The New England Wolfpack went into Wednesday with three draft selections in the first two rounds. By the time they made their selections, they had four. A mid-day trade secured the 9th overall selection in the draft when they parted with their Reddit 1st. Reports have surfaced that the “war room” of the Wolfpack decided that they wanted to secure their guy and were willing to spend that future pick to secure a pick now and didn’t see a large difference between what they’d get with that reddit selection future and Eko Van Otter.

The New England Wolfpack draft table was manned by rookie call ups Perry Morgan, Guy Zheng, Dick Clapper, co-GM Johannes Leitner and General Manager Erik Chisling. We went into the draft planning to restock our forward prospect pool, and the team executed on that plan flawlessly.



ROUND 1 – PICK 9

With the 9th selection, the Pack selected coveted winger Eko van Otter. The Dutch and Norwegian forward brings a skillset that is sorely needed in the organization with his smooth skating, stellar hockey sense and positioning and his saucy distribution of the puck. His agent is from the Boston area, thus van Otter is comfortable and excited to join a team based in Boston. He wanted to be here, and we wanted to have him. A flawless fit. He’s able to see plays before they develop and knows where to put the puck before his teammates are in position to receive them. He projects into a top line playmaking winger and could possibly develop into playing center. His ceiling is sky high and we can’t wait to see him develop into an all-star.

ROUND 1 – PICK 16

The sixteenth selection was a bit of a different beast for the Pack brass. There was a shortlist of players they coveted at this spot, and it was the original hope to secure van Otter here. Obviously that didn’t happen that way, but the Pack were pleased with our scouting discussions with the young American centerman. Slap McShotty owns a massive frame with his 6’4” 220 pound build. He’s going to be a puck possession beast with his strengths being strength, puck handling and faceoffs. We see him projecting into a PK specialist that can really power a shut-down line.

ROUND 2 – PICK 21

The local kid! Joseph Laraque grew up a big Wolfpack fan, watching the stars of Jasper Clayton, Toivo Kosonen, Raven Silverwing and Patrikov Bure. He’s from Charlestown, MA, so he always had a soft spot for the Pack. We were ecstatic he slipped to us at 21 and think he’s going to be a slam-dunk at the SHL level. Laraque projects to be a lethal offensive threat with a laser accurate wrist shot and a one-timer that he can get off from any part of the ice. Even with his nasty offensive attributes, he’s not lost in the defensive side of the game. He’s an incredibly promising prospect and we’re ecstatic to have him with us. He projects into a top line forward and could easily be on a line with van Otter one day.

ROUND 2 – PICK 25

Now, try saying this name ten tim- no, just try saying it once. Przemysław Brzeszczyczkiewicz!  Our equipment staff will have their hands full getting that on the back of a jersey. PB we’ll call him, I figure. PB is a 6’2” playmaking centerman from – you guessed it! Poland! He’s a guy that fits well into the room who always has his teammates laughing. He’s going to be a solid top 6 guy for us to help give us some puck movement and size down the middle.

ROUND 4 – PICK 49

Yep, we got an active player with the 49th overall pick. We were fortunate enough to scoop up Boris “The Beast” Poroshenko. Poroshenko is a two way forward who also has great size – 6’3”, 230 pounds. He could probably lose a little bit of that weight for an extra jump in his step, but it’s gonna take a lot to get him to cut back on the borscht. “The Beast” has a hard path in front of him, but if he keeps his foot on the pedal he has a great chance at developing into a strong contributor at the SHL level with the Wolfpack.

RIP Dangel. See you on the other side, brother

ah I love it! The new wave of talent is looking pretty good for the Pack