NHL Draft Preview

The best offseason weekend of the year in college/professional hockey is approaching with the NHL draft taking place this Friday and Saturday in Buffalo, NY.  BU will likely have four first round picks in this year's draft with 1-3 others taken in later rounds. The four first round draft picks will be sure to be the buzz of the draft as it will most likely be the most from any NCAA or CHL team and because #BUtwitter is going to be lit. London and Winsdor(back off Keller please) each look like they could have 2-3 guys go in the first as well but nobody will touch the 4 BU is going to have and no other college program will have more than one. The job Quinn has done on the recruiting trail over the last three years has been unreal to say the least. Friday night is a night to enjoy it and make fun of all the other peasant college and junior teams with less than 4 first round picks(hint that's all of them).

Projected Draft Rankings
1. Clayton Keller- Top 10
2. Kieffer Bellows- Top 15
3. Charlie McAvoy- Top 15
4. Dante Fabbro- First round
5. Chad Krys- 2-3 round
6. Johnny McDermott- 4-7th round

Here are a few mock drafts(TSN- Craig Button, Draftsite) so people know what to expect Friday night.  Official DrunkCast Drinking Game rules after the jump!

Four Terriers taken in NHL Draft

                                                              Photo Credit to Indy Star

Four current/future Boston University Terriers were taken in the first 50 picks of the NHL draft this weekend. Star rising sophomore Jack Eichel was taken second overall as expected by the Buffalo Sabres where he will eventually join former linemate Evan Rodrigues in the organization. The second Terrier taken was Eichel's classmate,AJ Greer who went 39th overall to the Colorado Avalanche.Greer will most likely spend 2-3 more seasons on Comm. Ave before making the jump the professional ranks however. Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson went 45th to the Boston Bruins and Jordan Greenway went 50th to Minnesota Wild. Both of them will be freshmen on the team this coming season and expect to make immediate impacts with classmate Maxim Letunov who was a second round draftpick in last year's draft.

NHL Draft Preview

The much anticipated 2015 NHL draft will take place this weekend in Florida where our boy Jack Eichel will be one of the top two picks. A lot of dumb Canadians are saying overrated CHL phenom Connor McDavid will go #1 overall and he probably will but that is more of a reflection of how dumb Edmonton management is than anything else. There are plenty of BU incoming freshmen and current players that have a chance to be drafted this weekend. The first round is Friday night with rounds 2-7 coming on Saturday starting at 10:00am.

Top BU Prospects
1. Jack Eichel- Top 2 overall pick
2. Jordan Greenway-1-2nd round
3. Jacob Forsbacka-Karlsson- 2-3rd round
4. AJ Greer- 2-4th round
5. Johnny McDermott(2016)- 4th-6th round
6. Brien Diffley-5-7th round
7. Robert Carpenter-6th-7th round

These 6 prospects are only a fraction of the great job Quinn and Co have done in the past two years on the recruiting trail as they look likely to have 2-3 first round picks in next year's draft as well as possibly top 10 picks in the following two drafts.

Jack Eichel told NHL.com that he has a pretty good idea of what he will do regarding going pro or returning college and will make a decision quickly following the draft. He really can't go wrong either way. The benefits of the NHL are obvious but everything indicates that Eichel is also seriously considering returning to school for a second season. As a BU fan, you obviously are hoping that he returns to Comm. Ave but he certainly can't be faulted for turning pro and if anyone says anything negative about his decision either way, they will feel the full wrath of BSRS.

The 2015-2016 schedule also was released this week.There are going to be some great non conference games at Agganis this year including Michigan, Denver, and Wisconsin Bentley. The Connecicut away trip to Yale and Quinnipiac along with Red Hot Hockey vs Cornell at Madison Square Garden are also highlight of the schedule along with the rest of the usual Hockey East foes including BC, PC, Lowell and the rest of the teams that suck. The only time the team will get on a plane will be the last weekend of the regular season when they travel to South Bend.

Trivino News and His Future as a NY Islander

So if you haven't heard Trivino made a guilty plea today in court if you want the whole story head here or there. I decided to cover his future move into the NHL or AHL or maybe another league since he used to play for BU and his draft rights are with my favorite NHL team, NY Islanders. Trivino was drafted by the New York Islanders a few years ago (2008) as center or forward. He was drafted by the Islanders when they were in rebuilding mode and still are in rebuilding mode. Since his draft, the Islanders drafted better players in that position for Bridgeport(AHL) and have better players that have moved into the center position in NHL from the AHL.

The top 4 lines for the Islanders are taken at center. John Tavares, Frans Nielsen, Ryan Strome, and Josh Bailey have laid claim to center in each line. Maybe Josh Bailey is traded (some rumors) or is moved to AHL since he is very streaky player. If Bailey is sent down most likely David Ullstrom takes over the 4th line. In the AHL, he could start no problem. Probably the 3rd or 4th line, which in my opinion is where he should be in career. Depending on possible trades, Trivino could move to the 1st or 2nd line in the AHL (rumor has it Islanders are still thinking about Bobby Ryan but would give up most of their talent in the center position). If Trivino could move his position from C to the RW, since the LW is taken on all levels. The RW has an opening on the 4th line in the NHL and maybe the quickest way to see him make it to the NHL but personally I think he doesn't have enough speed to play in the NHL or rather keep that speed constant throughout a game. So if he stays with the Islanders, I could not see him in the NHL unless he changes position and become an AHL lifer.