Ducks Sign 2011 First Round Pick Rakell
By Sean
Last season, the Anaheim Ducks selected Rickard Rakell with the 30th overall selection in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Then, this past Monday, Rakell signed a three-year entry-level contract.
Rakell, now 19-years-old, attended the Ducks Prospect Conditioning Camp that was held recently. He now has two seasons under his belt with the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He tallied 28 goals and 34 assists for 62 points in 60 regular season games with the Whalers last season. In the playoffs, Rakell recorded 2 goals and 10 assists for 12 points in 13 games. He also celebrated a gold medal win with his native Sweden at the 2012 World Junior Championships in January. He recorded 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points in 6 WJC games. He also appeared for Team Sweden in the 2011 WJC in Buffalo, New York, recording 3 assists. He was also the youngest player on that Swedish team in 2011.
Rakell has developed nicely with Plymouth. He impressed in his first season with the Whalers, which was his first in North American, and he continued to progress this past season. He has always been a good two-way player. He has also grown into his body size a little better as well. He has shown some good instincts all over the ice and begun to display a pretty nice scoring touch. I’m looking forward to seeing him develop and make his NHL debut. That may be this upcoming season, that may be next season, who knows. I did hear a rumor that Rakell had been invited to training camp for a shot at making the Ducks roster, but that’s only a rumor that I have heard. I haven’t seen any solid proof that that is true, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Rakell on his time with the Ducks so far:
"“Anaheim is greatSeeing the organization take care of everyone around here. I feel so happy to be here and looking forward to hopefully a lot of years here.”"
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