2012 NHL Entry Draft: Day 2 Picks

Now it’s time to take a look at the Ducks picks from Rounds 2 through 7. I’m not going to go into too much detail about every player, that I will do individually one at a time this week. After the Hampus Lindholm selection on Friday night, the Ducks had seven picks on Day 2. The Ducks got right back at on Saturday with the 36th overall pick, which they used on Nicolas Kerdiles of the USNTDP, who also lives in Irvine, CA. Born in Lewisville, Texas and raised a Dallas Stars fan. He is listed at 6’2″-207 lbs. He is a left winger, and naturally shoots left. He has played for the United States National Team Development Program the past two seasons who also won two gold medals with the USA at the U-18 WJC in 2010 and 2011. He is committed to play at the University of Wisconsin next year, let’s just hope for not another Justin Schultz problem.

In the third round, the Ducks chose 22-year-old goalie Frederik Andersen with the 87th overall pick. Andersen was chosen by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, but did not come to an agreement on a contract so he re-entered the draft. Andersen is a big goalie standing at 6’4″-220 lbs. He is a native of Herning, Denmark and has represented Denmark in the last four IIHF World Championships. He currently plays for Frolunda in the Swedish Elite League (SEL). The Ducks then picked 19-year-old center Kevin Roy ten picks later, 97th overall, fourth round. He is coming off of a record-breaking season with the Lincoln Stars of the United States Hockey League (UHSL). He became the first player under the league’s new format to score 50 goals, he had a total of 54 goals and 50 assists for 104 points in 60 games. He was also named the USHL Player of the Year. Also in the fourth round, the Ducks selected defenseman Andrew O’Brien 108th overall. O’Brien plays for Chicoutimi of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He is another big guy at 6’3″-197 lbs. More of a defensive defenseman, he didn’t put up any shocking numbers on offense.

In the fifth round, the Ducks selected defenseman Brian Cooper 127th overall. He hails from Anchorage, Alaska and has played with Fargo of the USHL the past three seasons. Cooper is exceptionally smart and exceptionally nasty. He may be the most physical player the Ducks picked in this draft. To finish the draft, the Ducks selected defenseman Kenton Helgesen, 187th overall, and defenseman Jaycob Megna, 210th overall, both in the seventh round.

I think it’s pretty clear the Ducks are trying to work on their blue line depth because, right now, the blue line looks pretty brutal. Especially after trading Lubomir Visnovsky on Friday. The Ducks really don’t have a top defensive prospect after Justin Schultz and he’s on his way out. Lindholm will now probably become the Ducks best prospect on defense. They also added a pretty good winger with nice upside in Kerdiles as well, even though, the Ducks have some pretty good prospects up front right now. As I said in the beginning of the post, I will have a post for each one of these draft picks this upcoming week in a sort of “Welcome to the Nest” series. In the mean time, look out for the meeting between GM Bob Murray and Bobby Ryan after Ryan’s frustration with management that was displayed on Friday.

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