Stamkos holds top draft ranking
By Aaron Bell
It looks like Steven Stamkos will get a good chance to work on his tan this summer.
The Sarnia Sting centre is likely heading to Tampa, Florida shortly after the NHL Entry Draft wraps up in Ottawa in June. Stamkos is the top rated prospect for the draft and the Tampa Bay Lightning hold the top pick after winning the NHL draft lottery a couple of weeks ago.
On Thursday, NHL Central Scouting released their final rankings for the draft and Stamkos maintained his spot as the top North American prospect.
“It’s pretty exciting but there is a lot of hard work to do before then,” said Stamkos, who scored 58 goals and 105 points in 61 games this season. “I just started back training in the gym and getting ready for the NHL combine coming up. It’s going to be an exciting time for my friends and family. I’ve got a lot of people coming down and I’m really looking forward to it.”
Stamkos added 11 goals in nine playoff games, helping the Sting advance past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997.
“We came together,” Stamkos said. “We had something to prove and got past the first round for the first time in 11 years. The fans really appreciated that. It was a little disappointed to lose to Kitchener but for the guys that will be back next year it will definitely be something to build upon.”
Stamkos is the first of three OHL skaters that were at the top of the North American final rankings.
Peterborough Petes defenceman Zach Bogosian claimed the number two spot while Drew Doughty slipped to third.
Doughty, who won the OHL’s defenceman of the year award, was teammates with Stamkos on Canada’s gold medal winning National Junior Team this year.
“I definitely gained a lot of confidence there,” said Doughty, who was named the top defenceman of the tournament. “I used that confidence and experience in Guelph and I thought my second half of the year was a bit stronger than my first half.”
Niagara IceDogs’ defenceman Alex Pietrangelo was rated sixth while Cody Hodgson of the Brampton Battalion was rated ninth. Mikkel Boedker of the Kitchener Rangers (11th), Josh Bailey of the Windsor Spitfires (14th), Michael Del Zotto of the Oshawa Generals (15th), Tyler Cuma of the Ottawa 67’s (19th) and Jamie Arniel of the Sarnia Sting (20th) were also rated among the top 20 North American skaters.
Thomas McCollum of the Storm was the top rated North American goaltender in the rankings while Michael Hutchinson of the Barrie Colts was rated fifth.
The 2008 NHL Entry Draft is June 21-22 in Ottawa.
Last summer, Patrick Kane of the London Knights was the first overall pick of the Chicago Blackhawks. He followed Rick Nash of the London Knights (2002) and Joe Thornton of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (1997) as first overall picks from the OHL in the past decade.
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