NHL Draft 2020: Martin Madden Breaks Down Anaheim's 2020 Draft Class
Oct 7, 2020The following is a transcript of Anaheim Ducks' Assistant General Manager Martin Madden's Zoom call with reporters following the conclusion of the 2020 NHL Draft.
On the team's first-round selections of Jamie Drysdale and Jacob Perreault:
Last night, we ended up with a great defenseman at the top of the draft. We saw a clear demarcation, to me, of the two defensemen at the top of the draft and the rest of them. We're really happy to get our hands on Jamie. Super smart, mobile, agile, skilled. He's a great player.
Jacob is a pro-level sniper. He's physically ready. He's powerful; he can shoot and score from anywhere in the offensive zone. He also fills a need in our prospect pool. We have nobody that plays like him, looks like him, scores like him. Super happy with those two picks.
On the plan for the second day of the draft:
We came in today with all kinds of plans to go up and down. It turned out that the opportunities we were looking for - the guys we might have been excited to trade for - were either gone or the trades vanished in front of us. We happily picked guys with high upside, huge talent. Still not physically mature in terms of the first three, and we added two really solid pro skating (players) in Galimov and Sundsvik. Really excited to add those guys where we got them. Galimov was Rookie of the Year in the KHL last year. Extremely smart, skilled, two-way hockey player. We've been watching him since the start of the KHL seson this year, and (he's) first line, first power play on that KHL team.
Sundsvik has taken great strides this year as well, with his skating especially. Always been a really smart, skilled, hard-working, physical player. He switched teams to a great program in SKelleftea over the summer. Clearly, it impacted the power in his legs. Really excited to get him.
We put a tall, fast scorer in the bank at the end of the draft with Ethan Bowen. He'll be heading to North Dakota next year.
On how he'd grade the draft:
We're really excited about our draft. I'm not going to grade ourselves. You guys can do that.
On how Sam Colangelo separated himself on a talented Chicago Steel team:
First of all, he's a late 2001, but he's a December 26th birthday. So he's a 2002 - he's not older than most of these other players. There was a period of adjustment for him early in his first USHL season. Going back to his minor hockey in the New England area, he was a creator. He was a scorer on his own. He was a leader of his teams growing up. What you saw from him in the second half of this year is what we're expecting of him going forward at the college and pro level. Big frame. Powerful. Can really shot the puck. I think he'll snipe in college and in the NHL. I don't think he was just a beneficiary of being on a good team. He's a playmaker as much as any of those guys on Chicago, and he contributed to their success as much as anybody on that team.
On how Colangelo willingly accepts criticism of his game to improve:
(Scouts) Steve Lyons and Kevin Murray know him a lot more intimately than I do. Steve coached him in summer tournaments. Kevin saw him play in his hometown throughout the season. They would absolutely agree with that, with the way he characterized himself. It's really a good organization, the Chicago Steel. They've got a great GM, good coaches, and a support staff of skills and power skating instructions. Those guys - and (Sam) in particular - grew a lot over the year because he is able to listen and take coaching.
On drafting scoring forwards:
As I’ve said in the past, when we’re at the draft table, we’ve assessed their talent and we rely on the passion we feel for the players at our pick. I think we’re passionate about every one of these players. Obviously, there’s some right-shot defensemen that fit in an area where we didn’t have many of those on our depth chart. At the end of the day, it’s about what we think these guys are going to do at the pro level. We believe in their upside for various reasons going through the draft.
On fourth-round selection Artyom Galimov:
We first saw him play four years ago with the under-18 team. He was slight, but he was smart. Reports show that he was an effective player at that time, but not super explosive, not super productive. He’s gotten better every year. Last year, he got on (scout) Konstantin Krylov’s radar once again because of his rookie of the year type of season with Kazan. When the season started, Krylov was sure to put him on our radar and the whole staff watched him play every one of his games up to date. He’s a leader in the KHL and a first power-play guy. He stands out, you don’t have to look for him, even at that level. Really excited with that selection. He’s got a contract that’s more than a year and we’ll deal with that in due time. It’s not a concern at this point.
On advice for draftees regarding COVID-19:
I think (Director of Player Development) Todd (Marchant) and the development staff have been doing that with our own guys. This is a great time to improve in all technical areas and strength, power areas. You’re not competing in games for most North American kids at this time, but there’s still lots to do in the gym and on the ice. Don’t worry, Todd has plans for every one of these guys.
On third-round selection Ian Moore:
Raw talent, lanky, smart, naturally athletic kid who’s just coming out of a huge growth spurt. He stands out at that prep-school level like a sore thumb because he can think the game at a different level and he’s got the skills to execute. Then, when he was promoted to the national development program for a weekend, he adjusted to that very well and very quickly in a different role which was really nice to see – so the hockey sense is there. He’ll play for (the Chicago Steel of the USHL) this year. Like I’ve said before, it’s a really good program and he’s a great kid as well. He’s lifelong friends with Henry Thrun so you know this is a character kid.
On Jacob Perreault being available at 27th overall:
We thought he was in a grouping of players that we had a real shot at getting. You can never say that one particular player is going to be there, but before of the draft, I was talking about how we’ll be excited with our first three picks with a little luck. We got a little luck and we’re very excited about our first three picks.