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As promised, here's Wiz' breakdown of the Hawks' draft options in round 2. He'll be back early next week with a review and analysis of all the Hawk picks.

I'll be back tomorrow with the latest news and rumors.


WIZ:

By pick 48, the thick talent pool will be almost picked clean of much of the better players that have displayed "lots of the parts."

I figure the Hawks will go fishing for one or even both of the big goalers Brandon Whitney or Matt Murray in the second and third. It isn't so much that Kent Simpson and Mac Carruth are not good long term investments, as much as the Hawks’ organization depth makes them able to take these bigger-sized goalies if they are still there. If you have players with similar upside all close on the team list, a goalie with pick 48 is reasonable.

This part of the draft will also be when you will see teams scrabbling to pull off trades to get in on players they feel are value acquisitions that should have been taken already.

There may be a slew of defenseman still not selected.

Mike Matheson, Patrick Sieloff, Nick Ebert, Gianluca Curcurto, Jake McCabe, Adam Pelech, and Jaynen Rissling are just a very few …and all have positives and negatives that put their names in the conversation for the better parts of the year. For that matter, my Panther's first round reach pick of Jordan Schmaltz, might be part of the sloppy seconds too.

All have projectable areas that they already are very good at. Some lack significant upside. Others lack consistency or so far have not shown the scouts that they are able to put the pieces together to actually become solid players game in and game out.

But they all are still youngsters.

Jordan Schmaltz doesn't even get on the ice late in the third when his team is holding done goal lead. At this juncture he is a weak 6' 1", 175 pounder who is an incredible up-ice talent who shows tremendous possibilities as a PP general, puck-handler and passer, but either doesn't care to ramp up his defensive game, or simply can't. For all the agility, he still struggles with skating backward and playing with intensity to win each night. With his team before the Gamblers, his coach got on him for mistakes, and instead of sucking it up & attempting to play better, he requested a trade. So on he goes to Green Bay is still playing lazy, hasn't improved his moving into the gaps and stopping attackers, doesn't have a commitment to defense, and just didn't show progress in his second year in the USHL. Still there may be something there.

Mike Matheson is a guy who looked like a first rounder because his had shown good on-ice vision and high-end carrying ability, and very quick footed and has more than one gear. Plays the power-play point with maturity, and with added strength his shot will gain mustard. The knock against him is that he can become a liability defensively when the games get feisty. Just isn't tough and determined in close games and seems to cave when pressure is applied. Will he be there by 48, and will he improve after he arrives at Boston College? We will have to see.

Patrick Sieloff would be the second USA- NTDP- U-18 defender to be taken, he loves to pull himself out of position and hit someone hard. He is able to close on attackers and "blow them up real good." Move well on his skates in all directions but still manages to large amount of turnovers by playing undisciplined in his defensive zone, by flying around. A hitter whose deficiencies were masked by the great defenseman he played with. Not really a big up-ice offensive guy but there is plenty of time to solidify his inadequacies.

I was fortunate to see a lot of Soo games and because of his size you cannot help but notice Gianluca Curcurto. He is a defensive defenseman who can take pucks away and plays fairly strong to do so. Skates a bit bent over but has excellent feet, and is very reliable in his end. As far as an attacker, he seems to have little interest to improve his attack or just took an upmost careful route when in situations on the offense. There clearly is upside here.

Early on, I thought Ebert wasn't going to be around for the hawks to select in the first round. His smooth all-direction skating and movement, general feistiness, passing savvy, cannon shot and finishing ability looked in place. What happen was he came in out of shape, his offensive effectiveness withered, and he is looked inconsistent until almost the end of the year. He is a thick guy just over six foot and would be a perfect guy to take a chance on in slot 48.

I could have prefaced after each of the above: they are only 18. Much must improve besides getting mature to crack an NHL lineup.

Jake McCabe is the other "hot d-man" in Wisconsin besides Justin Schultz. Not big, just solid in many areas, and not the finished product. Not looking to bust games open as much as playing in a zone of comfortable that he can do his job on the back end.

Pelech went unnoticed until he seemed to be the calm solid horse of the Canada Under-18 World's team.

He has shown he understand and can play his own end smart and effectively, but his skating will hold him back because he lacks lateral agility and just isn’t all that fast. Just good at reading the play and doing the right thing.

Jaynen Rissling is what he is: a hulking punisher with a bit of speed, but not enough agility to handle big minutes or speedier forwards at this point. And has huge pair of fists too.

Instead of rehashing tons of forward's names, why don't I just cite some feel short forwards who projected to go quickly and be offensive threats, but may now be there by slot 48:

Centre-left wing Jarrod Maidens was close to my first round early but played 28 games because of concussion. Has high-end talent in many phases but seems to always get himself scoring opportunities. Seemed a bit timid before he was injured.

Boo Nieves- big, fast, but just didn't find the net—advance billing as a goal-scorer.

Martin Frk - he returned from a concussion and early looked like the plugger and scorer we were looking for except for his feet, decision-making, turnovers and general slacking off. Yeah, he can score, but where does he sit when he isn't?

Andreas Athanasiou has been heralded all year for his speed, but he doesn't receive the puck well, score, or handle the tough going. London was loaded and he had great talent on his wings all year. What good is all that speed if you cannot use it while moving like lightning?


All for now,



JJ

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