The Colorado Avalanche Were Big Winners Last Night

As tradition dictates on the eve of the Stanley Cup Playoffs the teams that didn’t make the tournament are put into a lottery to determine their draft order for that years draft. And the winner is, The Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche now own the first pick over all in the 2013 NHL entry draft, which will take place in July. So whom should the Avalanche take?

The 2013 draft is a deep class with a good group of talented young prospects to choose from. Rasmus Ristolainen is a 6’3” 203 lbs defensemen from Finland, but there is a better blue-liner in this draft -- Valeri Nichushkin is a big Russian winger but he has two years left on his KHL deal, so I wouldn’t waste the first pick on him.

Jonathan Drouin is a great looking left winger who has scored 41 goals and 64 Assist for 105 points in just 49 games. Drouin would be a good pick, but I think the Avalanche need a defensemen. The kid I would take is Seth Jones.

Seth Jones is a 6’3” 208 lbs defensemen who scored 14 goals and 42 assist for 56 points for the Portland Winterhawks this season. Jones, the son of former NBA player Popeye Jones and was the youngest player on the U.S. team that won the gold medal at this year's World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa. Jones is a beast in his own end, has the skill to join the offensive rush and has a big shot from the point. Jones got into hockey while growing up in Denver while his dad played for the Nuggets Popeye Jones didn’t know much about hockey so he got some advice from Joe Sakic to help his son become a better player. I would it worked out because if I where the Avalanche Seth Jones would be the first pick in the 2013 NHL entry draft.