Cameron Live Blogs the NHL ED 2007!

Ok, it's only 4:00 and I already have some items to report:

- Tomas Vokoun has been traded from the Predators to the Panthers for a 1st and 2 2nd rnd picks next year. With the departure of Forsberg, Kariya, Hartnell, Timmonen and now Vokoun, the five best players on the Predators from last year are officially gonzo. They will be lucky to win 20 games next year. Next stop, Kitchener!

- Calgary deals for the overpriced Adrian Aucoin. He gives the Flames some depth and room to maneuver around the departures of Hamrlik or Stuart. He's too slow and expensive for my tastes, but the cost (Zyuzin and a minor-leaguer of no note) is not steep.

- Roberts and Recchi re-sign in Pittsburgh. So? On a more interesting note, Bob and I were talking last night and I think it very possible the Severed Heads will be making a bid on Ryan Whitney (6'4", 215lbs, 59 pts in 06-7) in the first round just so I can watch Dan's head throb like Michael Ironside's in the final battle of 'Scanners'.

- Oh yeah, and there is no way I'll be taking a goaltender at any point except after Dan completes his wraparound. No shock really, but I wanted Dan to have another reason to rue the fact he's got me at pick 11 going before and after him. We've played too much bridge together for him not to know I am going to finesse him all draft long. Cue 'evil laugh'!

- My top prospect choice John Tavarres (no mystery - he's why we traded for the top pick) is campaigning to be allowed to be drafted next year instead of the following year! Why? He misses the age cut-off by only five days, and his Mike Bossy like goalscoring ability has scouts drooling. The OHL made an exception for the gun-slinger, and the NHL may well follow suit.

4:19

- I just found out the Leafs have traded draft choices for Toskala - solid move. He'll stop them from burning out Raycroft and give Pogge a chance to develop.

They also picked up Mark Bell in the deal, which all in all, is a pretty decent 3rd liner for them.

The rumor of the team asking McCabe to waive his no-trade clause appear to be true. Don't be shocked if he doesn't return to the Islanders from whence he originally (lo those many years ago) came from.

4:30

- The TSN programming has finally kicked in, with a review of the trades etc. Personally, I'm a little horrified as it looks like they will be carrying on the tradition of interviewing the 18 yr old kids in what can only be described as excruciating television.

- Doug Wilson, GM of the Sharks, looks tanned, and relaxed - and is utterly unrecognizable from his days as a defenseman in Chicago where always he looked pale and intense to the point of berserker.

- Maguire just got his first face time. I'm waiting for him to explode in a hail of goo when a team like Edmonton drafts a soft European ahead of Colton Gillies. His explosive outrage makes the whole show worthwhile.

(Picture of Pierre Maguire shortly after the Islanders selected Robert Nilsson over Zach Parise. C'ept in real life there was more spit.)

4:38

- Rumour offered by Darren Dreger - Luc Bourdon to Phx for the #3 pick so the Canucks can select Kyle Turris. Wow - that would be SWEET.

4:45 baseball highlights. Holy crap, Roger Clemmons is still alive. Who knew?

4:49 short pause to grab a Corona and some strawberry/mango pie. Mmmm pie.

4:52 highlights of Canada getting completely hosed by the refs at the Gold Cup (?) of Soccer in their match with the USA. Somewhere in Germany Corey is screaming in rage.

Man, Soccer is painfully dull in even when it is just the highlights. Maybe there are 18 year old hockey players being interviewed on another channel...

4:58

- Finally some more hockey, Tyler Arnason has re-upped with Colorado. Yawn. Has their ever been a less exciting 3rd line centre? Unless you count his off-ice issues with strippers, being threatened by his coaches and a general bar-fly nature, he's completely colourless as a hockey player.

5:00

- Amid gooey stories about proud parents and pimply kids going to the draft (sniff) are images of Brandon Sutter with his dad Brent walking into the draft together. Once Brandon adds 10-20lbs of muscle on that frame he'll be an imposing force. With so many question marks at the top of the draft, getting an oversized Sutter kid like Brandon by trading down would be a great move for any GM.

5:07 - !!! BREAKING NEWS Nashville owner Leipold has advised the NHL in writing that he does not want the NHL to consider Balsillie as an owner for the Nashville Predators. The Hamilton Predator dream is over.

5:08 - Bob MacKenzie calls Patrick Kane will be the top pick to Chicago. God has spoken.

5:09 - Kyle Turris meets Steve Yzerman. Once upon a time, Stevie Y was passed over for first spot in an NHL entry draft so an American team could take an American born player named Brian Lawton. I believe 'doctrine of eternal recurrence' is what Nietzsche called it.

5:16 - Bettman shows up at the podium and the boos begin even before he opens his mouth. Has any league ever had a commissioner more despised? Nevertheless, he says all the right things about Columbus - which, all things considered, has been a success story - especially in comparison to Nashville.

5:21 - Patrick Kane (as expected) goes to Chicago. Dale Tallon gave a speech about how Chicago had never had the top overall pick before today. Any comparisons between the Wolves and Blackhawk are purely coincidental ;-), but without a doubt, I would rather have Rob running my team than Bill Wirtz.

And the first flawed pick of a deeply flawed draft is now done! Then again, how flawed can a 62 goal scorer be, even if he's only 5'9"? That's three inches taller than Theoren Fleury was - and he turned out Ok.

5:26 - TSN put up a list of the US born players who have gone first overall, and there are some real duds...Lawton, Berard, DiPietro, oh my.

5:27 Philadelphia takes VanRiemsdyk - which also makes sense. He's big, strong, and can score. Prototypical Flyer material. Will bookend with RJ Umberger. Twice people have compared him to Rick Nash - but the other name I heard that makes a lot more sense is John LeClair.

5:34 - Standing ovation from the Columbus crowd for Gretzky. Sweet.

5:35 - Kyle Turris is taken by the Coyotes. Sorry kid. He does get bonus points for having a moderately hot Mom. I suspect he just dropped no fewer than five spots in our prospect draft (and as much as a full round) by landing in Phoenix. Will spend at least one more year in College.

5:37 - Bob has joined me on the phone to participate!

5:38 - Bob swears that Vokoun's presence in Florida lifts them into a playoff spot. His argument is solid, Vokoun will win them three more games, and that would be enough to get them in.

5:41 - LA takes...Thomas Hickey?!?!? According to God (Bob Mackenzie) at least one other team had him rated in the top 5. Still, this spells, R-E-A-C-H. Doug MacLean is 'shocked'.

5:44 - Dean Lombardi is interviewed about the pic and looks like a young Christopher Walken with a bad perm and a Dr. Strange white forelock.

5:48 - Washington's new uniforms look WAY better than last years (very old school Capitals) Karl Alzner will look good wearing it, and given the offense that Washington has with Semin, Ovechkin and Backstrom, a D-man was necessary. For Alzner to still be around is excellent news for the Caps. In a reversal of Turris' situation, Alzner will probably move up the prospect draft lists by landing on such a loaded club.

5:51 - Pierre Maguire is still ice-calm. We need to change this.

5:53 - Oliers select Sam Gagner. Solid fit, but for a team that lacks goal scorers to get another play-maker, it could be troubling. Solid top 5 prospect pick for our prospect draft because of his talent level and the lack of competition among Oiler forwards for ice-time. Voracek may have reminded the Oiler brass a little too much of Ales Hemsky - and one under-achieving play-making winger with bad English is probably enough.

6:00 - Jennifer Hedger needs to tone down the bright red lipstick. And seeing her with a pearl necklace makes me feel dirty.

6:02 - Everybody - me, Bob, God, Doug Maclean, everybody, correctly calls Voracek for the Blue Jackets. Yawn. At the very least he'll feed Rick Nash the puck in the slot.

6:05 - Hate the new Blue Jacket uniforms. Hate them. On the flip side, Voracek's dad has a mustache like Polish Labour leader Lech Walesa. Rick Nash is caught on camera sporting a scraggly mountain man beard. Fine facial hair all-around.

6:08 - Cam Neely is introduced to make the pick for Boston. I can feel my pulse race! Zach Hamill, the player selected, is the antithesis of Cam Neely, being only 5'11 - though he is a BC native like Comox boy Neely. Alexei Cherepanov's free-fall is now accelerating.

6:14 - San Jose trades up to get the #9 pick for #13 and #44 and a pick next year. Whoo hoo, a trade! A real trade! (well, almost real, its for a top 10 pick). The Sharks do this to take Logan Couture - SWEET! Severed Heads GM reportedly does cartwheels at the thought Couture will end up with Thornton and Co, and gives an 'in your face' to the Great Whites GM who scooped Esposito ahead of the Heads forcing the Couture pick on them.

6:23 Florida's pick of Keaton Ellerby knocks both Esposito and Cherepanov out of the Top 10. Unbelievable. The story about how the Doan/Ellerby Boxing Day hockey game plays out is one of the best insights offered on the day. Ellerby's dad has arms like tree-trunks, and if Keaton grows into his frame the same way, he'll be a beast.

6:25 - Maguire shows some spark defending Cherepanov, 'complete insanity he hasn't been picked yet'. If he slips a few more, we can look forward to a burst vein or two.

6:29 - Brandon Sutter will be a Hurricane. Grinder or goalscorer? Doesn't matter - he's all hockey player. Not a great prospect pick for the FUNHL as he could easily end up on a third line for years.

6:34 - Ryan Mcdonagh to Montreal. The Cherepanov and Esposito despair deepens. That said, Mcdonagh is what the doctor ordered, a puck rushing defenseman with good blood-lines. Still, passing on Esposito here could make for some awesome motivation for the kid moving forward ala Denis Savard getting passed over to land in Chicago.

6:39 - Lars Eller to St Louis. A pencil thin DANE just got picked ahead of both Esposito and Cherepanov. Wow. I've now seen everything.

6:41 The vein in Maguire's forehead is now bulging and throbbing viciously, he could pop. His skin colour is bright red. It's nice to know there are things you can still count on in this world.

6:44 Captain Shattenkirk lands with Colorado. Another offensive defenseman from the USNDP. A solid call, who should be able to fill out a top four spot in a few years. Above average prospect now that he is in Colorado.

6:45 - Esposito is close to tears every time the camera pans over to him. Cherepanov has someone with him who looks like a Russian garden gnome, and both he and the garden gnome look like they have inadvertently swallowed bugs.

6:49 - Edmonton goes for hulking Hitman defenseman Alex Plante. If someone had told me that both Esposito and Cherepanov would fall below a one-dimensional defensive defenseman who lacks mobility and a thin Danish skill winger I'd have laughed at them until I passed out. It's now officially the bizzaro draft.

I didn't think it was possible that Logan Couture would go ahead of either of them, and he's now 6 picks ahead of both!

6:53 - Anaheim trades their pick #16 to Minnesota for #19 and #42. In other words, Anaheim didn't want either of the two guys rated in the top 10 that fell to them at 16. I'm now so stunned, it's incomprehensible. Turns out that Cherepanov's garden gnome isn't a relative, he's the kids translator. If he were a few inches shorter he'd be the spitting image of Barry Trotz with no neck, and that thick across the chest build that comes from drinking vodka.

6:56 Minnesota moved up to take Colton Gillies. A massive, bruising crash and bang forward with zero offensive upside. Future checking winger. So the Wild MOVE UP to take a solid checker, rather than a game-breaking winger or offensive pivot. If Maguire isn't apoplectic by now, I soon will be.

The good news? The Rangers could add Cherepanov or Esposito to play with Jagr, and Calgary now has a shot at the other one. Unbelievable.

6:58 -Jennifer Hedger's lipstick doesn't look as freakishly coloured as before. Bob suggests she's been kissing someone. I know in my heart that this cannot be true.

7:01 - Cherepanov to the Rangers! Finally! Could be sick if he comes over early enough to play with his hero. Did they dream this was possible at the start of the draft? Likely not. Holy Cow!

7:05 "I will be more than happy to play with Jaromir Jagr" Cherepanov's translator declares on behalf of his charge to Darren Dreger in the obligatory painful post selection interview.

7:06 Calgary trades #18 for #24 and #70 with St Louis. Bye bye Esposito as a Flame. Now I feel sick.

7:09 - St Louis takes Ian Cole-D USNDP. Another blue-line rusher from the US. Yawn. Esposito is now actually green. The last time I saw someone turn that colour it was after imbibing a double digit number of shots at the U of C bar.

7:10 Maguire talks about how Sather went four times to Russia to see Cherepanov play. The evil one is walking on cloud nine right now.

7:12 - After dropping from 16 to 19 Burke takes a kid from PEI, Logan MacMillan to play for the Ducks. Reminds Doug MacLean of Sami Pahlsson.

7:16 - Beer run!

7:20 - Esposito has landed - in Pittsburgh!!! Angelo, your pain was worth it. Your linemates are now, Crosby, Malkin, and Staal. Ridiculous. Simply ridiculous. If I was doing cartwheels when Couture landed in San Jose, Dan will be doing backflips and handstands to find Esposito in Pittsburgh.

Doug calls Bob to find out what is going on and has this pithy comment: "Malkin is now expendable". As if.

7:25 - Edmonton takes Riley Nash after trading up with Phoenix to get their pick for #30 and #36. Eh. Having passed on Esposito twice, I have zero faith in the Edmonton braintrust.

7:31 - Montreal goes off the board to winger Pacioretty, a LW with decent speed and grit. Yawn. Where is Mayorov going to land? (Now that the obvious story lines are settled with Esposito and Cherepanov finding excellent clubs to play for). What kind of a kid is Pacioretty? He models his game after Jed Ortmeyer. Worst. Answer. Ever.

7:34 - God is now speaking about Jim Balsillie, "Craig Leipold has asked the NHL to cease doing due dilligence on the deal, until Balsillie gets a binding agreement in place". In other words, the DEAL IS STILL ON!

7:36 - Jonathon Blum, a puckrushing D-man (and another US born player) is taken by Nashville. Apparently he lost his twin sister in a house fire, his mother survived a cancer scare and all while he was a teen-ager. Could be a character kid with lots of offensive upside. All in all a very nice pick (and a Vancouver Giant - someone I've scouted in person). A 'Kris Russell pick' according to MacLean.

7:39 - David Poile denies doing the job of 'gutting the franchise'. Of course he would. He does acknowledge that he is under instructions to have a 'low payroll'. On a side note, Poile has the worst dye job at the draft. Who is he kidding?

7:43 - Calgary picks (finally) and takes Swedish winger Mikael Backlund. Considered a steal this late (though he is recovering from a knee injury), he has Alex Steen like ability. Could be a solid 2nd liner. Could be Niklas Sundlbad. I know who I'm hoping who turns out like.

7:45 - Mike (I have no soul) Keenan is interviewed. Asked what he brings to the table "playoff experience". Sutter gives the best answer of the day when asked about why they wanted Backlund "I like the Swedes" - high comedy all round.

7:47 - David Nonis makes his way to the draft podium and goes off the board to take Patrick White a centre from Tri-City. ISS had him 23. TSN had him 46th. He was ranked #60 by THN, so he looks like a reach. Needs at least another year of development, and will be at University next year in Minnesota. Yet another American (8 so far, but still shy of the 10 last year). Apparently 'intensity' is his middle-name. Nonis has a television demeanour ideal for radio. Nobody has looked more nervous than Nonis today, including the kids.

7:52 - St Louis (finally) takes David Perron - a guy many teams had in the top 10 based on his offensive ability. Lead rookies in the Q in scoring. Ripped up the league with his skill, but the knock on him is that he looks like a fluke with only one season under his belt. Wears white skates because his favourite player is Alexei Kovalev. Uh oh. Bob says that could make him 'problematic'.

7:56 - Columbus boos Steve Yzerman. Awesome. He stays up there long enough to draft Brendan Smith, a D-man from St Michaels. Best described as 'raw'. Sounds like a safe defenseman pick for a team that can always use another defenseman in the system. Will join Kyle Turris and Ryan McDonagh at the University of Wisconsin.

7:59 - Maguire LOVES this pick based on his world class skating ability. He also likes what St Louis has done with Lars Eller, Ian Cole, and Perron. Despite the fact that two of those guys were picked ahead of Cherepanov who would have been a terrific fit in St Louis.

All in all today, we've had Gretzky, Neely and Yzerman all walk across the podium. Which in their day would have not been too shabby a line. Not too shabby at all.

8:01 - Bryan Deasley (an ex-Calgary Flame draft pick bust) is John Tavarres' agent, and he admits that they are trying to get Tavarres an early entry into the next NHL ED. Colour me happy despite the whole Esposito to Pittsburgh thing.

8:02 - Washington trades #28 to San Jose for #41 and a pick next year. SJ came in without a pick and will leave the draft with two, including Logan Couture.

"How'd you get fired?" - Mackenzie to MacLean after MacLean regaled them with a story about how they got a 2nd and a 3rd from Doug Wilson for a 2nd a few years back, and chose Mason, an OHL goalie of the year with the extra pick. MacLean artfully ducked from answering the question.

SJ uses the pick to draft a beast of a defender in Nathan Petrecki, someone ranked a lot higher. US born player #9 from the draft. As he is handed his jersey and hat, he towers over the rest of the people on the podium. Unlike some of the years past, there aren't as many redwoods in this one - a sign of the changing times. Three years ago several of the defenseman taken were well over 6'3" and weighing in at a quarter of a tonne. Now, we have slim puckrushers known for their speed rather than their strength (see Hickey to LA). That said, Petrecki is a throwback to those days when meat-bombs were the norm.

8:10 - Ottawa takes a kid in Jim O'Brien that can play either D or the wing, and who apparently didn't get the ice-time sufficient to make a solid set of stats at either position. Definitely a projection based on being the youngest player in Division I. Bryan Murray lisps his way through the interview, sparing everybody the embarrassment of being the worst interview of the day.

8:14 Phoenix closes out the first round by taking Nick Ross from the Regina Pats. A Scott Stevens fan, Ross also lists Chuck Lidell of the UFC as one of his heroes. Loves to hit, and is probably a Denis Gauthier type of D-man.

Bob ranks the big winners as;

1. Pittsburgh getting Esposito
2. Rangers getting Cherepanov
3. Chicago getting Kane
4. SJ getting Couture and Petrecki
5. Minnesota getting Gillies
6. Washington for landing Alzner

Me, I rank the big winners as;

1. The Great Whites (Esposito)
2. The Severed Heads (Couture a Shark at pick 9, Cherepanov playing with Jagr)

All bets are off on the rest...

And with that, we are out! Thanks you've been a great audience - hope to see you here again soon!