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Raiders take German winger, WHL teams cold on NHL draftees in import draft

German left-winger Leon Draisaitl, a six-foot-two 198-pound behemoth was the second overall pick in Wednesday's CHL Import Draft, and the first selection of a Western Hockey League team, winding up with the Price Albert Raiders.

Many foreign faces are still quite anonymous to North American hockey fans. What Western fans need to know about Draisaitl is that he's big and young and skilled. Bruno Campese called him an "offensively gifted player with elite hockey sense".

Draisaitl, a native of Cologne, Germany, recorded 21 goals and 35 assists for 56 points in 35 games last season for Jungadler Mannheim Under-18. In 2010-2011, left-shooting Draisaitl amassed 97 goals and 95 assists for 192 points in 29 games for his Mannheimer Under-16 team. [Prince Albert Raiders]

Unfortunately, competition in the 'dub' is probably a little stronger than that of the German minor hockey system. The Raiders weren't the worst team in the Western league this year in goal-scoring, but some added punch will help.

Meanwhile, Joonas Korpisalo, who was selected 62nd overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in Saturday's NHL draft, was the second goalie taken in the draft, to fellow Jackets-select Oscar Dansk, who went third to Erie. Korpisalo is the smaller of the two goalies, but is 6'2", 172 and was chosen fifth overall by Prince George.

"We went into the draft obviously at five, thinking that we were going to take the best player available," Cougars GM Dallas Thompson said in a radio interview. He cited the importance of Korpisalo being a high selection in the NHL draft, so there you go. "We couldn't pass [him] up, the trick is to get these guys."

It didn't sound like Thompson was entirely sure whether Korpisalo would come over or not. He's still trying to get last season's first round selection, Marko Dano, over to play this upcoming season.

The Cougars were just one of the teams who passed on Andrei Vasilevski, the Tampa Bay first rounder. Saskatoon has had a lot of success with Andrey Makarov in net, so missing out on a potential game-changing goaltending is a decision likely made due to politics. Simply put, the time difference between Western Canadian and Russia is so fierce that it turns off a lot of potential Russians coming over.

Victoria, Swift Current and Medicine Hat all passed on Vasilevski, taking a Czech, a Fin and a Swede in his place.

At least one Russian 2012 NHL-select was drafted by a WHL team. Alexander Delnov, who went 114th overall to Florida, was picked by Seattle. Him, along with Korpisalo, were the only recent NHL-selects to be drafted by WHL squads. A 2011 selection, defenceman Rasmus Bengtsson who was a 2011 3rd round pick to the Panthers, was the only other select from any year to be taken. He went to Victoria in the second round.