From Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch:
Just ask any NHL general manager or scout: Decisions on the blue line have to be made so quickly, and the position is so rife with disaster, that players need a full junior or college career and even a season or two in the minors before they’re ready to join the big leagues.
But once every five or 10 years there’s an exception, such as 18-year-old defenseman Drew Doughty, who likely will go No. 2 overall to the Los Angeles Kings on Friday at the NHL entry draft in Ottawa, and likely will step right into the Kings’ lineup next fall.
“This is a defenseman around which a team is going to build for the next 10 years,” said E.J. McGuire, the NHL’s director of central scouting. “Drew is probably one of those rare guys who can step into the NHL next season.”
Read the entire article here.
Doughty is that good. His maturity level is well beyond his years and his ability to move the puck is tremendous. Additionally, he has a powerful shot and has shown he can play, and play very well, in pressure-packed situations. I don’t see any way that he falls past Kings.
