Draft

With their 5th round pick granted as compensation for the loss of Jassen Cullimore the Lightning have selected Slovakian born RW Stanislav Lascek out of Chicoutimi of the QMJHL.

Lascek went unranked by Central Scouting largely due to a considerable knock on his skating. He also is very average in size at 6'0" and 195 lbs. But there is one thing that Lascek does very well: dish the puck. Playing for the offensive juggernaut Chicoutimi Sagueneens last season Lascek compiled 18 goals and a staggering 72 assists in 53 regular season games. earlier in his career and suggests Lascek is working with Brad's skating coach.

The Lightning have completed a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers for pick 102 in the 4th round. With it, they have selected C Blair Jones of Moose Jaw in the WHL.

Jones split his season between Red Deer and Moose Jaw in the WHL finishing with a combined 14 goals and 50 points in 68 games. Following the Lightning formula, Jones has good size at 6'2" 193 lbs. Jones is considered an above average talent offensively with average skating ability and was ranked the third best prospect in the WHL in Central Scouting's preliminary rankings but has been knocked for his practice habits, which may have forced coach Brent Sutter trading him from the Rebels at mid season.

With the 91st pick the Lightning selected RW Marek Bartanus of Kosice Jr. in the Slovakian league.

Much like Smolenak, Bartanus has good size at 6'3" 194 lbs. and skates very well. He also has a ton of skill. At the urging of his father, who is an NHL agent, Bartanus will play for Owen Sound of the OHL next season.

Bartanus notched 14 goals and 28 points along with 99 PIMs and a +35 rating in 34 games for Kosice's J-20 team last season before being promoted to the Slovak Extraliga. There, he notched just 2 goals and 3 points in 24 games in the men's league.

The Lightning have completed a trade with the San Jose Sharks to get into the 3rd round and have selected LW Radek Smolenak of Kingston of the OHL.

At 6'3" 180 lbs. Smolenak fits the Lightning mold of players with good size who skate well. He played all season on Kingston's top line putting up 32 goals and 60 points in 68 regular season games. Smolenak is painfully streaky but he is considered to have some of the best goalscoring ability in this draft, a much needed component for the Lightning.

McKeen's hockey has released their mock draft and has Swedish winger Nicklas Bergfors falling to the Lightning's pick at #30. A tip of the hat to Johan Nilsson of Eliteprospects.com. Bergfors, the brother of Lightning prospect Henrik Bergfors, is slated to come to North America as an import to play in the QMJHL next season.

While I don't necessarily see Bergfors, the top Swedish born prospect in this draft, falling all the way to 30 this mock is far more realistic with regard to the Lightning's pick than FoxSport's, Hockeysfuture's and even TSN's which have the Lightning selecting D Risto Korhonen, G Alexandre Vincent and G Ondrej Pavelec respectively.