CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The Charlottetown Islanders will be making a selection at next week’s Canadian Hockey League import draft.
The Isles could have returned centre Nikita Alexandrov and defenceman Alexander Dersch but have decided to allow Dersch the option of re-entering the draft or returning to Europe. Teams can only have two imports on their roster.
“We already know what we want,” Islanders head coach and general manager Jim Hulton said. “A higher end offensive player that’s going to be here for a couple of years would be (great) in the perfect world.”
The Islanders are scheduled to pick 39th overall on Thursday, June 27, but some teams might pass on their first selection as they already have two import players on their roster.
Charlottetown selected Dersch 28th overall a year ago and Alexandrov 50th overall in 2017.
Dersch, 19, is a six-foot-two, 180-pound blue-line from Landshut, Germany. He had 10 assists and 33 penalty minutes in 53 games last season.
“Alex was great for us in terms of his attitude and approach,” Hulton said. “This is the difficult part of the business, especially when you’re dealing with only two import spots. He really couldn't have done anything more. He was a good teammate, he was an easy person to coach, and he was a good representative of the Islanders.”
Charlottetown picked up a pair of defencemen during the trade period last season. They added Noah Laaouan, 18, in the Derek Gentile swap with Cape Breton and Xavier Bernard, 19, in the trade that saw captain Pierre-Olivier (P.O.) Joseph go to Drummondville.
The Islanders also have Brendon Clavelle returning as an overager plus promising rookie Lukas Cormier entering his sophomore season, plus some prospects pushing for an opportunity to play.
“We’ve created some depth on the back end, so we have to use the available tools to make (the team) better,” Hulton said. “We thought our biggest need now becomes adding somebody to our offence.”
Alexandrov was second on the Islanders with 27 goals last season, behind Daniel Hardie’s 34. Hardie has graduated from junior hockey.
Related link:
• Charlottetown Islanders pre-season roster
Draft history
A look at the Charlottetown Islanders recent picks during the Canadian Hockey League import draft.
2018 – D Alexander Dersch
2017 – F Nikita Alexandrov
2016 – D Saku Vesterinen
2015 – Passed.
2014 – F Filip Chlapik and F Filip Rydstrom.
2013 – F Marco Sedlar
