The NHL draft figures to be relatively quiet for current and incoming Front Range college players, and just one – Colorado College left wing Bill Sweatt – is a candidate to be selected in today’s first round.
Sweatt, who had nine goals and 26 points in 30 games as a freshman last season, is rated No. 27 among draft-eligible North American forwards or defenseman by the NHL’s Central Scouting Service.
He was tabbed the No. 1 pro candidate among current NCAA draft-eligible players by Hockey’s Future, an online magazine, and was invited by the NHL to attend the draft, which takes place in Columbus, Ohio.
“I really don’t know how it’s going to go,” Sweatt said Thursday from Columbus. “I met with 25 teams at the combine in Toronto and I don’t see one team that likes me better than the others. All my interviews went well.
“It’s just a great honor to be invited, and I hope some good things happen (today). If not, I’ll look forward to Saturday.”
The University of Denver, which already has 10 NHL draftees on its 2007-08 roster, likely will begin the season with 11 – the same amount it began with last season.
Sophomore-to-be Brock Trotter, who led the Pioneers with 40 points and 24 assists last season, is not among Central Scouting’s top 210 North American forwards or defensemen, but Hockey’s Future has him No. 7 among current NCAA players.
“A lot of teams have inquired about him,” DU assistant coach Steve Miller said of Trotter, who took a medical redshirt in 2005-06 after his Achilles tendon was severed five games into his college career. “I think he’s going to get drafted, and if he went in the third round it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Future Pioneers defenseman John Lee also could be drafted in Saturday’s second through seventh rounds. Central Scouting rates Lee, who has deferred his DU scholarship to begin in 2009, No. 92.
Lee’s decision to play another season of junior A has led DU to accept walk-on defenseman Joey Brehm, who played last season for Edina High School in Minnesota.
So the incoming freshman class remains at nine, made up of five forwards, three defensemen and a goaltender. The top incoming player is forward Tyler Bozak, who led the British Columbia Hockey League with 128 points (45 goals) in 59 games last season.
Bozak, an undrafted, 21-year-old free agent, won the BCHL scoring title over Kyle Turris, a 17-year-old who is rated No. 1 by Central Scouting and could be the first pick in today’s draft.
Staff writer Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
