If you want to play pro hockey, NHL Draft has to be your destination, and top nhl prospects are harvested by NHL Scouts. How is it then, that in hockey, NHL draft is just like what you’d see on Wall Street, or Bay Street? NHL Scouting for the 2010 Entry Draft brought 400 top NHL prospects from around the world to be dealt and traded like commodities. NHL Draft is relative to the stock market, as NHL scouts are to farmers, and an NHL prospect is to a farmer’s grain. Every NHL scout prides himself upon the product of his trade: Top NHL prospects. Just like the stock market, first round trading has been less than predictable in 2010.
National Hockey League Entry Draft History
National Hockey League teams used to sponsor NHL prospects without any order of fairness. Sponsorship was all based on NHL scouting and first come, first served. NHL scouts poured over what was called the Hockey Breeding Ground, primarily small town northern Ontario, sponsoring amateur teams and players.
First NHL Draft Ever
Following the examples set by pro leagues in other sports, in 1963 Clarence Campbell organized the first NHL draft proceedings in Montreal. The draft was open to 16 year old NHL prospects only, and they couldn’t already be sponsored by a National Hockey League team. Once drafted, players still couldn’t be contracted by a team until they turned 18. Drafted players either went to tryout schools or were assigned to a National Hockey League sponsored junior team.
The first National Hockey League Draftee ever, was Garry Monahan from the St Michael’s Juveniles of Toronto, and he was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens.
- Taylor Hall (2010 Edmonton Oilers);
- John Tavares (2009 NY Islanders);
- Steven Stamkos (2008 Tampa Lightning);
- Patrick Kane (2007 Chicago Blackhawks).
National Hockey League Universal Amateur Draft
The NHL Draft system that began in 1963 was still routed in the sponsorship system whereby previously sponsored players were protected from being drafted by another team in the new draft system, but in 1969 the first modern draft transpired unaffected by the old sponsorship system. It was called the Universal Amateur Draft in which junior hockey players born before 1950 were eligible. These first NHL Prospects had to be at least 19, and not necessarily from North America. 1969 was the first year a European was drafted by an National Hockey League team. From 1969 onward, teams selected draft prospects in reverse order of prior season placement.
2010 Entry Draft
In the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, the Chicago Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes get the most selections: 11 each. The Florida Panthers and New York Islanders get 10 each. The Dallas Stars only get 4 picks, the fewest of all teams in the 2010 NHL Draft.
Nine of the first 10 NHL Prospects drafted in round one of this NHL Draft came from the CHL, and 17 of the 30 draftees in the entire first round of the NHL Entry Draft, came from the CHL.
If you are planning your route to the show, it would be helpful to know which leagues commonly get scouted by National Hockey League scouts, and most often lead to a career in the league right?
2010 NHL Entry Draft Prospects In Round One
The first 30 NHL Draft Prospects drafted by National Hockey League teams on the first night of the NHL Draft on June 25, 2010 were:
- TAYLOR HALL – Edmonton Oilers NHL Scouting report #2 from OHL – WINDSOR
- TYLER SEGUIN – Boston Bruins NHL Scouts report #1 from OHL – PLYMOUTH
- ERIK GUDBRANSON – Florida Panthers NHL Scouting report #4 from OHL – KINGSTON
- RYAN JOHANSEN – Columbus Blue Jackets NHL Scouts report #10 form WHL – PORTLAND
- NINO NIEDERREITER – NY Islanders NHL Scouting report #12 from WHL- PORTLAND
- BRETT CONNOLLY – Tampa Lightening NHL Scouts report #3 from WHL – PRINCE GEORGE
- **JEFF SKINNER – Carolina Hurricanes NHL Scouting report #34 from OHL – KITCHENER
- ALEXANDER BURMISTROV – Atlanta Thrashers NHL Scouts report #11 from OHL – BARRIE
- MIKAEL GRANLUND – Minnesota Wild Scouting report #1 in European Skaters from FINLAND – HIFK
- DYLAN MCILRATH – NY Rangers Scouts report #17 from WHL – MOOSE JAW
- JACK CAMPBELL – Dallas Stars NHL Scouting report #2 North American goalie from USHL – USA U-18
- CAM FOWLER – Anaheim Ducks NHL Scouts report #5 from OHL – WINDSOR
- BRANDON GORMLEY – Phoenix Coyotes Scouting report #6 from QMJHL – MONCTON
- JADEN SCHWARTZ – St. Louis Blues Scouts report #28 from USHL – TRI-CITY
- DEREK FORBORT – LA Kings NHL Scouting report #9 from USHL – USA U-18
- VLADIMIR TARASENKO – St. Louis Blues NHL Scouts report #2 in European Skaters from RUSSIA – NOVOSIBIRSK
- JOEY HISHON – Colorado Avalanche NHL Scouting report #55 from OHL – OWEN SOUND
- AUSTIN WATSON – Nashville Predators NHL Scouts report #14 from OHL – PETERBOROUGH
- NICK BJUGSTAD – Florida Panthers NHL Scouting report #13 from HIGH-MN – BLAINE
- BEAU BENNETT – Pittsburgh Penguins NHL Scouts report #32 from BCHL – PENTICTON
- RILEY SHEAHAN – Detroit Red Wings NHL Scouting report #22 from CCHA – U OF NOTRE DAME
- JARRED TINORDI – Montreal Canadiens NHL Scouts report #38 from USHL – USA U-18
- MARK PYSYK – Buffalo Sabres NHL Scouting report #7 from WHL – Edmonton
- KEVIN HAYES – Chicago Blackhawks NHL Scouts report #26 from HIGH-MA – NOBLES
- QUINTON HOWDEN – Florida Panthers NHL Scouting report #19 from WHL – MOOSE JAW
- EVGENY KUZNETSOV – Washington Capitals NHL Scouts report #3 in European Skaters from RUSSIA – CHELYABINSK
- MARK VISENTIN – Phoenix Coyotes NHL Scouting report #4 North American goalie from OHL – NIAGARA
- CHARLIE COYLE – San Jose Sharks NHL Scouts report #24 from EJHL – SOUTH SHORE
- EMERSON ETEM – Anaheim Ducks NHL Scouting report #8 from WHL – MEDICINE HAT
- BROCK NELSON – NY Islanders NHL Scouts report #25 from HIGH-MN – WARROAD
**Surprise draft pick: How does a 34th ranked NHL Prospect get to be the 7th player picked in the NHL draft? Maybe the Hurricanes like figure skaters, er, I mean, maybe they value skating technique very highly.
2010 NHL Entry Draft Surprises
After the first three draft picks in 2010, there were many surprise round one picks. Among the surprises was that Phoenix Coyotes were able to select defenseman Brandon Gormley from the Moncton Wildcats at No. 13. Gormley was ranked sixth in NHL Scouting rankings.
“We had Gormley very high on our draft list and didn’t really pay a ton of attention to him, because we thought he’d be gone in the top five or six picks,” Coyotes GM Don Maloney said. “As soon as we saw him sliding… as soon as he was at 10, I started hitting the phones very hard. I was offering our second-round pick to move up and grab him, and we liked Fowler as well.” He added, “That, for us, was found money.”
That statement right there is what the NHL Draft is all about. Money. Business strategy. Very much like Wall Street.
If you want NHL scouts to find you so you can get your name on the National Hockey League draft prospects card and eventually play on National Hockey League Ice, you have to know where NHL scouting is most likely to occur and be good enough to be scouted.