Don’t get cute Kraken. You build from the goal line out and up the middle. With an elite group of defensemen available in the top-10, Seattle has a chance to acquire a beauty at number-7.
No need to trade up for anyone, just sit back and wait.
Righty, lefty, it doesn’t matter, although top level right-shots are harder to come by. Based on a number of different rankings by NHL draft experts, the Kraken might see University of North Dakota blueliner Keaton Verhoeff available. At one point along the way he was threatening to take over the moniker as “top prospect in the draft”.
Some pundits have said he’s slipped, maybe as low as seventh overall (ding, ding, ding for the Kraken), but hard to criticize a kid who just turned 18 two days ago and was playing college hockey against much bigger, stronger competition. He had 20 points in 39 college games, a season after posting 45 points in his lone full year of major junior hockey in the Western League.
Meanwhile, Daxon Rudolph’s most recent season in the WHL featured 78 points in 68 games for the Prince Albert Raiders. The righty is 6-foot-3, 205 pounds and only getting stronger. He’s a future cornerstone.
If both of them get snagged ahead, there’s one other right-shot, Chase Reid from the Soo Greyhounds in the OHL — he’ll likely get plucked early — and lefties Carson Carels of the Prince George Cougars (WHL) and Alberts Smits from the German pro league.
Should Caleb Malhotra, top-rated center and son of Vancouver Canucks head coach Manny, drop to seven, don’t be tempted. (The Canucks shouldn’t take him either). Yes, he’s projected to be a Patrice Bergeron type two-way pivot, but the Kraken already have second line centers coming out of their ears.
(By the way, “Bergie”, the former Boston Bruins captain who gets his jersey retired next season, should be getting his Hockey Hall of Fame induction phone call on Monday)
Earlier Kraken:
— Kraken News Wire: 3 = Schultz, Morrison, Francis
