Nolan de Jong and Keegan Kanzig are two extremely different defencemen who will be looking for very similar outcomes in today’s National Hockey League Entry Draft.
Both would love to either hear their name called or see it pop up online at the annual gathering where prospects take their first steps toward a professional hockey career.
Coincidentally, both de Jong (of the Victoria Grizzlies of the B.C. Hockey League) and Kanzig (of the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League) will both be playing golf this morning with either friends or family to keep their minds off it.
It was an excruciating last few days for both, however.
“I’m trying to take my mind off it. If I do get drafted, great, and if I don’t I’ll have a fun day hanging out with friends. I’m just trying to keep my routine the same,” said de Jong, who has been busy with workouts and his grad from Stelly’s.
“It’s going to be an exciting day,” he added. “It seems like a long time ago that it all started and now it’s here. I’ll do my best [to sleep]. It’s such an unpredictable time for me. It’s hard to know if I’ll be going [selected] or where I would be going. I’m trying not to think about it too much.”
De Jong is a six-foot-two, 165-pound rearguard, who is capable of playing it however you want it, with a touch of offensive upside and confidence defensively. He still needs to mature physically to be able to battle with the big boys at the next level, but he is off to the University of Michigan where NHL teams can still keep an eye on him.
Kanzig, meanwhile, is a manchild at six-foot-six and 240 pounds, a more defensive minded stalwart who is more than willing to chuck knuckles. The Athabasca, Alta., native will need to improve his foot speed to achieve the next level.
“I’m very excited, looking forward to it,” said Kanzig, who returned home on Saturday for draft day. “I’m a little anxious, but ready to see what the future brings.
“I’ve been working out so much and working that sleeping shouldn’t be a problem,” he said with a laugh. “I am a little nervous, but more so excited than nervous. It would be cool to be selected, but I’m not putting a lot of weight on it.
“Even if you’re drafted, you still have a lot of work to do to get to that level, but it is exciting. Every kid dreams about playing in the NHL and hoisting a Stanley Cup. Being drafted is just a very small first step towards that.”
Both players have talked to several NHL clubs and were scouted extensively throughout their respective seasons.
“There are a lot of players to choose from and you never know what can happen,” said Kanzig, who will sit down to watch the draft from New Jersey on TSN (preview show starts at 11:30 a.m. PST).
The same goes for de Jong.
“It’s another step. You watch this on TV, watching on TSN since I can remember,” said de Jong. “It seems so surreal that it’s, all of a sudden, happening to me. All these kids are so highly touted, kids that I have played with or against. It’s been an unbelievable journey that I’ve gone through.”
And another chapter could be written today.
De Jong was rated No. 111 among North American skaters in the last NHL Central Scouting Bureau ranking list, just ahead of Kanzig at 112.
Royals forward Trent Lofthouse was rated at No. 126 and Penticton Vees goaltender Chad Katunar, of Victoria, is No. 28 among North American netminders.
Vees (and former Grizzlies’) sniper Wade Murphy could also be selected after being passed over last season. He could be this year’s Wes Myron, a former Grizzly, who was taken last summer by the Vancouver Canucks in his second year of draft eligibility.
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