Question re 2011 Import Draft

[dsquared]

Do the Pats still have their pick in the 2011 Import Draft or has it been traded away already?

[Big Torro]

Do the Pats still have their pick in the 2011 Import Draft or has it been traded away already?

It was traded away last year for Ashton, but Regina has Tri City's pick for trading him this year. It won't be as high a pick, but it will be in the first round.

[dsquared]

As I recall the Pats traded away their 1st round pick in the 2011 Bantam Draft (Western Canadian and Western US Players) to Lethbridge in the original Ashton deal.
I was asking about the Import Draft - where all the CHL teams choose up to 2 players from Europe. Our current 2 imports are Blidstrand (5) (scares the S*@t out of me every time he's on the ice ) and Roznik (18)

[witness]

The biggest problem with the import draft is unless you want to pay the agents fee and the transfer fee to the home club, you will not get the top quality players. These players do not come over here for free or without strings attached.

[patsdude114]

ya the good quality euros dont come over here unless the NHL team they are drafted by says it is best. Which is why Blidstrand is here he is a 6th rd pick of PHI & Blidstrand isnt as bad as u may think he is... id rather have him on the ice instead of Schneider/Pavkovich/Borstmayer...

Its not Blidstrands fault that only a hanful of players can receive a pass that he sends, his passes are hard & crisp. Alot of the so called turnovers that do happen is cuz the players on the wings cant control his passes, that wont be a problem when he plays pro hockey (be it in the AHL or back in Sweden) Blidstrand is here to develop & get more comfortable with the north american game. Yes at times he has his lasps back to the begining of the year but he has made huge strides in his development.

It does normally take euros (minus the elite 1s that do come) a full season to really get used to the transition. Body contact is what Blidstrand lacked at the start of the year & at least now he does take the body more, his stick check is 1 of the best i have seen in years on our team. I find Blidstrand is very comfortable playing with Davidson, the other game when his D partner was Bidlivskii i thought he tried to do too much with the puck instead of keeping it simple.

As for ur question i have no idea if we still have our 1st pick in the euro draft or not, i know if we do id definately drop Roznik & try again. Once in awhile you do luck out & draft a good 1 like Novak or Kalus. Im surprised more CHL teams dont go to the so called weaker countries & pry there better juniors away. There is 1 kid on Norway who does seem to have alot of talent but no 1 to play with. I think we will start to see more & more SUI players come over to the CHL in the years to come. Look at what POR has done with Niederreiter & Bartschi, im sure there fellow country men see the development they are getting over here in Canada & plus just seeing how dominate the Canadian juniors are has to be a motivator to come over here. There are some really good SUI kids. The transfer fees are what the kicker is though with the euro teams. The bigger market teams seem to get the better euros cuz they can afford more. I think the WHL as a whole has to help with transfer fees to get more skiller euros over here. A skilled euro can help with the development of our canadian kids as well.

You cant tell me players like Pyett, Bernhardt, McDonald, Duval didnt learn a few things from Kalus/Tolpeko in there rookie years. Kalus was a very skilled player who got wrecked by his agent just so his agent could start taking a pay cut. Kalus needed another year of junior to help develop his defensive play. Not to play 3rd or 4th line in the AHL, personally though the trade to MIN screwed his career over. MIN mishandles so many young kids its crazy. Gillies is another name that comes to mind.

As i can see i have went way over board with my euro talk, its 6am & im alittle drunk & babbling im sure.

Happy New Years!!!!

GO PATS GO!! KICK SOME RAIDER BUTT SATURDAY NITE!!