> Good question, Bill. I think we might be opening a can of worms here.
> There probably is a whole slew of rules governing the eligibility factor.
> I thought I read about some European player drafted who was 23. Any
> chance this could happen?
 
Antti Laaksonen of Denver is 23, according to draft rules.  He just graduated.
Teammate Erik Andersson is a whopping 26.  Both were just drafted.  I believe
this is the first year that those types of players were eligible for the draft.
 
 
> Shock of the draft - Blake Bellefeuille not drafted. He's taking the hardest
> route to get attention - Public high school (Framingham, where he set
> state scoring records) and US College. But, he played well in the juniors
> and did well in HockeyEast. How can someone so close to Farkas in
> performance get such a different draft postion. Granted, Farkas is bigger
> and more talented ... but its amazing no team saw fit to draft Blake.
> What's the chances of him going next year?
 
Bellefeuille, I'm betting, is not yet 19.  The cutoff is September 15.  If he
turns 19 after that date, then he is not eligible for the draft.  So the
chances of him going next year are pretty good.
 
You only get one draft year.  The year you turn 19 (or 18, if you opt-in) - the
exception is the aforementioned Denver duo - and I don't know the exact rule on
that.  I'm guessing it's new this year, that you can draft just-graduated
college players.  Or maybe it's a rule about Europeans.  It's worth
investigating.
 
AW
 
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