We will conclude our look at the most recent Entry Draft by taking a look at the rest of the players the Avs chose.
Starting with our 2nd pick of the 5th round, Center/Centre
Lance Williams.
Williams is particularly strong on the defensive end, with good checking skills, solid defensive read, positioning, and stickchecking abilities. Offensively his strength is getting open and he does have some shooting accuracy but little shooting range. Stamina is another strength. On the negative side, none of his mental ratings very strong, though his leadership and professionalism are the best of these.
In the 6th round we took yet another Center/Centre (I really need to figure out how I want to handle the spelling on this
),
Scott Sarauer. While
Sarauer is farthest from being NHL-ready of the players we have looked at thus far, he does profile as a solid future NHL forward with plus defensive skills, good speed and stamina, a team-first attitude, and decent offensive read abilities even if most of his offensive ratings are under-whelming.
Our final pick of the draft, and one of the last players picked period, could possibly end up being a surprise star in the future. Swedish Right Winger
Oskar Axelsson has a chance to develop into a good playmaking, 2-way forward with his passing skills being his current biggest strength. He also has excellent acceleration on the ice though his other physical skills are a bit lacking.
All-in-all it appears that it was either a pretty fair draft by the Avs (we rose from being the 29th ranked system for prospects to the 21st on the strength of this draft) or if the Avs scouts prove to be mostly right even better than that. It will take years (game universe time) to truly evaluate, but I am cautiously optimistic.
And, ultimately, this is where a good deal of the fun in playing the game comes for me, even when it leads to disappointments.