Draft Director of hockey operations to meet with import pick in effort to get him into 2009 camp

B10

Scott Briggs
telegraph-journal

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Now comes the tough part for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

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Courtesy of the Saint John Sea Dogs

Saint John Sea Dogs director of player personnel Mike Kelly will be travelling to Moscow this summer to speak with Stanislav Galiev and his family in an effort to convince the talented forward to join the Sea Dogs this season. Saint John selected Galiev with the first overall pick in the CHL Import Draft Tuesday.

The easy part was selecting Russian forward Stanislav Galiev with the first overall pick in Tuesday's Canadian Hockey League Import Draft. The tough part, or so it appears, will be convincing the 17-year-old to play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2009-10.

It's not that Galiev is gun-shy of the North American game. The 6-foot-1, 177-pound winger played last season for the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League. His 16-year-old campaign saw him collect 64 points in 60 games before adding nine playoff points en route to a league championship.

Galiev's agent, Alex Belopolsky, said Monday that the player plans to return to Indiana this season. Galiev is eligible for the NHL draft in 2010.

"We're trying to establish dates with the agent to go to Russia when it's convenient for the mother and the boy,'' Sea Dogs director of hockey operations Mike Kelly said. "I think it's important to have all the (appropriate) people in the same room. The agent seemed real interested in helping me go over and meet the family.''

Kelly, who's also Saint John's associate coach working alongside head coach Gerard Gallant, hopes to meet Galiev in Moscow near the end of the month.

After the Sea Dogs made their choice, the Portland Winter Hawks selected Swiss forward Nino Niederreiter with the second overall pick, while the Plymouth Whalers took Swedish winger Gabriel Landeskog at No. 3.

Saint John used the fourth pick to select Slovakian forward Tomas Jurco. The six-foot, 175-pound winger played as a 16-year old for Team Slovakia at the 2009 world under-18 championship this spring in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Jurco also suited up for his country at this year's World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in Port Alberni, B.C., scoring three goals and seven points in five games. He'll turn 17 on Dec. 28 and is eligible for the NHL draft in 2011.

"That's the guy we had targeted,'' Kelly said. "This is a guy who said he's coming. He's skilled, he skates OK and he can score.''

Kelly expects Jurco to go through an adjustment period that includes a lot of changes both on and off the ice. But he feels the player could be a cornerstone for the future.

"He fits in with our (2009) QMJHL draft picks who can play and grow as a group,'' Kelly said. "He's the same as the other guys coming to the team who were born in 1992 and 1993. They aren't guys who are going to put us over the hump (in 2009-10), but they're skilled hockey players.''

Portland head coach and general manager Mike Johnston coached Team Canada at the world under-18 tourney. The former University of New Brunswick bench boss liked what he saw from Jurco.

"We played Slovakia in an exhibition game and I thought he played really well,'' Johnston said. "He was definitely on everybody's list and he was rated in the top six or seven (entering the draft).

"As you go along, you start to recognize the better players for each team and he's one guy who stood out. He was on our list, too.''

Sea Dogs director of player personnel Norm Gosselin scouted Jurco at both the under-17 and under-18 events.

"He has good hands and a good touch around the net,'' Gosselin said. "He has a good work ethic and he's not afraid to play physical.

"If it was not us (picking him), at least two other teams would have selected him. As soon as we drafted him, (representatives of) two NHL teams called me to say we chose a good hockey player who's going to bring some offence.''

The Sea Dogs acquired the first and fourth picks by virtue of deals made last season with Halifax and Val-d'Or, respectively. The 60 teams across the CHL can each select two Europeans in the import draft and can carry two on their active rosters during the season.

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PRIZED PICK: The Moncton Wildcats chose Russian forward Kirill Kabanov with the seventh pick. Kabanov, who played last season as a 16-year-old for Spartak Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League, will turn 17 on July 16. Some scouts have projected him as a possible No. 1 overall pick in next year's NHL draft.

The Wildcats used the 34th pick to select Slovakian forward Marek Hrivik, who will turn 18 on Aug. 28.

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ONWARD, UPWARD: Guy Boucher became the new head coach of the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs on Monday.

Boucher led the Drummondville Voltigeurs to their best season in franchise history (54 wins, 112 points) and a berth in the Memorial Cup. The 37-year old has also enjoyed success at the international level, working as an assistant coach with Canada's men's under-18 team on three separate occasions, most recently at the 2008 world under-18 championship, where the squad won gold. Earlier this month, Bulldogs coach Don Lever and his assistant Ron Wilson were fired by the Montreal Canadiens, the Bulldogs' parent club.