Friday, July 29, 2005

Whalers, Spirit in final NHL draft rankings

Plymouth forward James Neal is ranked 19th for the July 30 NHL Draft.

Three Plymouth Whalers and three Saginaw Spirit players are listed in the final rankings for Saturday's NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa.

Whalers' forwards James Neal (19th) and Dan Collins (24th) lead the pack followed by Saginaw defenseman Patrick McNeill at No. 75 and Spirit forward and Farmington Hills native Tommy Mannino popping in at No. 102.

Tom Pyatt rounds out Saginaw's NHL hopefuls in the 159 spot while Plymouth defenseman Ryan McGinnis, a Fenton native, is listed 168th. Newly-acquired Plymouth forward Jared Boll is ranked 187th while New Hudson defenseman Kyle Lawson, whose rights are held by the Whalers, is one later at 188.

Forward Ondrej Otcenas, Plymouth's pick in last month's Import Draft, is listed 35th among European prospects.

The draft will be held at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. This year, the draft has been scaled down to seven rounds instead of nine.

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