NHL Draft 2012 Prospects: #3 Ryan Murray

The draft, hands down, is the best time of the hockey season. Maybe I'm just saying that because the Wild haven't been seen post-season action since 2008, but that is besides the point.

So, on June 22nd-23rd, we will all sit down in front of the television/computer and watch the draft. But if you are wondering, "who's who", then you haven't been reading HW because thats my job.

So without further ado:

Introducing our 2012 NHL #3 Draft Prospect - Ryan Murray:

Accomplishments & Awards:

Prospect Jersey (What Would They Look Like In a Wild Jersey?):

Summarized Scouting Report

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

HW Projection:

Video Evidence:

Where Does He Fit In The Wild?

Murray would come in, potentially right away, and develop into its #1 defenesman.

But no chance.

Conclusion

Although I have Murray at #3, he's more of a #2B tied with Alex Galchenyuk. Although I think Galchenyuk has tons of offensive potential, Murray is just such an impressive young blueliner, its hard to forget about him. Much like last year when people questioning whether Landeskog could be a top line NHL player, Murray has the same doubts but just manages to win at every single level.

See how Landeskog turned out.

He just wins and leads.

He has tons of leadership experience. From the Hockey Writers, there was quote by McKeen’s Director of Scouting David Burstyn saying "Ryan Murray oozes character and has a plethora of leadership skills as he has been the captain of each of his teams since he was 10 years old".

So he leads, he plays at a pro level. The only question is, how high is his upside?

Some question whether he has the offensive ability to become a #1 guy. The way I see it, he can play 25+ minutes on regular ice time, PP and PK and not hurt the team. I call that a #1 defenseman. If he doesn't produce 30+ points but eats up that amount of time and keeps the puck moving, I would gladly use the #2 pick for that.

Special thanks to HFBoards, Future Considerations, The Hockey Writers, TSN, OHLProspeccts and The Scouting Report