Winnipeg at the Draft

At the NHL Draft today when Winnipeg GM Claude Noel will step to the podium and announce more than the seventh overall pick. Noel will announce the new team name. No doubt the player they choose with the seventh pick will have the honor of unavailing the new team logo as he becomes the first player to don their new jersey.


That may not be the only splash Winnipeg makes at tonight's draft! A credible sources that indicated Philadelphia may be shopping Mike Richards and Jeff Carter and that they would be targeting star UFA goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is also suggesting the team is seeking a star young defender, and that that player is Zach Bogosian.
Bogosian is surplus to the needs of Winnipeg.  Noel has inherited a very good crop of defensemen, Dustin Byfuglien, Tobias Enstrom, Ron Hainsey, and Johnny Oduya and prospects Paul Postma and Arturs Kulda. This summers UFA crop also has plenty of quality defensemen they can draw on to fill out the blue line.
If Noel really wants to make a splash at the draft tonight he can trade Bogosian to Philadelphia for the eighth overall pick and possibly a player like Matt Carle, Sergei Bobrovsky, or Scott Hartnell. This would give Winnipeg two top ten picks back to back.