Express '24 Draft Review

"It was a typical draft day." said GM MacRae "No big surprises, which is maybe a bit unfortunate... in the sense that guys that we had hoped might drop to us just never seemed to.  But I trust our great scouting team and I think, as usual, we got the best player available at each of our picks"

Well that certainly sounds exciting...

28. Cole Beaudoin (C) With their first pick the Express went with an "athletic freak" who is universally known as a "man child" with strength and conditioning well above his peer group. Despite being an all-around good Canadian centerman, at least according to Craig Button, he seems unlikely to crack the WJC roster. Ok, so maybe that's not the headline Express fans want to hear with their first round pick, but a player voted "most hard-working" and "top penalty killer" does sound more like a mid-round pick than a top talent.  His point production doesn't jump off the page, but he's noticeably one of the most impactful players on the ice.  Hopefully the Express have found a future third-line pivot and PK specialist.

58. Julius Miettinen (LW/RW) Speaking of Craig Button, he felt that this player could have gone in the mid-first round. Miettinen is another big, physical presence. Hockey pundits have used word like "dependable", "reliable", "two-way" and "big" to describe this smooth-skaing Fin. Like with Beaudoin, it seems the Express have another high-floor, low-ceiling player who is likely to be a useful pro, but probably not a top-six guy.

88. Luca Marrelli (D) On draft day, Marrelli was projected to go in the third round, and he was picked in the third round. Like Beaudoin, he's been ignored by Button as a potential Team Canada selection for the WJC, but as of this writing he's leading all OHL defencemen in points and he's leading all players on his own team, the Oshawa Generals (that includes Rejkyavik Riders 7th overall pick, Beckett Sennecke).  GM MacRae famously undervalues offensive defensemen, but Marrelli is making a strong case to get noticed early in his first post-draft season.

94. Aatos Koivu (C) The Schooners' disasterous 2023-24 season may not have won them a lottery pick, but the Express got the benefit of using a NS pick to select Saku Koivu's son very early in the fourth round. Speaking of Schooners failures, the senior Koivu was a big part of the Schooners failed bid for a cup in 2006. Anyway, that's just some trivia for you. And before fans get upset, NO the Express did not make a trade with their evil divisional rivals. This was part of the Henri Jokiharju trade with Hamilton. Where were we? Right. Aatos Koivu has name recognition. He's playing pro hockey in Finland and hopefully one day will get to play against his dad's old team in the SICHL.

118. Javon Moore (LW) Later in the fourth round, the Express took a flyer on a big high-school kid. It's hard to evaluate a player when he's playing against such weak competition, but he started his draft year with 16 points in 4 games, finishing the season at almost 2 PPG. That combined with his size makes him an interesting enough case to pick at this point in the draft. His USHL career hasn't quite started off with the same "bang", but he should have several years along his NCAA development route before we really see what the Express got here.

148. Hagen Burrows (RW) With their fifth round selection, the Express took another American player with size. Burrows got an "honourable mention" on Bob McKenzie's pre-draft ranking for his versatility as a physical, two-way play-making power forward. With such an adaptable skillset he might one day find a roster spot in the SICHL.

178. Kieron Walton (C) Walton was described by one SICHL pundit as "one of my favourite players of the year" and early in the 2024-25 season he's making a case as to why. He's currently leading the Sudbury Wolves in points, and it's not close. He's be the runnaway best player on his team. At 6'6" and 212 lbs as an 18-year-old, he's already got a pro frame, and there is every indication that the Express may have found a "hidden gem" here in the sixth round.

208. Trent Swick (LW) When you get to the bottom of the draft and realize that all the longshot goaltenders were inexplicably picked by the fourth round, you maybe look for anything that separates the rest of the players available. In the case of Swick, the Express stuck with their 2024 theme of "huge players" and selected another 6'6" beast. He was one of the older players available, at 20, so he may be closer to his ceiling than others, but with one of the final picks in the whole draft you just take a shot at something and hope your number comes up. (More often than not, its doesn't - just ask Schooners' GM Eric Schneider)