After two long weeks of drafting (not really, but it seemed like it while watching the broadcast), the 2009 NHL entry draft is over. As expected, John Tavares was drafted by the Islanders first overall (to much applause at the draft party in Nassau Coliseum). Victor Hedmen went to the Lightning, and Matt Duchene was claimed by the Avalanche (a fact which he was quite happy about – his favorite team growing up was the Avs).

The Sharks, after starting out with four picks – two in the second round, one in the fifth, and one in the seventh – kept all of their picks as they were and added one seventh round pick (189th overall) through a trade with Dallas using one of the picks from next year’s draft. Of course, the announcers failed to mention it, so for the longest time I was wondering how the hell the Sharks got that pick. That marks the second time a pick has been entertaining in the draft, after the slutty 26th pick, of course.

There were a fair number of Canadians drafted, as always, and quite a few Swedes; although Americans came up second in percentage drafted, despite being held out of the top ten. The Sharks, as always, drafted the lone German in the draft with their last pick, who I’ll be getting to later.

The Germans that the Sharks have drafted, as per PRC over at From the Rink, are: Christian Ehrhoff, Marcel Goc, Patrick Ehelechner, Kai Hospelt, Michel Larocque, Marco Sturm, Thomas Greiss, Timo Pielmeier and Dominik Bielke. When you consider that Christian Ehrhoff, a 27-year-old defenseman, is 7th all-time in German scoring in the NHL, its easy to see that Germany is not quite the greatest hockey country ever. At least its better than France, where goalie Cristobel Huet is the 3rd all-time leading scorer with 3 points.

But, anyways, back to the draft. The announcers, particularly Pierre McGuire, were set on calling every draft pick a “steal” and making out every defenseman to be like Nik Lidstrom and every forward like a weird Joe Thornton/Jonathan Cheechoo hybrid (Brayden Schenn) or Jerome Iginla (Evander Kane). They were also rather obsessed with the “bloodlines” of the players that were drafted, so much so that I was wondering if I was watching some reenactment of nobility in medieval times.

The Sharks ended up drafting five players, two forwards and three defensemen. Surprisingly, no goalies for the team that has drafted 9 goalies in the past five years. Perhaps that might have something to do with it? That, and the goalie crop just was not very good.

With the 43rd overall pick, the Sharks selected defenseman William Wrenn (aka “Wrennie”), a stay-at-home defenseman with some offensive upside from Anchorage, Alaska. I wonder, can he see Russia from his house? /Tina Fey. He captained the US U-18 team that won gold at the world championships, showing leadership – a good asset for a team that is sometimes accused of having none (riiiiight).

Next, with the 57th pick, they chose defenseman Taylor Doherty, a 6′7″ monster that plays physical (was noted for boarding Tavares in a prospects game). He was noted as a “long-term project,” meaning that his upside is potentially in Zdeno Chara range, but he’ll likely turn out more like Alexei Semenov.

The Sharks used the 147th pick to choose Philip Varone, a small center (5′10″ and 186lbs!) that played on the London Knights alongside of first-round picks John Tavares and Nazem Kadri. He’s my personal favorite pick of the draft; he’s strong on his skates, and had a great playoffs that had him tied in scoring with the aforementioned Tavares. Any playoff performer drafted by the Sharks is a good draft pick by my standards, no matter what round he’s drafted in.

Marek Viedensky was chosen with the 189th pick (acquired from Dallas for the 2010 6th round pick), a Slovakian center that plays in the WHL. He had a good world juniors on a rather mediocre team, which is what drew the Sharks to him. Honestly, this is the guy that I know least about. Watch as he becomes a Hart trophy winner in six years.

And, time for the German. Dominik Bielke was drafted 207th overall, a defenseman from Berlin who plays for the Eisberlin (haha, Ice Berlin – get it?) junior squad. He admittedly needs some time to develop – and will likely play in the DEL for a while – but the Sharks like drafting Germans. Oh, and his dad was a legendary goalie who set some sort of record for GAA, so he somewhat takes care of the required goalie draft.