570News - Gary Doyle

Earlier this spring when I last chatted with Nick Spaling and Yannick Weber of the Kitchener Rangers, both said they would not be going to Columbus, Ohio this weekend. The NHL Entry Draft goes tonight and tomorrow. Both will be picked. Neither wanted the anxiety of sitting there waiting for their names to be called. Spaling said he would rather stay away and not be that nervous and Weber told me it was a long way to fly when he wasn’t convinced he would hear his name at all. With all due respect, both will be drafted. The Kitchener Rangers coaching staff has never encouraged players to attend the draft in person…the upside is amazing and euphoric, the downside is devestating. Not being picked at all is humbling, embarassing and hurtful. Agents who tell their players they will definately be picked should lose their piece of the pie. As many as six Rangers should be drafted tonight and tomorrow. Even if they’re not….they can channel David Clarkson, who was never drafted and still played in the NHL last year. Scouts are good, but it’s still a crapshoot.