61 days ago the NHL held their 50th entry draft, the entry draft is truly a unique day for a lot of people. First you have the franchises looking to draft young talent,trade picks to aquire a piece to make them a contender or maybe even a bit of both. Next you have the fans tuning in to see the next move there favourite team will make; and last but not least you have the draftees themselves over 200 kids waiting to have their name called and join the team that put all the trust into them.With that comes great pressure astowed on a young man, some players flourish and some crumble under the pressure.
This blog is about how I think the top 3 picks will do come next season.What you read is simply my opinion, players can improve quicker than expected or not develop at all. Please feel free to make your opinons heard in the comments section.
The first player we should talk about today is Nail Yakupov. As everyone knows he was drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers.
Yakupov joins a team with already an abundence of young talent with the likes of Hall,Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle just to name a few. First I think I should say that I really dont like the pick. I feel the Oilers should have drafted Ryan Murray instead. But this isnt that kind of article(but if anybody wants to comment on the first overall pick and what you would have done I'd like to read it) Many writers seem to think Yakupov will play along side of Taylor Hall and Ales Hemsky.
Whether he plays with them or not remains to be seen but he will play this season for the Oilers (barring a lockout). He will be in the spot light all season and in the medias eye. I think Yakupovs skill,great shot and powerplay time will net him around 47-52 points this year ( 19 goals, 30 assits) is my prediction.
The next player we will be talking about is Ryan Murray. Murray was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets the team that just can't catch a break. Scott Howson has done a terrible job with the Blue Jackets the past 5 years but it seems he finally got it right. Ryan Murray will do wonders for this team in all areas of the game; 5 on 5,powerplay and penalty kill. Although the Blue Jackets will struggle Ryan Murray will not. I expect 25-30 points (7 goals,20 assits) is my prediction.
The last player we will talk about today is the most interesting one. Drafted 3rd overall by the Montreal Canadians was Alex Galchenyuk. This center is 6'1" and 200lbs he is a great fit for the Canadians as they need size up the middle;...actually size everywhere is needed. Galchenyuk is coming off a knee injury which had him miss almost all of the 2011-2012 season. Questions surrounding Galchenyuk are about injuries,the russian factor and does he use his size properly. If Galchenyuk can make the team and play a full 82 games I expect him to be average this year. It's really hard to gage Galchenyuk I truly beleave he will get in the 30-35 point range (9 goal,21 assits) is my prediction.
I know most people won't agree with my predictions. I can see people saying how can you expect Murray and Galchenyuk to get nearly the same numbers with Murray being on the Blue Jackets.
Well my reasoning is I think Murray will have a much bigger role for his team than Galchenyuk will with the Canadians.
Keep in mind these predictions are made with these players playing a full 82 games for there team which I dont think will happen to any player in this draft except Nail Yakupov.I hope you enjoy the blog.
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