Blessed with a slick shot, crafty passing skills and a willingness to forecheck with abandon, 18-year-old Bobby Ryan has been sending hockey scouts scribbling for years.
Perhaps in another season, Ryan, a native of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, might be waiting to learn whether he would be the first player selected in the NHL amateur draft.
Not this year.
PHOTO: AFP
Attention has been fixed on the Canadian phenom Sidney Crosby, the prospect who has been compared to Mario Lemieux and will be selected first overall by Lemieux's Pittsburgh Penguins in Saturday's draft. As a result, others have gone virtually unmentioned, including Ryan, a 6-foot-1, 213-pound forward; Jack Johnson, a 6-1, 200-pound high school defenseman from Minnesota; Benoit Pouliot, a forward ranked second among North American skaters by the NHL's Central Scouting Service; and Anze Kopitar of Slovenia, considered the top European in this year's draft by the CSS.
"This is one of the deepest drafts in recent years," said Barry Trapp, director of amateur scouting for the Toronto Maple Leafs. "Even drafting at No. 20, like we are, you know you're going to get a good player."
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim have the second pick, followed by the Carolina Hurricanes, the Minnesota Wild and the Montreal Canadiens.
The Islanders choose 15th, the Rangers 16th and the Devils 23rd.
The NHL draft is not a marquee television event like the NFL or NBA drafts, but it has had its share of intrigue in recent years.
The Islanders, for instance, boldly recast their lineup in 2001, trading the second overall pick and four prospects for Michael Peca, now the team's captain, and the disgruntled forward Alexei Yashin.
There is no intrigue concerning what the Penguins will do in Ottawa Saturday. They said they would take Crosby, who turns 18 on Aug. 7, a center who scored 120 goals and added 183 assists in 121 regular-season games over two seasons with Rimouski of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The Rangers already have goalies Al Montoya, Dan Blackburn and Henrik Lundqvist in their system, so that is the one position that Don Maloney, the team's vice president for player personnel, said they would not be looking for.
"We're looking for the best asset, whether it's a puck-moving defenseman or a center who can make a play," Maloney said. "There's a little bit of everything available."
The draft was reduced to 210 and seven rounds this year, from 270 players and nine rounds, because of the short time before the season opener on Oct. 5.
Changes to the draft rules may also present a twist this year. Previously, NHL teams that drafted European players maintained their rights, even if the player opted for a career in Europe.
Now, clubs will retain the rights to the player for two years before he returns to the draft, Devils president Lou Lamoriello said, which might curtail a recent trend away from North American players.
Another difference in this year's draft is that teams will pick in reverse order in the second, fourth and sixth rounds. Absent any trades, the team that has the last pick in the first round will have the first pick in the second round.
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