What Can The Big 3 Of The 2011 NHL Draft Bring To Their Teams This Season

It was a huge day for many players during the 2011 NHL entry draft, some were drafted, some were traded but, for three great players their dreams of leading a team could be about to come true. Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had his dreams realized we he was announced as the 1st overall draft pick to the Edmonton Oilers.  After selecting first in the NHL Entry Draft the last two season’s, the Oilers could be returning to old form by adding young players with great talent to their team like Taylor Hall last season. In his first season in the WHL, Ryan Nugent Hopkins played five games and put up a total of six points, not bad for six games. In his second season in the WHL Hopkins put up a total of sixty-five points in sixty-seven games.  That season he won the WHL “Rookie of the Year” award and he proved he was worthy of more the next season when he put up one hundred and six points in only sixty-nine games, imagine if he had played every game that season!  Taylor Hall proved last season that he will not be a bust unless injuries continue to haunt him.  I think he could be the Oilers franchise player and now they have added Hopkins, who I think has more potential than Hall.  We could have a Crosby Malkin combo in the making in Edmonton, the question is, if Hopkins will play in the NHL this season, if he is NHL ready and to that I say,” you have finished 15th in the West the last two seasons, why not place him on an NHL line!”

The Colorado Avalanche were riding high, up 2-1 on the San Jose Sharks in the 2009-2010 NHL playoffs about to upset the best team in the west.   One year later, the Avalanche have traded former Panther Goaltender Craig Anderson to Ottawa and have fallen apart after being the second worst team in the NHL, holding the 2nd overall pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.  The Colorado Avalanche are looking for change, they have the pieces to solve the puzzle, but can they put it together?  After trading for former Capital, Semyon Varlomov, hoping he can be the star goaltender and fix the nightmares of last season in net, but before Varlomov, the Avalanche drafted 2nd overall Left Winger Gabriel Landeskog.  In his first season in the J20, Gabriel put up a total of zero points after playing one game, in his second and final season Gabriel put up twenty-one points in thirty-one games played in the J20.  The next season in his first and only year in the SEL, Gabriel put up one point in three games, played after his season in the SEL.  Gabriel would play two seasons in the OHL.  In his first season, Gabriel put up a total of forty-six points in sixty-one games played and in the second season in the OHL, Gabriel put up a total of sixty-six points in only fifty-three games played. Now, what can Landeskog bring to his team in 2011-2012?  The Avalanche are very close to being good again, I think that Duchene and Landeskog can be a lot like Hall/Hopkins, it will be very interesting to see which combo has a better season. With the addition of Landeskog, I think that the Avalanche can find their balance in offense and become contender’s for a playoff spot this upcoming season.

Now, it is time for my favorite part of the post, talking about what 3rd overall pick Jonathan Huberdeau can bring to the Florida Panthers this upcoming season.  Now I am not going to lie, I had wanted the Panthers to select Adam Larsson 3rd overall because of my strong belief of defense wins championships and I had thought we had enough offense, but Tallon ended up touching on our D and bringing in Campbell and Jovanovski.   If we could not get Larsson, Huberdeau would have been my second choice and I must say, I am glad Tallon picked him after all.  On Huberdeau’s quest to win the OMJHL, he first played in the QAA, in which he put up a total of fifty points in forty-three games played in his one and only season in the QAA. In Huberdeau’s first of two seasons in  the OMJHL, he put up a total of thirty-five points in sixty-one games played, but that was before his monster of a final season in which he put up one hundred and five points in sixty-seven games played in route to winning the OMJHL and now he has been drafted 3rd overall by the Florida Panthers. What do I think Huberdeau can bring to the Panthers this season?  A lot, after his monster breakout year last season in the OMJHL, I think he can put up solid rookie numbers this season if he is given the chance to play and with the help of David Booth, Stephen Weiss and Kris Versteeg, I believe he has good teachers that can help him be the best!