Panthers Draft (2011 Edition)

It was a busy day for the Panthers GM at the 2011 Entry Draft. In total the Panthers ended the day, by making 9 picks, and 2 trades.  Of its nine picks, the Panthers selected 6 forwards, 1 defenseman and 2 goaltenders all from North America. The team had also added prospect Maxime Sauve from Boston, for 3 late round picks. “All in all we are very happy with our day. We added a lot of depth to our forward core, and got a lot of high potential guys. Our goaltending which was already a fairly strong point (Crawford, Mason, Poulin, Rynnas and Wedgewood), we feel we have made it much more strong point in our organization. Every year, we keep getting stronger at every position in our organization, and I think this year we can finally make that push to being a competitive team, while holding a very strong prospect system. We currently only hold 1 pick for the 2012 draft, but we are confident that wont be a problem due to our efforts in our past 4 drafts that have built the base for our team. Now its just on to the next chapter.”

5^th Overall Pick

Ryan Strome, Centre, Niagara Ice Dogs

Born: July 11^th, 1993 Mississauga, Ontario

HT: 6’1”   WT: 183lbs

Regular Season Playoffs Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM +/-

2009-10 Barrie Colts OHL 34 5 9 14 35 7

2009-10 Niagara IceDogs OHL 27 3 10 13 26 -9

2010-11 Niagara IceDogs OHL 65 33 73 106 82 28 1

Wilson’s Take:

“Getting Strome was a huge grab for us. We’ve had him pegged with our pick for months, and to finally take him was an awesome feeling.  Strome has unbelievable hands and vision, which makes him such a crafty and dangerous player on the ice at all times.  Even with our vision now of being competitive and letting the young guys grow more, we could easily see Strome on our team in the next year or two.  He needs to get bigger and stronger to do so, but we got another special player at the top of the draft. We started the rebuild with the 5^th pick in 2008, now with Strome it’s the end of this rebuild and time to win.”

50^th Overall Pick

Daniel Catenacci, Centre, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds

Born: March 9^th, 1993 Richmond Hill, Ontario

HT: 5’10”   WT: 180lbs

Regular Season Playoffs Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM +/-

2009-10 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OHL 65 10 20 30 68 -6

2010-11 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OHL 67 26 45 71 117 -5

Wilson’s Take:

“We moved up to take Daniel cause we were not sure if he would make it to our next pick, and it was hard to risk passing up on him. He is a very quick skater, and that’s an understatement.  He has a lot of good attributes to his name and is a very solid player all around. The only thing that throws people off is his size, but that’s not a problem for me and my scouts. We see a very special player here, which has the potential to be a top 6 forward in the MRFHL. But if his scoring touch doesn’t follow him, he still has the skill set to be a useful player in this league. We expect him to spend another 2 years in the OHL, and then could see him making a quick jump to the pros.”

72^nd Overall Pick

Josh Nicholls, Right Wing, Saskatoon Blades

Born: April 27^th, 1992 Richmond, British Columbia

HT: 6’2”   WT: 186lbs

Regular Season Playoffs Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM +/-

2008-09 Saskatoon Blades WHL 63 9 16 25 37 6

2009-10 Saskatoon Blades WHL 71 18 30 48 55 19

2010-11 Saskatoon Blades WHL 71 34 53 87 47 50

Wilson’s Take:

“Nicholls was passed up last draft, and for the simple reason that no one was sure if he could produce. Well playing on Saskatoon this year, even though they had some excellent players, he proved that he can produce but also be a go to guy on a competitive team.  He has got the size and the speed to make him an a attractive piece, and he plays well in all areas of the ice. His stock definitely rose this year, and we couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to take him this year. Another year in the WHL should be good for him, and then some time in the AHL will be good. He does have the potential to be a strong top 6, two-way forward in the MRFHL.

95^thOverall Pick

Joshua Leivo, Left Wing, Sudbury Wolves

Born: May 26^th, 1993 Innisfil, Ontario

HT: 6’2”   WT: 180lbs

Regular Season Playoffs Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM +/-

2010-11 Sudbury Wolves OHL 64 13 17 30 37 -10

Wilson’s Take:

“Leivo is very similar to Nicholls to an extent.  He’s got good size, can play both ends of the ice and is a good skater.  And both players have had their offensive ability questioned. Nicholls proved that he can do so at the junior level, it’s all a matter if Leivo can. He had a strong showing at the end of last year, which included 13 points in 8 playoff games. But we are wondering if he can provide that kind of offense himself, over an entire season. It definitely is a risky pick, but it can easily have its high rewards. We expect a slow development path for Leivo, another two to three years in the OHL and maybe another 2 in the AHL. But the kid definitely has potential and we want to see more of it next year.”

121^st Overall Pick

Justin Braun, Defense, UMass- Amherst

Born: February 10^th, 1987 St. Paul, Minnesota

HT: 6’1”   WT: 198lbs

Regular Season Playoffs Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM +/-

2008-09 UMass-Amherst H-East 39 7 16 23 50  

2009-10 UMass-Amherst H-East 36 8 23 31 30  

2009-10 Worcester Sharks AHL 3 0 3 3 0 7

2010-11 Worcester Sharks AHL 34 5 18 23 8 1

2010-11 San Jose Sharks NHL 28 2 9 11 2 -1

Wilson’s Take:

 “A guy who has been passed over for a few years now, his progression this past year and the chance to take him, the Panthers didn’t think twice.  Braun is a very solid defenseman, who can shut down an opponent and plays a very solid well rounded game.  We see him as a defensive first defenseman, but he has shown recently that he can be productive on the offensive side of his game.  He will have an opportunity to make the team out of camp this year, but it will all depend if he can justify that move and what happens next in free agency.”

122^nd Overall Pick

Ben Smith, Right Wing, Boston College

Born: July 11^th, 1988 Winston-Salem, North Carolina

HT: 5’11”   WT: 205lbs

Regular Season Playoffs Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM +/-

2006-07 Boston College H-East 42 10 8 18 10  

2007-08 Boston College H-East 44 25 25 50 12  

2008-09 Boston College H-East 37 6 11 17 6  

2009-10 Boston College H-East 42 16 21 37 8  

2010-11 Rockford IceHogs AHL 63 19 12 31 16 -3

2010-11 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 6 1 0 1 0 1

Wilson’s Take:

“Smith has had an up and down time at Boston College, but he has shown that he does have a drive for the net and can be a productive player. He does have the potential to be a top 6 forward, but for the next few years we expect him to be a solid bottom 6 winger for us. He will probably play for our farm team next year, and be one of the main offensive threats for them.”

133^rd Overall Pick

JP Anderson, Goalie, Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors

Born: April 27^th, 1992 Toronto, Ontario

HT: 5’11”   WT: 185lbs

RS Scoring RS Goalie Stats Season Team Lge GP A PIM SO GAA W L T Svs Pct

2008-09 Mississauga St. Michael's Majors OHL 26 2 0 0 2.94 12 12 0 651 0.904 11 0 0

2009-10 Mississauga St. Michael's Majors OHL 36 1 2 2 2.60 23 10 1 787 0.899 10 1 0

2010-11 Mississauga St. Michael's Majors OHL 51 1 5 6 2.36 38 10 1 1163 0.911 20 1 2

Wilson’s Take:

“JP over the past two years has proven that he is one of the better goalies in the OHL. After a very strong year for Mississauga, the team came up short twice, in the OHL finals and the Memorial Cup.  We feel we have added another good young goaltender to our stable and he has the potential to be a starting goalie in the MRFHL. He is a few years away from reaching the pro level but with goalies some times taking time is the best route.”

145^th Overall Pick

Darcy Kuemper, Goalie, Red Deer Rebels

Born: May 5^th, 1990 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

HT: 6’4”   WT: 195lbs

RS Scoring RS Goalie Stats Season Team Lge GP A PIM SO GAA W L T Svs Pct

2008-09 Red Deer Rebels WHL 55 1 8 3 2.96 21 25 8 1378 0.898

2009-10 Red Deer Rebels WHL 61 2 16 3 2.73 28 23 4 1455 0.908

2010-11 Red Deer Rebels WHL 62 1 22 13 1.86 45 12 5 1587 0.933

Wilson’s Take:

 “We decided to take another goalie with this pick, and we couldn’t be happier. Darcy is much bigger goalie then JP, and he is a very athletic goalie. He has been an under the radar player but he had an absolute stellar year this past season, being named the WHL player of the year.  We are really excited at the potential he brings and we expect a lot of good things from him. He will probably not see our AHL team for another year and is likely 3 years away from the pro team but we really like what we see and we hope to see more of it over the next few years.”

149^th Overall Pick

Shane McColgan, Right Wing, Kelowna Rockets

Born: January 1^st, 1993 Manhattan Beach, California

HT: 5’8”   WT: 165lbs

Regular Season Playoffs Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM +/-

2009-10 Kelowna Rockets WHL 71 25 44 69 45 -15

2010-11 Kelowna Rockets WHL 67 21 45 66 62 3

Wilson’s Take:

 “Shane was once one of the top prospects of this draft, as earlier as a year ago. But a poor year dropped his draft ranking considerably.  He has tons of skill; he is quick, has great vision and can easily score and make passes. His size is the most detrimental thing about him, but if he can apply himself and work on being stronger, he could easily make the jump similar to Tyler Ennis. He had a poor year, but he turned it on during the playoffs and showed why he was so highly thought of just a year ago. He has the potential to be a top 6 forward, and some more grooming in the WHL and then AHL, we see him hitting that goal.”