New York Americans 2018 Draft Report - How Swede It Is

[Scott-New York]

New York Americans GM, Scott Jones, was very busy leading up to the draft to improve his teams chances of restocking the cupboards after the organization decided that a second trip to the conference finals was likely to be the pinnacle of their success with the current roster. Jones started the summer by sending Niklas Hjalmarsson to Baltimore in return for talented 6’5 forward prospect, Gabriel Gagne, and Toronto’s 3rd round pick. The Amerks parlayed that selection into diminutive but skilled puck moving Swedish defenseman, Sebastien Aho. The Amerks next move was a blockbuster, sending both Phil Kessel and Cam Talbot to Moncton for a pair of first rounders and Jimmy Howard. The Amerks also took Jaromir Jagr, who has already announced he will retire after the upcoming season and Brandon Pirri, who will add a little depth to the Amerks roster. Veteran Stalwart blueliner and alternate captain, Mark Giordano would be the next and possibly most difficult piece to move. It has been no secret that Jones appreciates Gio’s work ethic. In 7 years with the Amerks, Giordano has put up 238 points from the blueline with a +78 rating while averaging north of 23 and a half minutes of ice time over his tour of duty in New York. Giordano will ply his trade in Philadelphia next season, who sent New York picks #13 and #61 in return for the highly regarded veteran along with pick #21, originally acquired in the Moncton trade. Jones made good use of his asset at #13 by selecting big, talented Swedish center, Henrik Borgstrom. Jones then added huge American power forward, Jordan Greenway, with his remaining first rounder at #29. Their is little doubt the Amerks were looking to add size to their forward group in the 6’3 185# Borgstrom and 6’6 226# Greenway. Pick #61 was also used to add size to the roster, this time in 6’3 205# quality all around American defenseman, Daniel Brickley. Moving on from there, the Amerks used 3rd round pick, #73, which they had acquired previously from Milwaukee as part of the return for forward Mattias Janmark, to select mobile right handed Canadian defenseman, Ethan Bear. With the Hjalmarsson and Giordano moves, it’s possible that Bear, as well the aforementioned Aho, who was selected later in the 3rd round with pick #87, could each possibly get a look with the Amerks as early as this season. Another defenseman was then moved, with RFA Stephen Johns shipped to Halifax along with pick #122 in return for picks #115 and #116, dependable depth defenseman, Fredrik Claesson (also Swedish), big complimentary winger Hudson Fasching and defensive prospect, Gavin Bayreuther. The pair of fourth rounders coming back to New York in this trade were parlayed into puck moving Swedish defenseman, Calle Rosen, and playmaking Swedish center, Axel Holmstrom. Rumors started to circulate that Jones and Colorado GM, Matt Taylor, had been talking at length about the rights to veteran winger, Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk will be eligible to re-join the GHL next season. These talks sparked the interest of Jaromir Jagr, who played 3 seasons in Colorado. A deal would come to fruition for Jagr to return to the Pioneers for his final season with Jagr and Kovalchuk’s rights heading for the mountains in return for the Pioneers 2nd round pick next year and depth winger, Cody McLeod. The final pick for the Amerks of the 2018 draft came at #149 when the Amerks improved their goaltending corps with big (yep, you guessed it) Swedish netminder, Adam Werner.

“There is no doubt we are very happy with our draft, it’s tough to rebuild, making the trades we did certainly took away from our team in the here and now but we think we took a big step forward in terms of organizational depth. We’re still early on in this progression but some of these kids that we’ve added to our system here at the draft could be ready to step in full time as early as next season in some pretty important roles. We’d like to wish the best to the great players who have moved on. We appreciate what every single one of them has done for this organization.”