The 2010 NHL Entry draft is coming up soon and there are a few names of players that are expected to be drafted in the top three. Taylor Hall of the Windsor Spitfires, Tyler Seguin of the Plymouth Whalers and Cam Fowler also of the Spitfires are likely to be taken 1-2-3, the order they'll go in is still unclear; Hall seems to be the favourite to go first.
Edmonton Oilers coach Pat Quinn is very high on Hall and has coached him before and Hall might be the best fit for Edmonton, being a player who is strong in just about every area of the game, could work out well in Edmonton. When Hall first got drafted by Windsor, they were going through rough times before they turned it around and won back-to-back Memorial Cup Championships both last month and last year.
The Oilers would definitely hope for a repeat in that regard.
The other two draft picks could go in any order, but the one pick that nobody has ever talked about is the 17-year-old Swiss kid from the Portland WinterHawks.
He is a one-man highlight reel and mock drafts online have him landing in Tampa Bay. Nino Niederreiter has an exceptional chance to be the highest-drafted Swiss born hockey player to be drafted into the NHL. Anyone who didn't know who he was prior to the World Junior Hockey Championships found out quickly during the game against the Russians.He beat the Russians almost by himself in the quarterfinals.
He tied the game with 32.2 seconds remaining in regulation time to send it to overtime. His goal was a solo effort and he beat the Russian netminder on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line. Niederreiter then won the game in overtime.
He might be the next big thing to have come out of his home country. The others being chocolate, of course, and the Swiss army.
He's strong offensively, defensively, and is awesome one-on-one.
He might be one of the few players in this year's draft that can match Alexander Ovechkin in the shootout, try something funny, and still make good on his shot.
In a shootout move he did during the season, he skated in on the goaltender, threw one of his gloves on the ice and backhanded the puck with with that hand into the top corner of the net.Hockey Night in Canada analysts couldn't speak highly enough of Niederreiter because he is one of the few big players on the ice who can really perform. He is said to be very good at puckhandling and because of his size (6' 2", 205 lbs), he's very hard to knock off the puck.
When two or more opposing players attempt to knock him off the puck, that leaves his own teammates wide open and unattended.
There are going to be a lot of general managers of NHL teams who will be very excited at the opportunity to draft Neiderreiter, partly because he also has a very good work ethic.
He is an excellent package of speed, skill and hockey sense and his understanding of the game gives him consistency.
He is also a strong skater who explodes into the offensive zone and can make things happen with both his shot and passing ability.
Hall and Fowler should definitely be top three picks because of what they've done; Hall at the tender age of 17 has already been part of a team that has made the correct strides to become a Memorial Cup champion, and could be headed for Edmonton as the first overall pick.
Switzerland's Neiderreiter should be taken shortly after.
As 2009-10 Stanley Cup champions, the Chicago Blackhawks are assigned the 30th selection in each round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Friday, June 25 (Round 1) and Saturday, June 26 (Rounds 2-7) at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. The Stanley Cup final runner-up Philadelphia Flyers are assigned the 29th selection in each round.
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