Ducks, Panthers, USA Hockey all flourish in draft

It was enough to make you wonder if the good folks at the NHL Network had some inside information.

Twelfth-overall pick Fowler: 'I'm happy I fell in where I did.' (Getty Images)

Nah. Must have just been a coincidence that the league's broadcasting arm had a camera trained on a particular top-rated prospect for the draft's opening round. Besides Cam Fowler was projected to be among the first four picks, so it didn't figure to be intrusive for long.

That might have been the plan, except the cameras could not pull away from something that turned out to be as gut-wrenching as it was captivating. See Fowler, a great skating defenseman with impressive offensive skills, didn't go in the first four picks.

He didn't go at No. 5 either.

Or at 6, 7, or 8. In fact, Fowler didn't even make it into the top 10. And as each selection was being announced, the cameras caught the increasingly pained look on Fowler's face, along with his nervous comments as he sat surrounded by equally grim family and friends. Fortunately for Fowler, the episode wasn't being shown live. And by the time it aired to fill broadcast time on Day 2 of the draft, Fowler had had long since gotten over any discomfort and was spouting off the same canned lines all the other draftees were about being thrilled to be chosen by this particular organization as easily as the GMs were insisting they could believe the guy was still available at that spot.

In the case of Anaheim GM, Bob Murray, there probably was some truth in that because he nabbed Fowler with the 12th overall pick. And at that moment -- captured naturally for posterity by the cameras -- Fowler went from potentially being one of the losers at the draft for going so much lower than expected to being one of its big winners. He ended up joining a pretty good team, one with the kind of forwards that can take advantage of his puck-moving talents and has the opening for a player like Fowler now that Scott Niedermayer has retired.

"It was tough when you have such high expectations and people are saying you'll go here or there, but when it comes down to it, the numbers are just numbers," Fowler said after watching the clip in the network's makeshift studio at the draft. "You can go back to all the drafts and see guys who went in way later rounds that are now superstars. When it comes down to it, you're an asset to an organization. I don't think they expected me to be there, but I was the Anaheim Ducks' first selection in the first round so it's a huge honor. I'm happy I fell in where I did."

Obviously so are the Ducks, who became winners in their own right by getting a player who was rated so highly that late in the round. Fowler's offense drew raves from most scouts, but the consensus was that he dropped as far as he did because his game lacks much of a physical element.

How much of an impact that has on his career remains to be seen. Still, there are questions about almost everyone else taken in the draft. First overall choice Taylor Hall was the preeminent talent and figures to be a contributor next season in Edmonton, and second pick Tyler Seguin could very well make an impact in Boston. But beyond them the balance of the 2010 class really falls into the hopeful category.

"That's why you didn't see a lot of [trade] movement," Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi said. "You kind of had like a flat line after the first two guys because players that might have been sixth on your list were 18th or 19th on someone else. It's pretty unpredictable."

In other words, no one will really know who were the winners and losers in this draft. But we can guess.

Winners

Jack Campbell of Port Huron, Mich., is the first of a record-high 11 Americans selected in the first round. (Getty Images)

Florida Panthers: Dale Tallon was brought in as GM to recreate the model he built in Chicago and he set the foundation with a remarkable effort at the draft. Tallon's wheeling and dealing -- which began earlier in the week when he acquired defenseman Dennis Wideman from Boston for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell -- landed him 13 picks in what most considered a very deep draft. Six of them were in the first two rounds, including three in the first. Florida ended up with five players who were considered first-round possibilities.

USA Hockey: With an honorable mention to California where two first-rounders were born. All told, there were a record 59 Americans drafted over the seven rounds, including an all-time high of 11 in the first round and 21 over the first two rounds.

Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks didn't step up to the table until well into the fourth round, but they pulled off the most important trade of the draft by getting defenseman Keith Ballard from Florida in a deal that cost them their first pick. Ballard, a first-rounder a few years back, is now a very solid, offensive minded defenseman who is entering the prime of his career. Vancouver is a Cup contender with holes along the blue line and the Canucks filled a big one by getting an established player who will help them immediately.

Emerson Etem: If Anaheim and Fowler were mutual winners, so were the Ducks and Etem, a local kid who will be given every chance to be the franchise's first true home-grown player. And very soon. Etem needs to improve his skating, but his other skills had him pegged to go higher in the first round than he did when the Ducks took him at No. 29.

Losers

Sergei Gonchar: The veteran Penguins defenseman was nowhere near Los Angeles on draft weekend, but chances are his days in Pittsburgh are done because of a deal his team made there. Gonchar, an unrestricted free agent, has been in difficult contract talks with the Penguins, and they may be over now that Pittsburgh has acquired the rights to Dan Hamhuis. It cost the Penguins a third-round pick next year to get his rights from the Flyers, who picked him up from Nashville last week and hoped to get a deal done before July 1. Pittsburgh has more flexibility to sign him for around the same money Gonchar wanted, because Hamhuis is one of more talented defensemen in the league and eight years younger.

Calgary Flames: This was a deep draft and the Flames need to restock the system. Their management has depleted the organization with expensive attempts at quick-fix solutions, but Calgary couldn't do very much to help itself because its first pick didn't come until the third round. Four of the Flames six choices in this draft came after 100 players were taken.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Toronto did a little better than the Flames by squeezing its way into the second round, but the Leafs had a big carrot to dangle for a first-rounder in Tomas Kaberle and couldn't pull it off. GM Brian Burke has been hinting that several teams were interested in making a deal, but in the end, none did.

Swedish development program: The sorry showing at the Olympics and World Junior championships stung enough back home, but this is the first time since 2004 and only the second time since 1995 that no Swede has gone in the first round.