Croatia, Estonia, Japan, Italy, Slovenia and Ukraine are hoping to have some NHL Draft representation this year.
Drafting a Canadian? That’s overdone. Taking an American? Too mainstream. A Swede, Finn or Russian? Been there, done that., 6,541 Canadians have been selected, while USA has had 2,661. Among that, there has been one from Serbia , one from New Zealand , one from Israel , one from Romania and some rare representation in nations such as China, Australia, Netherlands, South Korea and Estonia. A total of 36 countries have been represented in the NHL Draft.
Unlike the 2023 NHL Draft, which saw Italian goalkeeper Damian Clara taken 60th overall by the Anaheim Ducks, the odds of any of the following 10 players getting drafted seems quite low. But none of these countries have much draft representation over time, so even just one would be big for their respective country.
Here’s a look at 10 players from countries that don’t participate in top level international competition on a regular basis that could have their names called in Vegas on June 28 or 29.Idžan is a first-year draft-eligible prospect who had an interesting campaign. He was one of Croatia’s best players at the senior Division IIA World Championship last month, giving him some solid confidence after some mixed results in Sweden’s U-20 league.
Alexander Levshin Alexei Dakhnovsky Bruno Idzan Filip Sitar Jan Golicic Kenta Isogai Maxim Burkov Nace Langus News
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