Good morning. Today is the second day of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Starting at 11 AM EST, the second round will begin. The rest of the draft will be completed today by about 3 PM EST. While these prospects may not carry the same potential and talent as those in the first round, it's in these remaining rounds where draft classes are built and judged upon in later years. Long shots and projects will be selected, but it won't be done half-heartedly. It'll be because the team's scouts and management has faith that they'll make their mark one day.
The New Jersey Devils selected Adam Larsson last night at fourth overall. It was a fantastic selection. Now they get to wait a bit since they traded their second round pick (38th overall) to Nashville last summer for Jason Arnott and the NHL petulantly made the Devils forfeit their original third round pick (69th overall) for the Kovalchuk contract. Their next selection is 75th overall, Dallas' former third round pick since the Stars didn't sign Jamie Langenbrunner before the draft or reach the second round of the playoffs. The Devils have picks in the remaining four rounds: 99th, 129th, 159th, and 189th overall.
The second day of the draft is only televised on NHL Network, and even then, don't expect the same kind of coverage from last night's first round. Picks come quickly and the broadcast could be discussing something else as more are announced. If you don't have the NHL Network, then please follow the draft picks at NHL.com with their tracker.
One penultimate note: here's the link to an index of all prospect profiles Kevin, Tom, and I did over the past month or so. Feel free to follow along with the draft and see where these guys go.
One final note: Great news from Tom Gulitti today: a donor has been found for Jake Wisniewski. They're still ways away off from hitting the $100,000 mark for the uncovered medical expenses, so please feel free to donate via the links in the story or pass it around to spread the word. There will be a fundraising event today at SHOTS Sports Lounge in Clifton from noon to 3 AM. If you're in the area, then why not check it out?
This is an open thread for today's events. Feel free to discuss what happened yesterday between the NHL draft and the trades that went on. As the Devils make their picks, I'll get a short post up for each selection and will update it with more details later in the day.