Drafty Time-Emerson Etem

Well after weeks of mourning the loss of the Senators Season, I, like many of my blogosphere brethren, have come out of hibernation to start talking about the most exciting day in hockey (for me at least).

The Draft.

Now I say its the most exciting day in hockey because the playoffs are not just a day, they are months long, deadline day is always kind of disappointing, as is July 1st.

For me the draft is the most exciting because I love young players. I think they are exciting, I think they provide hope. Not to mention plenty of deals go down at draft day itself.

Thanks to the ridiculous run of the Jaro Halak's (might as well call them that), the Senators will in fact be picking 16th overall and the consensus is they will be looking for a forward.

Now, we could pretend that all GM's are idiots and that Nino Niederreiter or Mikael Granlund will still be around 6-8 spots AFTER they are projected to go, or we can start looking at some real possibilities. One that intrigues me is Emerson Etem.

Emerson is a 6'0 190lbs natural centre that can play the wing. He was born in SoCal, but played junior hockey in Medicine Hat. The Hockey News has him projected to go 17th overall.

According to their draft preview, Emerson has all world speed, and has offensive tools, he just needs to refine them. However, he DID score 37 goals as a rookie in the WHL this year. The hockey news says that he will translate into a good two-way forward in the future, but I think he has the capability to be a good offensive prospect for the Senators.

The Senators website has an excellent article you can find here that talks about him, and I will leave you with the Top Ten Goals scored by the medicine hat tigers this year, and keep an eye out for Etem in a few of them.

So, what do you think? Is he a good fit? I will be looking at other players, but he has caught my eye first.