The NHL Draft is just days away and the Anaheim Ducks are set up well with two first-round picks. I’ve already done a series looking at who the Ducks could select with the sixth-overall pick and over the next three days, I’ll look at 11 prospects who the Ducks could select at 27th overall.
Before doing this, I created a list of 23 players who I think are unlikely to slip as far as 27th. Those players are: Lafreniere, Byfield, Stutzle, Raymond, Perfetti, Rossi, Drysdale, Holtz, Quinn, Sanderson, Askarov, Lundell, Mercer, Guhle, Jarvis, Zary, Holloway, Lapierre, Amirov, Schneider, Bourque, Gunler and Perreault.
If any of those players are available, the Ducks should have an easy pick. However, assuming they won’t be, here are the first set of players:
JUSTIN BARRON
Barron, a right-shot defenseman with a late birthday, spent his third season with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2019-20. He had 19 points in 34 games but missed a good chunk of the season with a blood clot.
He stands at 6-foot-2 and nearly 200 pounds and isn’t afraid to throw some hits. That said, he can skate very well with the puck and is comfortable leading a rush. He also has a hard shot and likes to shoot from the point, plus the fact that Barron is strong in his own end makes him a fairly well-rounded defenseman. While he may not have taken many steps last season, which may have raised some concerns about him, he could potentially round out a top-four defense group.
BRENDAN BRISSON
Brisson also has a late birthday and spent his first USHL season with the Chicago Steel, where he registered 24 goals and 59 points in 45 games.
He’s a decent skater who can make zone entries and has good hands, which allow him to make his way to the net past opposing defensemen. Brisson is a smart player and has a good shot as well but one factor to consider with his stats is that he was getting quite a bit of power play time and was getting set up quite a bit for good chances on the man advantage.
With Brisson, I think it’s very hard to project what kind of player he’ll become or how high his ceiling may be. He’s not my first choice for the Ducks to take here but he’s certainly an option.
TYSON FOERSTER
Foerster is a very interesting prospect, as different scouts have him ranked in very different spots, though most have him ranked to go late in the first round or early in the second round.
Foerster had 36 goals and 80 points in 62 games with the OHL’s Barrie Colts. He has a very hard shot and can also be positioned in a similar spot to Alex Ovechkin on the power play to unleash one-timers.
However, his skating needs work and could be an issue. He also relied heavily on the power play for his production this season and if he wasn’t used in such a large role in terms of special teams, his production probably wouldn’t be anywhere near as high.
I find his situation similar to that of Tyler Toffoli, who had similar point production in his NHL draft year but his skating was a weak point that factored into him being drafted in the second round rather than the first round. Despite the skating issue, if Foerster is available, he could be a good option for the Ducks.
Check back in the coming days for parts two and three!
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Which player would you be in favour of the Ducks taking 27th overall?
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