CHL Import Draft Tuesday

Feature Stories 2008-09

Jun 29 2009

CHL Import Draft Tuesday by Andy Neal

CHL Import Draft Tuesday On the heels of Prince George Cougar forward Marek Viedensky being selected by the San Jose Sharks in the NHL entry draft, the CHL Import Draft is upon the Cougars and the rest of Canada’s major junior hockey clubs on Tuesday.

The Import Draft will begin at 6:00am pacific time, with the Cougars holding the 11th overall selection in the first of two rounds, which is scheduled to take place at 8:10am PT.  The Cats also hold the 71st overall pick.  The St. John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League gets the first pick of the ’09 Import Draft, after a trade with the Halifax Mooseheads.

Each team in the CHL is permitted to carry two European import players each season. These players are selected annually at the Import Draft, with the order of selection rotating through each of the three leagues in the CHL using an inverse order of their final regular season standings from the 2008-09 season.

The Cougars struck gold with their second pick, 69th overall, in last year’s Import Draft, which turned out to be Viedensky, who tied for third in team scoring with 16 goals and 40 pointsand also played for Slovakia at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa.  The Cougars first pick last year was Jerome Flaake of Germany, who was taken 9th overall.  The 19-year old forward is an NHL draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs (’08, 5th RND, 130 O/A).  The current holder of the NHL’s Norris Trophy as the league’s top defenceman, Zdeno Chara, was also an Import Draft selection of the Cougars in 1996, going 6th overall.

The 2009 CHL Import Draft order of selection as well as up to date picks on Tuesday, June 30 can be followed online at http://chl.ca/importDraft.php.
>Print^Top