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.

Kyle Palmieri: Or, the only form of entertainment during the draft

I am a Sharks fan, have been all my life. As a Sharks fan, I hate the Ducks. They suck. Its just that simple. However, extenuating circumstances have caused me to follow one of their draftees, a certain Kyle Palmieri.

Way back on July 4, 2008, Doug Wilson acquired Dan Boyle and Brad Lukowich from the Tampa Bay Lightning for Matt Carle, Ty Wishart, and the 1st and 4th round picks for the 2009 entry draft. It was probably Wilson’s second best trade (first being the infamous Thornton trade, of course), and most Shark fans were happy with it – at least, they were once Boyle showed how great he was.

But back on track. That first round pick was later traded to the Ottawa Senators in the Meszaros deal. It was then traded by Ottawa to the New York Islanders in the Comrie deal.

Then comes the draft. The first round pick – now revealed as #26 overall – is held by the Islanders as their second pick after the first overall. But wait! It was traded in a package for the Columbus Blue Jacket’s 12th overall pick. Columbus, not satisfied with that being their first pick, then packages #26 to the Anaheim Ducks for #21 overall. The pick does not move after that, and the Ducks draft Kyle Palmieri with it.

In all, the pick was traded five times in less than a year before being used, what is likely a record [link]. If it physically traveled between all of the NHL cities, it would travel approximately 8,889 miles – or the distance between San Jose, CA and Kanuvai, India. [link]

That goes beyond sloppy seconds – that’s sloppy sixths. And as following that pick was the most entertaining part of the draft as a Sharks fan, I’ve decided to follow the career of the guy who was drafted by it as well, a certain Kyle Palmieri.

As the guy was just drafted and has yet to do anything in the four hours since, here’s a run-down of who, exactly, Kyle Palmieri is (a full profile is here):

Plays for the US U-18 team in their developmental league, and had a line of 15-15-30 in 33 games, as well as 51 PIMs. He’s a RW/C, and a small one at that – only 5’10″ and 191lbs. His hometown is Montvale, New Jersey, but he’s one of those Garden State residents that likes the Rangers. He has been compared to Chris Drury by NHL scouts.

However, he was kicked out of the USNDP because of allegedly being drunk in his hotel room with a girl (both against the rules), which is somewhat fitting considering his “sloppy sixths” pick.

Some scouting reports:

“I think Kyle’s got a little bit of Chris Drury in him. I look at his passion, his natural skills and his tenaciousness, and that’s what I saw in Chris. He’s a lot of fun to watch because he has that vision along with a wicked shot. He very seldom passes up the opportunity to make the right play — he’s in position to shoot the puck and has that insight into whether to freeze and dish or just let it go.”
- Jack Barzee, NHL Central Scouting

“Really fast and slick laterally. Great effort level – always keeps his feet moving in traffic and outworks opponents for loose pucks. Ultra competitive. Creates a lot of offense off a heavy persistent forecheck.”
- Red Line Report 2009 Draft Guide

“Kyle plays a solid two way game. He moves well to the open ice and finds seams for making plays happen very quickly. He has good set up skills and distributes the puck very well. His vision is one of his stronger points, as he does find his line mates very well and usually creates some sort of scoring chance. … a very competitive player, with good open ice skills.”
- International Scouting Services 2009 Draft Guide

He has committed to going to Notre Dame in the fall, so his professional career likely won’t begin for a few years. But it still will be interesting to follow a player that has already been preceded by so much trade action; it makes me wonder if that trend will follow him now that he’s actually a person.

And as a treat, here’s a banner that I made for Fear the Fin:

The 1997 draft, featuring Sharks Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, and Joe Thornton's hair (RIP).

Ahh, draft day, the day where 29 teams get to use their first round picks on hopeful NHL prospects, boys my age (no, seriously – this is my draft class, if I was a guy and played hockey) who have been talked about and analyzed to death. Particularly if their last name is “Tavares.” And, like last year, us Sharks fans are left sitting on their hands because of the wheelings and dealings of GM Doug Wilson.

To be fair, I don’t think any Sharks fan is complaining about the reason why we don’t have a first round pick, as that was in the Boyle deal and Boyle is already universally loved by Sharks fans in the one season he has played in San Jose, but still. To look on the bright side, at least we have a pick before the fourth round, which wasn’t the case last year.

As it stands right now, the Sharks have a pitiful 4 draft picks in this year’s draft, which are as follows:
Second Round: 43 (from BUF), 57
Fifth Round: 146
Seventh Round: 206

Luckily, the Sharks have a tendency to have bona fide NHL players develop out of the later rounds (Ehrhoff=4th round, Pavelski=7th round, Nabokov=9th round, Murray=8th round, etc.), so the position isn’t that bothersome – its just the lack of picks. Of course, Doug Wilson is always in the position to trade players for more picks (like Cheechoo, who will likely be moved purely for cap purposes), or even to trade down, but he’s always been the “trade up for players you want” sort of GM.

And for those who want to know what kind of players the Sharks normally draft, its pretty well-known that Doug Wilson cannot avoid three types of players: goalies, Germans, and Ottawa 67′s. Look for any of the three, or a combination of them, and you’ll be sure that the Sharks have taken an extra-hard look at them. I mean, the Sharks have drafted 9 goalies in the past 5 years, and have produced two of the all-time top-scoring German players in the NHL (the fact that 27-year-old defenseman Christian Ehrhoff is 7th on the list is beside the point).

As the draft progresses, I’ll update this post with the picks. No analysis, since I don’t know enough about the prospects or each team’s needs.

2:05pm PST: I’m getting bored; nothing has happened yet and the draft doesn’t start for two more hours. I’ve taken to recreating a game. Currently, its tied 1-1, Pavs with the PP goal.

3:37pm PST: Abandoned that, and now I’m looking at trade rumors. Pronger to the Sharks? Boooo. Clowe for the 7th pick? Ehhh.

4:29pm PST: Pronger and Dingle to Philly for Lupul, Sbisa, two firsts, and a conditional third rounder. Overpayment by Philly for a guy with just one more year on his contract.

5:03pm PST: Islanders and Blue Jackets swap picks, including San Jose’s well-traveled first round pick.

7:01pm PST: San Jose’s pick traded once again, from Blue Jackets to the Ducks.

Draft Picks:
Islanders – John Tavares
Lightning – Victor Hedman
Avalanche – Matt Duchene
Thrashers – Evander Kane
Kings – Brayden Schenn
Coyotes – Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Maple Leafs – Nazem Kadri
Stars – Scott Glennie
Senators – Jared Cowen
Oilers – Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson
Predators – Ryan Ellis
Islanders (from Wild) – Calvin de Haan
Sabres – Zack Kassian
Panthers – Dimitri Kulikov
Ducks – Peter Holland
Wild – Nick Leddy
Blues – David Rundblad
Canadiens – Louis Leblanc
Rangers – Chris Kreider
Devils – Jacob Josefson
Blue Jackets – John Moore
Canucks – Jordan Schroeder
Flames – Tim Erixon
Capitals – Marcus Johansson
Bruins – Jordan Caron
Ducks – Kyle Palmieri
Hurricanes – Philippe Paradis
Blackhawks – Dylan Olsen
Lightning – Carter Ashton
Penguins – Simon Despres

So, the draft is over, and three teams – Sharks, Red Wings, and Flyers – ended up not having a pick in the first round. There was a lot of exchanging picks, but no big trades other than the Pronger one already mentioned.

I gotta say, the most interesting part of the draft was seeing where the #26 pick would go. Before the draft, it went from San Jose to Tampa Bay to Ottawa to Long Island, but then during the draft from Long Island it went to Columbus and then back to California in Anaheim. It delights me somewhat as a Sharks fan that Anaheim got our “sloppy sixths,” as a certain agitator might say.