Posted: 6/27/2009 by Brian LeBlanc
First off, in case you missed the news this morning, Jay Bouwmeester has been traded from Florida to Calgary for Jordan Leopold and a third round pick. Rather amazing that the Panthers got a warm body for him this late in the game, although Leopold is a free agent as well and there's no guarantee he'll be resigned.
Anyway, onto the business at hand.
With their first pick of the second round, the Canes select Brian Dumoulin, a 6'3" defenseman who continues the theme of size and strength that the Canes needed this year. Dumoulin, a 17-year-old Boston College recruit, was the defenseman of the year for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs of the Eastern Junior Hockey League in 2008-09, and put up seven goals and 23 assists in 41 games.
Dumoulin told the media that he went to game 2 of the Eastern semifinals in Boston this season, and while he didn't have a rooting interest in that game he was quick to say that his allegiances are with the Hurricanes now. He compared himself to Anaheim's Ryan Whitney, but he believes he's more of a two-way player that can jump into the play and create some offense. He believes that he needs to get stronger and be more dependable in his own zone, but he thinks that playing under Jerry York at Boston College next season will pay some hefty dividends.
He thought that his parents lived near Raleigh at one point in the past, but we found out later that they had only visited Greensboro once and that they never lived here. (Can't fault the kid; he wasn't old enough to remember.)
Click here for the entire conference call with Dumoulin.
And since it was 11:00 last night and I was dead tired, I forgot to add the audio from
Phillippe Paradis and
Jim Rutherford & Tony MacDonald (very long - 7 minutes) from last night. Those are added now.
With the 88th pick, the Canes selected Mattias Lindstrom from the Swedish Elite League. At this point, it should come as no surprise that he has size (6'4") and is very hard to knock off the puck. Hockey's Future says that he is tough to play against in the corners and is solid defensively, but doesn't have a ton of offensive skill (even though they admit that his offensive knowledge might be a little underrated).
On a conference call, Jim Rutherford said he was pleased with what the team has done in the first three rounds. Dumoulin skates very well and will take a little while to develop, but the scouts really like him. He needs to develop his physical game, but Rutherford believes that playing at BC will help that area of his game by playing against bigger college players.
As for Lindstrom, Rutherford says that even at 18 he puts a scare into a lot of guys in the Swedish league. He is tough in front of the net, physical in the corners, and generally causes trouble in the offensive zone. Rutherford said the comparison isn't fair right now, but the development potential projects Lindstrom to be a Tomas Holmstrom-type player. He needs to improve his skating, but that's no surprise given how big he is at such a young age.
Rutherford admitted that teams came to him saying they were planning to take both players just a few picks later, which understandably made the Canes' table happy. They didn't acquire the player they were hoping would fall to them in the second round, but Rutherford wasn't expecting that to happen anyway and they're very happy with both players they picked. He isn't looking to swap picks or players; their priority is still to sign Erik Cole and Chad LaRose, and they're comfortable with where their draft slots are for the rest of the day.
Click for the entire call.
The Canes' next pick was in the fifth round, number 131, where they went off the board and took Matt Kennedy, the captain of the OHL's Guelph Storm but a player that wasn't even listed in the NHL Central Scouting rankings. Again, Kennedy is a tall, lanky player (6'2", 203 lbs), the fourth in a row that the Canes have drafted that is at least six feet tall. Kennedy has already turned 20 and played a few games with the AHL's Syracuse Crunch after Guelph's season ended, so it would come as no surprise to see him start next season in Albany.
In the sixth round, the Canes continued the trend, selecting Rasmus Rissanen from the Finnish junior league at pick number 178. Rissanen also played on the Finnish team at the 2008 World Junior championships. He is described by Hockey's Future as a stay-at-home type that diesn't turn heads with his skill, but he needs to improve his speed and quickness if he will contribute at higher levels. However, he was rated the 37th-highest international skater by Central Scouting, so the Canes might have stolen him this late in the draft.
The Canes finished their draft by selecting Tommi Kivisto, a Finnish-born defenseman who plays for the Red Deer Rebels in the Western Hockey League. Kivisto saw his stock take a free-fall in his first season in Red Deer, only scoring one goal despite possessing a strong and accurate shot, according to Hockey's Future. He will return to Finland starting in 2009-10, as he's signed a two-year deal to play in the Finnish league.
Canes director of amateur scouting Tony MacDonald said on a conference call at the end of the draft that they made focusing on size a priority before the draft started, and they were able to address that priority with most of their picks. There wasn't a focus on one specific position, although late in the draft defensemen made their way to the top of the Canes' list and they took them; there wasn't any overriding priority for a specific position, though.
MacDonald also said that they had good scouting on 6th-round pick Rissanen from his Finnish team, owned by former Cane Sami Kapanen. There were a few players they left on the table at the end of the draft that they might consider inviting to rookie camp, but they're satisfied with what they obtained and feel good about the quality of the players they drafted.
Click for all of MacDonald's comments (very big file -- 11 minutes long).
That'll do it...we'll be back when the Canes sign free agents or make a trade. Something like that is bound to happen, but no idea when.
Thanks for following along.