.
Dallas Stars - B+In
Jamie Oleksiak, the Stars got one of the most interesting blueliners of the draft. He has an incredibly 6-foot-7, 244-pound frame and he's only 18. Oleksiak has already made the jump to the college level and although he hasn't done much offensively yet, he does have upside in that area. He's been compared favorably to
Zdeno Chara. Not bad for a guy who slipped to 14th overall.
Detroit Red Wings - C+The Red Wings didn't draft in the first round, instead opting to send the 24th pick to Ottawa for the 35th and 48th overall. The Senators used that pick to take
Matt Puempel, who, despite being something of a risk, could prove to be quite a steal for a late first rounder. Conversely, Detroit took
Tomas Jurco with the 35th overall pick, who has both speed and stickhandling abilities, but has some consistency issues. Detroit also took blueliner Xavier Ouellet, who had eight goals and 43 points in 67 QMJHL contests to round out the trade.
Edmonton Oilers - A-For the second straight year the Edmonton Oilers had the first overall pick and while it's hard to go wrong with that, I do have to question their decision a little. They took
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with the top selection and he's likely to please the Oilers fans. We've become accustomed to seeing first overall picks step into the NHL immediately and while that might not be the case for Nugent-Hopkins, we could see him making an impact in one or two years. That being said, a blueliner like
Adam Larsson would have made more sense for Edmonton, given their system. Edmonton also had the 19th overall pick and they did use it to grab blueliner
Oscar Klefbom, who captained Team Sweden in the World Under-18 Championship and helped them win a silver medal.
The dust has settled on the 2011 NHL entry draft and it was certainly worth watching, not just for the draft itself, but for all the trades related to it. The festivities really started on Thursday when the Philadelphia Flyers decided to change the face of their team by sending
Mike Richards and
Jeff Carter to the Western Conference. You really can't separate the draft itself from the transactions that happen around it, so we'll grade the teams on the trades they made as well as the prospects they drafted.
Read Corey Abbott's Eastern Conference Analysis
http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nhl/38175/97/east-conference-draft-review
Anaheim Ducks - B-The Ducks traded the 22nd overall pick to Toronto for the 30th and 39th picks. They started off by selecting
Rickard Rakell to cap off the first round. Rakell should develop into a great defensive forward, but he doesn't have a lot of offensive upside and he's consequently projected to be a bottom-six forward. However, Anaheim used the 39th overall pick on a player that could end up having a much greater impact on their organization: goaltender
John Gibson. Gibson was arguably the best netminder available in this year's draft and although he will need some time to further develop while attending the University of Michigan, he might be the Ducks' starting goaltender someday.
Calgary Flames - B+The Flames grabbed
Sven Bartschi with the 13th overall pick. The Swiss native proved himself with the Portland Winterhawks by scoring 34 goals and 85 points in 66 regular season games before adding another 10 goals and 17 assists in 21 playoff contests. They also cleared up some much needed cap space by trading away
Robyn Regehr and
Ales Kotalik during the draft. With those two off the books, they had plenty of leeway to ink
Alex Tanguay to a five-year contract.
Chicago Blackhawks - A+The Blackhawks era of cap trouble may finally be over. While the draft was underway, they finally found a trade partner for
Brian Campbell and his horrid $7.14 million annual cap hit. They also sent restricted free agent
Troy Brouwer to Washington for the 26th overall pick. With two first round selections, Chicago took forwards
Mark McNeill and
Phillip Danault. McNeill projects to eventually be a good power forward at the NHL level while Danault is likely to become a second or third liner. It's also worth noting that they took
Brandon Saad with the 43rd overall pick. He's a great two-way forward and although he still needs some work before he makes the jump to the NHL, he might prove to be a steal as a second rounder.
Colorado Avalanche - AIt's easy to look good when you get to pick 2nd and 11th overall. After Edmonton predictably took
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the Avalanche decided to go with
Gabriel Landeskog, who is regarded as the most NHL-ready prospect in this year's pool. Landeskog can do a bit of everything and he has the potential to develop into a great first liner. Colorado then used the 11th overall pick to take
Duncan Siemens, who will need more seasoning than Landeskog, but Siemens could prove to be just as valuable someday. He has demonstrated plenty of offensive potential, but he's also physical. He should eventually become a blueliner that pleases both fantasy owners and his team.
Columbus Blue Jackets - A+It might seem odd to award an 'A+' to a team that didn't even pick in the first round, but when you consider what they did with that pick, it's really not a stretch. They packaged the 8th overall selection with
Jakub Voracek and a third rounder to get
Jeff Carter from the Flyers. Carter is signed to a long-term contract at a very reasonable price - especially when you consider how high the salary cap has climbed recently. More importantly, he's the first line center that the Blue Jackets have always needed, to play alongside
Rick Nash. Nash has shown that he's capable of producing alongside almost anyone, but Carter and Nash should be an explosive duo. They also selected
Boone Jenner early in the second round. Jenner is generally regarded as a safe pick, but not the most offensively gifted out there.
Dallas Stars - B+In
Jamie Oleksiak, the Stars got one of the most interesting blueliners of the draft. He has an incredibly 6-foot-7, 244-pound frame and he's only 18. Oleksiak has already made the jump to the college level and although he hasn't done much offensively yet, he does have upside in that area. He's been compared favorably to
Zdeno Chara. Not bad for a guy who slipped to 14th overall.
Detroit Red Wings - C+The Red Wings didn't draft in the first round, instead opting to send the 24th pick to Ottawa for the 35th and 48th overall. The Senators used that pick to take
Matt Puempel, who, despite being something of a risk, could prove to be quite a steal for a late first rounder. Conversely, Detroit took
Tomas Jurco with the 35th overall pick, who has both speed and stickhandling abilities, but has some consistency issues. Detroit also took blueliner Xavier Ouellet, who had eight goals and 43 points in 67 QMJHL contests to round out the trade.
Edmonton Oilers - A-For the second straight year the Edmonton Oilers had the first overall pick and while it's hard to go wrong with that, I do have to question their decision a little. They took
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with the top selection and he's likely to please the Oilers fans. We've become accustomed to seeing first overall picks step into the NHL immediately and while that might not be the case for Nugent-Hopkins, we could see him making an impact in one or two years. That being said, a blueliner like
Adam Larsson would have made more sense for Edmonton, given their system. Edmonton also had the 19th overall pick and they did use it to grab blueliner
Oscar Klefbom, who captained Team Sweden in the World Under-18 Championship and helped them win a silver medal.
Los Angeles Kings - CThe Kings lacked a first rounder for the wrong reason. They sent it to Edmonton in a trade for
Dustin Penner and it simply didn't work out. Penner ended up scoring two goals and six points in 19 games and he couldn't help the Kings past the first round. The silver lining for the Kings is that they did acquire
Mike Richards the day before the draft, but they had to give up a top-tier prospect in Brayden Scheen as part of the package to get Richards.
Minnesota Wild - C+The Wild had an eventful night, but not all of it was good. They took Swedish blueliner
Jonas Brodin, who already has some experience playing with men while playing in the Swedish Elite League. However, they also traded away star defenseman
Brent Burns in a trade that netted them prospect
Charlie Coyle,
Devin Setoguchi, and the 28th pick in the 2011 NHL entry draft, which they used to grab
Zack Phillips. Burns had only one year left on his contract and then he might have left anyway as an unrestricted free agent, but it's still a tough pill to swallow, especially given Setoguchi's struggles over the last two years. Setoguchi is young and he could bounce back, but it's also possible that he will actually end up with fewer points than Burns next season, as was the case in 2010-11.
Nashville Predators - C+Nashville dealt the 21st overall pick as part of the
Mike Fisher trade. Fisher is a good fit for the Predators and, with him on board, they were able to advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in their franchise's history. However, it meant that they did not have a pick until early in the second round when they took goaltender
Magnus Hellberg.
Phoenix Coyotes - BThe Coyotes decided to roll the dice a bit with the 20th overall pick by selecting the immensely talented, but still raw
Connor Murphy. He's a big defenseman with offensive upside, but injuries have slowed down his development. He's definitely a project and he's much more likely to attend college in 2011-12 than play for the Coyotes, but he is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
St. Louis Blues - BThe Blues lost the 11th overall pick in the mega deal that also sent
Erik Johnson and
Jay McClement to Colorado in exchange for
Kevin Shattenkirk,
Chris Stewart, and a second rounder. Given that Stewart and Shattenkirk should both be cornerstones of the Blues' franchise for years to come, we like this trade for them despite the loss of a high pick. The Blues still ended up with three picks in the top 50, grabbing forwards
Ty Rattie and Dmitrij Jaskin at 32nd and 41st respectively, and blueliner Joel Edmundson at 46th.
San Jose Sharks - B+The Sharks dealt away their late first rounder, along with
Devin Setoguchi and prospect
Charlie Coyle to Minnesota in exchange for blueliner
Brent Burns. As we touched on in the Minnesota section, we like this trade for San Jose. In Burns they're getting a great offensive defenseman who also recorded 133 hits and 106 blocked shots last season. The Sharks first pick of the draft came at 47th overall and they spent it on forward
Matthew Nieto, who scored 10 goals and 23 points in 39 games with Boston University last season.
Vancouver Canucks - B-The Canucks selected
Nicklas Jensen with the 29th overall pick. He's been praised for his skills with the puck, but he needs to do more without it. In particular, he's been criticized for his lack of toughness. In Jensen, the Canucks are getting a player who should be regarded as something of a long-term project, but that's more or less what you'd expect from a late first rounder.