NHL Draft Recap – Picks 26 to 30

Pick 26 – The Montreal Canadiens selected Nikita Scherback from the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL.  He is a player the Habs need, who plays bigger than his 6’1″ frame, an asset that is desperately needed among the Montreal forward corps.

Pick 27  Nikolay Goldobin is a high scoring winger from the Sarnia Sting, and he is on his way to the San Jose Sharks, who are in need of an influx of talent and should be fun to watch with Tomas Hertl.

Pick 28 was traded to the New York Islanders to drop down a few spots and add an extra second rounder.  They chose Josh Ho-Sang from the Windsor Spitfires.  He carries a reputation for being outspoken but he is talented and joins the crop of young Isles.

The 29th pick goes to the Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings had the 29th pick and they picked Adrian Kempe from Modo of Sweden.  He is a fast skater who has decent hands and projects to be a 2 way player.  He is among the youngest draftees, with a mid-September birthday.

New Jersey had the 30th pick, which was recaptured following the Ilya Kovalchuk cap circumvention saga.  New Jersey selected John Quenneville, a centre from the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL and the cousin of Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville.  He doesn’t project to be a big scorer but is solid in all aspects of the game.

Overall, the CHL supplied 20 of the top 30 picks, although some of them were imports.  It wasn’t a night of deals and surprises, and all in all a pretty uneventful evening aside from the James Neal trade.