2008 NHL Draft Results
Stamkos goes #1; Draft day results as players are drafted & traded
The lives of many young men who cannot yet grow facial hair were changed Friday night, during the NHL’s annual hockey draft. As expected, Steven Stamkos of the Sarnia Sting was chosen 1st overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning in hopes to turn the franchise around. After Stamkos, a little history was made; for the first time 4 defensemen were chosen within the first 5 picks.
Stamkos was highly regarded to go #1 by every NHL scout in the league and his 105 points in 61 games in the OHL would convince anybody he is real. The Bolts will welcome him with open arms, especially Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis who need pressure taken off their backs. Lecavalier has been the marketing agent for the Lightning since being drafted #1 in 1998 but will now have to share the billboards as the “poster boy” of the team. For the sake of Tampa Bay, I hope the spotlight change does not affect the team (read more about the Bolts in our 2008 Tampa Bay Lightning offseason report).
With the 2nd pick the Los Angeles Kings chose Drew Doughty while Zach Bogosian toughens up Atlanta’s defense being drafted with the 3rd pick. St. Louis and Toronto both continued the trend by choosing d-men Alex Pietrangelo and Luke Schenn to rebuild their teams around, to finish the top 5 picks of 2008.
The day was full of drama with NHL general managers making a total of 13 trades with most them being 2 for 1 draft pick changes, but there were big names shipped too.
Calgary sent their 1st and 2nd round picks to the Kings for the talented Mike Cammalleri but then pretty much got the picks back from Montreal for Alex Tanguay. Florida finally parted ways with their captain, trading Olli Jokinen to Phoenix for the solid core of Keith Ballard, Nick Boyton and a 2nd rounder. Philadelphia traded away their playoff sniper in R.J. Umberger and a 4th round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 1st round pick and 3rd rounder.
Just a big mess for scrambling teams needing to win.
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The rest of the 1st round in the 2008 NHL draft:
6) Columbus - NIKITA FILATOV
7) Nashville (from TOR) - COLIN WILSON
8) Phoenix - MIKKEL BOEDKER
9) NY Islanders (from FLA) - JOSHUA BAILEY
10) Vancouver - CODY HODGSON
11) Chicago - KYLE BEACH
12) Buffalo (from EDM) - TYLER MYERS
13) Los Angeles (from BUF) - COLTEN TEUBERT
14) Carolina - ZACH BOYCHUK
15) Ottawa (from NSH) - ERIK KARLSSON
16) Boston - JOE COLBORNE
17) Anaheim (from CGY) - JAKE GARDINER
18) Nashville (from OTT) - CHET PICKARD
19) Philadelphia (from COL) - LUCA SBISA
20) NY Rangers - MICHAEL DEL ZOTTO
21) Washington (from NJD) - ANTON GUSTAFSSON
22) Edmonton (from ANA) - JORDAN
23) Minnesota (from WSH) - TYLER CUMA
24) New Jersey (from MIN) - MATTIAS TEDENBY
25) Calgary (from MTL) - GREG NEMISZ
26) Buffalo (from SJS) - TYLER ENNIS
27) Washington (from PHI) - JOHN CARLSON
28) Phoenix (from DAL) - VIKTOR TIKHONOV
29) Atlanta (from PIT) - DAULTAN LEVEILLE
30) Detroit - THOMAS MCCOLLUM
By Kevin Chaves
ProHockey-fans.com Staff Writer
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