THREE BLADES INVITED TO DRAFT COMBINE

The Saskatoon Blades will have three players taking part in the upcoming NHL Draft Combine, ahead of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

The Blades will have a goalie, a forward and a defenceman all taking part as Lukas Sutter, Dalton Thrower and Andrey Makarov have been invited to attend.

The annual event will see the players go through a number of different testing phases, including interviews, medical testing and physical testing.  All 30 NHL clubs send representatives to the event to get a closer look at the prospects.

Lukas Sutter had a breakout year for the Blades, posting a career high of 59 points in 70 games, including 28 goals.  Those 28 goals were 24 more than his output in the 2010-2011 season.  The Lethbridge, Alberta naive also led the Blades with 165 penalty minutes.

Dalton Thrower also experienced a breakout for Saskatoon as he led the Blades blueline in scoring with 18 goals and 54 points.  That point total was good for 8th overall in the WHL among defenceman.  Thrower also got more experience as he was tasked with going head to head with other team’s top offensive groups on a nightly basis.

Andrey Makarov had a solid first year in the WHL as the native of Kazan, Russia appeared in 54 games for the Blades.  He posted a record of 29-21-1-1 with a 3.01 GAA, .913 save percentage and a pair of shutouts. Makarov also took home a silver medal at the World Junior Hockey Championships as he backstopped Team Russia.

The combine is set to take place in Toronto from May 28th to June 2nd.