<embed style="width: 617px; height: 31px;" class="sIFR-flash" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" sifr="true" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" wmode="" flashvars="txt=Johnson leads list of NHL draft hopefuls&textalign=left&offsetLeft=2&sWmode=transparent&textcolor=#000000&linkcolor=#660000&hovercolor=#CCCCCC&w=617&h=31" quality="best" src="http://www.tsn.ca/flash/fonts/helveticanueblacext.swf" height="31" width="617">Johnson leads list of NHL draft hopefuls
Erik Johnson
Canadian Press
4/19/2006 3:10:19 PM
There's no player like
Sidney Crosby available in this year's NHL entry draft and no firm consensus over which player will be the No. 1 pick.
American defenceman Erik Johnson is the current frontrunner to go first overall, but if the team that wins Thursday's draft lottery in New York isn't in the market for a big defenceman, there are three talented forwards for the taking in American
Phil Kessel and Canadians Jonathan Toews and Jordan Staal.
And if the club with the first selection can get a player it likes just as well at No. 2 or No. 3, and gain other players or prospects in a deal, why not trade down in the draft order as the Florida Panthers did in the 2002 and 2003 drafts?
So the 2006 draft in Vancouver on June 24 could provide suspense that was lacking last year in Ottawa, where there was no chance the Pittsburgh Penguins would move off the first pick and give up Crosby.
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Johnson, who combines an excellent skill set with a six-foot-four, 222-pound frame, has supplanted countryman Kessel this season at the top of scouting bureau rankings, such as the International Scouting Services, and in the minds of many scouts.
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<!--- End Ad --> </td></tr><tr><td> </td></tr> </tbody></table> "To us, Johnson has established himself as the No. 1 guy," ISS director of scouting Dennis MacInnis said.
But while the rule of thumb is to draft the best player available when it's your turn to pick, this may be a draft where NHL teams lean more toward selecting players based on the needs of their organization.
And that could actually solidify Johnson's position since there are no other defencemen of his calibre among the top 10 prospects, MacInnis said.
Kessel, Toews, Staal, Niklas Backstrom of Sweden and Michael Frolik of the Czech Republic are all forwards who play different styles, so it may come down to which player fits best into an organization.
"When you identify the top four or half-dozen they could go in order of need by the NHL teams," NHL Central Scouting director E.J. McGuire said. "These handful of kids are so close in their relative contribution to their team that any one of them could be the right fit at the right time.
"If a team wants a defenceman, they're going to take Johnson. If a team wants a big centreman, they going to take Jordan Staal. If they want flash and dash, they're going to take
Phil Kessel."
Players drafted in the 2006 NHL entry draft will be those born in 1988 or after Sept. 15, 1987.
If Johnson and Kessel are the first two picks, it would mark the first time American-born players were taken 1-2 in a draft.
The U.S. had a banner 2005 with a record eight Americans chosen in the first round and that looks to be a trend with at least a dozen considered first-round prospects this year.
It's not a strong year for European players as Backstrom and Frolik are considered the only top-10 possibilities and Russia is still in a down cycle.
The independent ISS ranked Johnson the top skater in its April release ahead of Toews, Staal, Kessel, Backstrom and American forward Peter Mueller, and has Canadian Jonathan Bernier the top-ranked goaltender followed by Finland's Riku Helenius.
Those two goaltenders duelled to a 0-0 draw Monday at the world under-18 hockey championship in Sweden.
NHL Central Scouting will release its final season rankings Thursday and will have separate North American and European lists. Johnson topped Central Scouting's January rankings for North American skaters and will likely stay there in the final set.
There is divided opinion on whether the class of 2006 is weak in comparison to other drafts.
McGuire believes the NHL lockout of 2004-05 had a push-down effect on this year's prospects because it kept several 19-year-olds who would have otherwise been playing in the NHL in junior for an extra season. That meant fewer minutes and less ice time for these players when they were 17.
"Does that mean they're less talented? No," Macguire said. "To make a spring analogy, they're just as bright and wonderful a flower, they just aren't as high up out of the ground yet as they would be in normal years."
Players drafted in 2006 and signed by their NHL clubs will agree to three-year deals with a maximum yearly salary of $850,000 US. They can negotiate performance bonuses of up to $2.85 million US.
