With a 14.2% chance of winning the 2013 NHL Draft Lottery, the Tampa Bay Lightning retained the third overall pick in this summer’s draft. This certainly was not a bad consolation prize.
The chances are good that the Colorado Avalanche will select Portland Winterhawks defenseman Seth Jones with the first overall pick, while Halifax Mooseheads forward Nathan MacKinnon could possibly go at number two to the Florida Panthers.
With both Jones and MacKinnon’s names likely called by the time Lightning General Manager Steve Yzerman comes to podium, picking the third overall pick won’t be easy.
If either Jones or MacKinnon are still on the board by the time the Bolts are on the clock, there is little doubt that Yzerman will pick one of the two. It is a no-brainer that Jones and MacKinnon would bring plenty of excitement to Hockey Bay. Both prospects will be a cornerstone for any NHL franchise for the next 10-15 years.
On the flip side, the chances of either of them being available at the number three slot aren’t good, but that doesn’t mean that the Lightning won’t nab a high-end prospect.
Two players come to mind; MacKinnon’s Moosehead linemate Jonathan Drouin and Aleksander Barkov of Tappara in the Finnish Elite League.
While Jones and MacKinnon have dominated the top two slots in the NHL’s Central Scouting Rankings, no player’s stock has skyrocketed more over the last couple of years than Drouin. After tearing up the QMAAA with 53 points in just 22 games for Lac St. Louis, the Mooseheads made room for Drouin, who adapted very well in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), scoring seven goals and accumulating 29 points in 33 games during the 2011-12 campaign.
In his first full season in the “Q”, Drouin finished second in league scoring with 110 points (41 goals, 64 assists) in only 49 games. Drouin even made the cut for Team Canada at the 2013 World Junior Championships, which is impressive for a 17-year old who was one of the team’s best players. This dynamic forward has been ranked higher than MacKinnon and some scouts had Drouin at the top of the board as the number one prospect in this year’s draft.
While Drouin is making his case in North America, Aleksander Barkov has stood out as the top European player in the draft. In 53 games with Tappara this season, Barkov, who is only 17 years old, scored 21 goals and added 27 assists for 48 points in a league against men before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. Barkov also represented Finland at the 2013 World Junior Championships in Ufa and the rest of the hockey world took notice as he scored three goals and dished out four assists in six games.
Barkov has been described as the top two way player in his age group and has great vision with outstanding playmaking abilities. The son of former hockey player Alexsander Barkov Sr., the younger Barkov already has the size (6’2″, 205 lbs) and talent to crack an NHL lineup next season.
While the Avalanche and Panthers will be asking themselves “Jones or MacKinnon?” Steve Yzerman and the Bolts will be salivating while asking themselves, “Drouin or Barkov?”
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