Very Unofficial Draft Primer, Part 2

The Seattle Kraken will have 10 choices in the 2023 NHL Draft, held tonight and tomorrow at Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators. Three of those 10 picks are scheduled to come in the 2nd round.

As we await the Kraken 1st round selection tonight (TV: ESPN) and rounds 2-7 Thursday (TV: NHL Network), here's the second half of our Very Unofficial Draft Primer, which we began with this post.

5. Draft Prospect All-Name Team, Part 1

Hugo Hell, a defenseman with Farjestad Jrs. in Sweden. If he falters with the team which drafts him, look for disgruntled fans to suggest he be traded, saying, "Give 'em Hell!"

4. Draft Prospect All-Name Team, Part 2

You'll have a clue that a club hates its public address announcer if they make these back-to-back selections: a left wing from Hamilton, Florian Xhekaj, and a defenseman from Charlottetown, Anton Topilnyckyj.

3. Team-Specific Predictions

Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman will select Stepan Zvyagin, a winger from Dinamo-Shinnik in Russia. Yzerman plans to market him as "Stevie Z."

Winnipeg will pluck center Benjamin Poitras of the Sioux City Muskateers, mainly because "Bennie and the Jets" sounds cool.

Columbus will take Brady Cleveland, a 6-5 defenseman with the U.S. under-18 team, and Cole Brown, a left wing from Hamilton. The Jackets are hoping a Cleveland-Brown combo will be a hit with northern Ohio sports fans.

2. One Draft-Day Trade Will Sting

This is unconfirmed, but is something I've hallucinated: The Lightning on draft day will acquire the Blue Jackets' mascot, Stinger ("the bug with an attitude").

Tampa will then package Stinger with their own insect, Thunderbug, in a trade to the Rangers, who don't have a mascot of their own. Among Big Apple hockey fans, the move will create quite the buzz.

1. Deep End Of The Poole

Ron Poole holds a draft-day distinction which will never be duplicated. In the 1970s, the NHL didn't place a limit on the duration of the amateur draft; teams could keep making selections until they tired of the exercise.

By the 25th round in 1974, every club had dropped out except the Washington Capitals. Washington made Poole, a center with the Kamloops Chiefs, the 247th and final member of the '74 draft class.

(The Chiefs would later move to Seattle, and eventually change to their current nickname, Thunderbirds.)

The NHL later shortened its draft to 12 rounds, eventually truncating it further to seven rounds. So Ron Poole will likely be the only hockey player ever chosen as late as the 25th round. Ron, understanding the odds, never tried turning pro.