Half a year has passed since the last NHL draft and everyone is still waiting for the debut of top pick Nail Yakupov and a few other first-round selections.
For some, if not all of these picks, the longer their debuts are inevitably delayed by the lockout, the better an idea we get as to when that debut will be. Or, more to the point, when these prospects will be able to nail down their pegs on an NHL roster and make a reckonable impact.
With the exception of those in the NCAA, every first-round draftee has had some exposure to established NHL players or would-be NHL rookies in the AHL, Canadian major juniors or European professional circuits.
How they are measuring up with that lockout-affected competition is a rare bonus criterion to use in assessing their progression. Otherwise, it is merely a matter of how they are impacting their current clubs and how their general outlook has changed since they were selected last summer.
In ascending order from furthest to nearest, here is where each of the 30 first-round picks from 2012 stand between the first time they donned an official NHL jersey and when they will make a habit of it.
< ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Al Daniel
2012 NHL Draft: Ranking the NHL Readiness of the First Round Picks
December 24th, 2012 by Al Daniel Leave a reply »
Advertisement