2019 Draft Preview

Jun 3, 2019

Minot, ND – The Minot Minotauros will have nine picks through the first eight rounds of tomorrow’s 2019 NAHL Draft which starts at 1:00 p.m. on HockeyTV.com.  The Minotauros already have the rights to 21 players either returning from last year’s team or signed to Tender contracts for next season.

By the numbers the 2018 NAHL Draft was the Tauros most successful with seven of 11 drafted players appearing in games.  Of those seven players, four are eligible to return; Joseph Harguindeguy (4th round), Matt Gellerman (5th round), Sam Skinner (8th round), and Wilmer Skoog (10th round).  As for the remaining three players from last year’s draft   Didrik Henbrant (1st round) has moved on to NCAA DI Alaska Fairbanks, while Nicolas Petruolo (2nd round) and Parker Larson (6th round) were both traded in season for picks in tomorrow’s draft.  Of the other four picks from the 2018 Tauros draft class, Brockton Baker, Luke Manning, and Daniel Russell each remained with their USHL team and the Tauros traded the draft rights to Darian Gotz to the Minnesota Wilderness for a Tender which was used to sign Nikolai Charchenko.

The Tauros’ brain trust will look to continue that success in the 2019 draft with nine picks through the first eight rounds.  The two expansion teams the Maine Nordiques and New Mexico Ice Wolves will draft first and second respectively followed by teams in reverse order of last season’s regular season standings.  As a result the Tauros draft 21st overall in each round that they still have their own pick.  Head Coach and General Manager Marty Murray traded two picks away during the season, the Minotauros’ second round selection went to the St. Cloud Blizzard (formerly Brookings) in exchange for Vince Marino and the Tauros fourth round pick was included in the deadline deal to add Quinn Warmuth and Patrick Choi from the Maryland Black Bears.  Of course because teams draft until they have 30 players on their protected list the picks the Tauros traded away essentially are replaced with picks later in the draft.  In this case the Tauros second and fourth round picks were traded for players and picks in the seventh and eighth rounds.  Murray also acquired three draft picks; Jamestown’s second round pick was acquired for Peturolo, the Minnesota Magicians’ fifth round pick for Larson, and Janesville’s sixth round pick for Austin Koss.

Follow the Tauros on Twitter @minotaurohockey for live pick-by-pick coverage of the Tauros 2019 NAHL Draft.  Then check back tomorrow after the draft for a summary of the day’s action on GoTauros.com.  Follow the entire 2019 NAHL Draft three ways: at nahldraft.com, on twitter at: @NAHLHockey, and listen to a free live broadcast of the draft on HockeyTV.

Tauros 2019 NAHL Draft Picks

Round 1: 21st

Round 2: 22nd (from Jamestown for Petruolo)

Round 3: 21st

Round 4: None

Round 5: 20th (from Minnesota Magicians for Larson)

Round 5: 21st

Round 6: 13th (from Janesville for Austin Koss)

Round 6: 21st

Round 7: 21st

Round 8: 21st