Prospect Profile: A Discussion With Sam Obermyer About Defenseman Curtis Gedig

Curtis Gedig was picked in the 7^th round, 204^th overall in the 2009 draft by the New Jersey Devils. 

What I find interesting about Gedig's draft position (and what John pointed out in his evaluation of the pick back in June of 2009) was that Gedig, who had a Central Scouting Mid-Term Ranking of 165 to, jumped 50 spots in the final rankings to 115.  Just looking at rankings you would think that being ranked 115 would land a player in the late 4^th round, early 5^th round, especially a player who has bettered his previous ranking. Curious, I looked back at the 2009 rankings and found the following players who had jumped from the mid-term rankings to the final rankings of 50 or more spots (and that also had an overall ranking near Gedig's so I used any player ranked 100-130 by Central Scouting) :

The players who had a jump in rankings were either drafted in the mid rounds or undrafted, except Gedig who almost went undrafted until picked up by the Devils.  So what do the Devils have on their hands here?  We know Gedig is big (6'3, 190), plays hockey at Ohio State University, and played in the BCHL for two years with both the Cowichan Valley Capitals and the Vernon Vipers. (For some reason hockeydb.com doesn't show that Gedig played in 2009-2010.  He did.) 

To get a better sense of who this player is and how he has developed so far in his freshman year of college I reached out to Ohio State Buckeye Hockey Radio Announcer Sam Obermyer.  Sam is also the Assistant Sports Director at www.ohiostatesports.net for The Ohio State University Buckeyes. You can listen to live game feeds on that site, so if you have a few minutes on a Friday or Saturday night you can catch all the live game action.   You can also follow him on Twitter here for any OSU hockey news and his blog at HockeyIndependent.com. 

After the jump, you will see the discussion Sam and I had. I thank Sam for his time and efforts with giving us some information on a little known prospect.  Note that I also embedded some links within my questions that refer to articles, video clips or other Gedig-centric information.

Curtis Gedig Career Statistics:

Tom: Ohio State has seen some pretty solid defensemen that were drafted by NHL clubs (Matt Bartkowski-FLA, Shane Sims-NYI) come to the school recently.  Both are said to have good point shots and play a good physical defensive game. When OSU announced Gedig’s commitment in November of 2009 coach John Markell was quoted as saying: "Curtis is a big kid that skates well, has good vision and makes the right pass," Markell said.   Would you categorize Gedig as more of a Bartkowski/Sims type or more of a 2 way player? 

Sam: In just over two months with the Buckeyes Gedig has made a big impression on the team becoming one of the top defensemen and through Dec. 9 is tied for the team lead in assists.  Gedig has been playing on the top defensive pairing with Senior Shane Sims.  He is the only freshman defenseman at Ohio State in a group that includes three seniors.  Gedig and Sims have taken up most of the ice time on the Buckeye blue line and Gedig is getting time on the PP and PK.  On the power play Gedig has most recently played on the secondary unit with senior defenseman Chris Reed.

Tom:  Right now Gedig is second in the CCHA in scoring by a freshman defensemen with 9 points.  All of his points are assists but 6 of them have been primary assists and 3 of those primary assists have come at crucial times in the 3^rd period or in overtime.  Is he helping to create all of these opportunities himself or has he been the benefit of playing with others who are creating offensive opportunities?  I know in the Michigan game he put a good shot on net that was tipped in off the rebound.    Is Gedig more likely to make a good first pass or skate with the puck into the neutral zone/offensive zones?