Today the Canadian Hockey League’s annual import draft took place.
The draft boasts some of Europe’s best and brightest young players possibly seeking to come overseas to hone their craft in North America if they have aspirations of playing in the National Hockey League. The players are generally between the ages of 17-19 and are usually either draft-eligible players or players that have already been selected and are making the jump to the CHL to be closer to their NHL club for development purposes. Seattle has had a slew of recent import players that have been difference makers, including; Roberts Lipsbergs (Latvia), Alexander True (Denmark), Sami Moilanen (Finland) and most recently Simon Kubicek (Czech Rep.) and Andrej Kukuca (Slovakia).
Seattle entered the morning holding the 19th overall pick in the first round of the import draft and used it to select 2002-born German right wing, Tim Stützle out of Jungadler Mannheim U20 of the DNL (Germany’s high-end junior development league). Stützle produced 23 goals and 32 assists last season for 55 points and is projected as a first-round pick in next summer’s NHL entry draft. Stützle has also represented Germany internationally on multiple occasions, appearing in 31 games at the junior level scoring 20 goals, 29 assists for 49 points.
If he chooses to make the jump to the Western Hockey League next season, it would be quite the addition for the Thunderbirds. It is worth noting, however, that Stützle was promoted and signed to a contract in the DEL (Germany’s professional league) next season with Alder Mannheim so that may create somewhat of a barrier in his recruitment. Luckily, Seattle was in a good position in regards to import players to take a flier on such a high offensive potential forward due to the potential returns of both Andrej Kukuca and Simon Kubicek headed into next season. More will become clear once training camp gets underway in August. Stay tuned.
All stats pulled from eliteprospects.com
