Hello sports fans. Well, the 2020 CCHL draft was unprecedented as this year it preceded the NHL draft! With the NHL shut down due to COVID-19, the NHL draft is likely delayed until October or November 2020. League commissioner, Matt Young, in consultation with the league administration team, made the decision to hold the CCHL draft and not delay it. This decision was met with some mixed emotions. The biggest concerns were that some GMs would not be able to know who their favorite teams drafted, and the very present concern that some CCHL picks may not actually be selected by NHL teams. That second concern made all of the later round CCHL picks a bit more risky than usual.
The draft would also set a new standard, by going fully online. In a brilliant move, Commissioner Young moved the draft to an online site. While there was some skepticism about the new format, the draft was a huge success, completing in record time. Kudos to Commissioner Young!
There was a lot of fireworks in the days leading up to the draft as the Capeside Loons continued their flurry of trade activity by trading all the way up to the 2nd pick! Calgary owned the first pick and made it known that the pick was not for trade! And with an elite talent like Alexis Lafreniere available, who could fault them! With the first pick in the CCHL draft well known for months, the second pick suddenly became the most interesting pick. Would Capeside go with the consensus #2 pick, Quinton Byfield, or would they go with the quickly rising German winger, Tim Stutzle. In a bit of a stunning turn of events, Capeside went with Stutzle. Fort Erie, which traded back from #2 to #4 and #5, was salivating when the Wisborg Donuts selected countryman and elite winger, Lucas Raymond. That left Fort Erie to select Byfield and the top rated dman in the draft, the smooth skating Jamie Drysdale. The early part of the draft could not have gone any better for GM Young.
After pick 5, the picks continued with no real surprises. The defending champion Siberia Icecats took a bit of a risk in drafting top goalie prospect, Yaroslav Askarov, with the 11th pick in the draft. Yaroslav is said to be the best goaltending prospect since Carey Price, but goalies can be hard to predict. Capeside then closed the first round with winger, Jacob Perreault, son of former NHL player, Yanic Perreault.
Georgetown had a string of 4 consecutive picks, selecting 3 forwards and one of the biggest defensive prospects, Helge Grans. Grans is a solid defenseman from Malmo, Sweden. Every team is looking for the next great Swedish defenseman! The Sudbury Miners also had 4 picks, selecting 2 forwards and 2 defensemen. Capeside dominated the second half of the draft, collecting a plethora of picks in the later rounds. GM Czepiel was active during the draft, negotiating a number of trades. The Amos Comets did not have an official pick in the draft, but GM Quesnel was able to negotiate a few trades to acquire some talent in this draft, trading away future picks. Former champs, the Minnesota Norsemen, had their first official pick in the 9th round, selecting goaltender, Brett Brochu. GM Kallum managed to collect a complete set of players from Sweden, drafting at least one at every position. The league was shocked when GM Kallum drafted Maxim Krovyakov from Russia and Simon Knak from Switzerland, as they do not meet the standards of Swedish or Finnish prospects.
The feel-good moment of the draft was when GM Yip of the Calgary Chinook drafted Hugo Styf in the 7th round. There was much consternation at whether this uniquely named prospect would get drafted. GM Yip received cheers for this selection! Unfortunately, for every story such as this with a happy ending, there are others that are more tragic. Also uniquely named prospects Primo Self, Ivan Ivan and Jan Sir were not able to find homes. We hope that some team finds them a home in the next CCHL draft. For only a dollar a day, you can adopt a uniquely named prospect. Won't you help these poor prospects?
Well, that's it for this year, sports fans. Now we sit and wait for the NHL draft to see where these prospects end up. Until next year, so long!
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