Courier: NHL Draft Recap
r By Larry Fisher – Kelowna Daily Courier
r
r Bruce Hamilton was as surprised as anybody to hear Brett Bulmer‘s name called when it was at the NHL draft.
r
r Ranked 65th among North American skaters by Central Scouting heading into the draft, and projected by many to be a third- or fourth-round pick, the Kelowna Rockets‘ forward was selected in the second round (39th overall) by the Minnesota Wild on Saturday in Los Angeles.
r
r “I was very surprised how high he went,” said Hamilton, the Rockets‘ president and general manager, whose own son, Curtis Hamilton, was selected nine picks later (48th overall) by the Edmonton Oilers.
r
r “I thought (Bulmer) was going to be in the third round, but I‘m really happy for him. Now he‘s got a tremendous opportunity with an organization that is very interested in him, obviously, to take him that high.”
r
r Bulmer‘s stock was on the rise throughout his rookie season in the WHL. The 6-foot-3 Prince George product was ranked 164th on Central Scouting‘s mid-season report, and a strong second half vaulted him up the list.
r
r Bulmer, who turned 18 in April, finished with 13 goals and 40 points in 65 regular-season games, then added three goals and five points in 12 playoff contests. Still, Bulmer is somewhat of a project pick for Minnesota, which will monitor his progress closely during his sophomore season in Kelowna.
r
r “I‘m looking forward to him going to their camp and finding out just how far away he is and then coming back here ready to go,” Hamilton said. “We do (expect a lot this season), but we have to be realistic. He‘s a second-year guy in the league and he‘s going to be 18 years old, so he‘s not going to carry our franchise.
r
r “Our goal for him is to just get him stronger and competing a little bit harder, and just being the player he needs to be on a nightly basis.”
r
r Bulmer was the only Rocket drafted this year, though others were in the running.
r
r Defencemen Antoine Corbin and Mitchell Chapman were ranked 171st and 193rd, respectively, while fellow blue-liners Colton Jobke and Collin Bowman were considered potential late-round picks.
r
r Bowman was an over-age prospect, passed over in the 2009 draft before playing top-pairing minutes with Tyson Barrie last season.
r
r None of them were picked despite Kelowna‘s penchant for producing NHL-calibre defencemen such as Josh Gorges, Tyler Myers and Shea Weber.
r
r “I know Jobke‘s got a tryout with Minnesota. Minutes after the draft, they contacted him,” Hamilton said. “And I‘m sure Chapman and Corbin will still get invited to some team‘s camp. In Collin‘s case, he just needs to play another year here and hopefully get latched onto as a free agent.”
r
r Goaltender Adam Brown was also eligible and showed up on some mock drafts, although he wasn‘t among the top 30 North American netminders in Central Scouting‘s final rankings.
r
r Another name that wasn‘t called among the weekend‘s 210 total picks was Kelowna‘s Ryan Harrison, a 5-foot-10 centre with the WHL‘s Prince Albert Raiders. Harrison was ranked 161st among North American skaters, and finished fifth in team scoring with 14 goals and 54 points to go along with 136 penalty minutes in 72 games last season.
r
r Bulmer, meanwhile, became the second highest forward draft pick in Kelowna‘s franchise history – behind former enforcer Scott Parker, who was selected in the first round (20th overall) by the Colorado Avalanche in 1998. Fellow Rocket alums Chuck Kobasew and Mikael Backlund were also first-round NHL picks, both by the Calgary Flames, but were drafted before coming to Kelowna – Kobasew out of Boston College and Backlund from his native Sweden. Blake Comeau was another second-rounder, selected 47th overall by the New York Islanders in 2004 after helping Kelowna capture the Memorial Cup.
r Top of Page
r
