El Futuro

So thanks to a win by Kovy's Devils, the Thrashers have fallen another spot in the standings on the last day of the regular season and will most likely have the sixth over all pick in this summer's draft. As Big Shooter points out, there is a 6.2% chance of picking second through winning the draft lottery. As that is a very small chance, we'll deal with that if it comes to pass.

While things are always very fluid when it comes to draft rankings and they become even harder to predict when you throw Rick "Alex Burmistrov is Obviously Better than Cam Fowler" Dudley in the mix, let's take a look at ISS's current Mister Six, Ryan Strome.

Strome is a 6'1, 183lb center who has played the last two seasons playing for the Niagra IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League after being traded for Alex Pietrangelo in 2009. Only 17 years old right now, Strome has developed his game enough to make large strides statistically since entering the major junior fray.

GP G A Pts +/- PIM
2010-11 Regular Season Niagara IceDogs 65 33 73 106 28 82
2009-10 Regular Season Niagara IceDogs 27 3 10 13 -9 26
2009-10 Regular Season Barrie Colts 34 5 9 14 7 35
Source: Niagara IceDogs website.

From 27 points in 61 games to 106 points in 65 games a year later? That's some major improvement.

Hockey's Future lists him as a "riser" on the ISS top 30 and has this to say about him:
"Strome just continues to electrify the OHL this year and has been winning over even the harshest and most pessimistic critics as the season wears on. He is an ultra-intelligent and opportunistic playmaker who calculates his options extremely quickly and reacts even faster. Scouts and GMs love a player who can bounce back after disappointment and prove the doubters wrong and Strome continues to answer every and all questions about his abilities."

Important to note, since this is Rick Dudley we're talking about, the only mention of Russians in the ISS Top 30 are Alexander Khokhlachev at number 16, Artem Sergeev listed as a "riser" and Alex Kubaev, Nekita Kucherov, and Maxim Shalanov all listed as "fallers."