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The USHL will conduct what is now called their Phase One draft--formerly known as the Futures Draft--Monday evening, beginning at 6pm Central Standard Time. The event can be followed via the USHL's website, broadcast for on Fasthockey.com, or, ultimately the most reliable option, followed via Twitter(I'll have pretty regular updates at @ChrisDilks).
This year's Phase One draft will be to select players born in 1997. Players selected are placed on the drafting team's affiliate list, and that team can retain their rights for up to three years. The draft will be eight rounds long.
Prior to the draft, teams have the option to sign up to two players to a tender. A tendered player is automatically on that team's roster next season, and must play at least 50% of his team's games. If a team signs one player to a tender, then they forfeit their first round selection in the Phase One draft. If they use both tenders, they forfeit their first and second round picks in the Phase One draft. Here is the list of players that have signed tenders so far for next year:
Green Bay: JR Gates, Aaron O'Neill
Indiana: Cam Askew, Denis Smirnov
Muskegon: Chaz Switzer
Tri-City: Tory Dello
Omaha: Jake Henderson
Fargo: Christian Cakebread
Cedar Rapids: Ivan Provorov
There are a couple other mitigating factors for teams drafting as well. A handful of players in this age group have already signed/committed to play in the Canadian Hockey League in the future. The list of Americans/kids playing in America that will be in the CHL, and thus, not likely to get drafted includes: Tyler Brown, Keoni Teixeira, Ty Comrie, Doug Blaisdell, Jesse Gabrielle, Alec Baer, Troy Henley, and Ryan Moore.
The other factor USHL teams have to consider are players that have already committed to play for the NTDP program next year. Here's a list of the players that have reportedly committed to play for the program. Some of these players might still get chosen, however, specifically if they have a later birthdate, and could possibly play in the USHL for their last year of high school after playing two years at the NTDP.
But even with those top players skimmed off the top of the drafting list, there are still an incredible amount of talented players available to be selected. I've put together of some potential prospects that might be selected in the Phase One draft. The list is limited to players our staff here has seen over the past year, which means it is pretty heavily slanted towards the upper Midwest, while we're likely missing a lot of very good HPHL and east coast players, among many others that will be selected.
I've split the list up into two parts. Tier 1 is a group of players that I feel have a very strong chance of getting drafted on Monday. Tier 2 is players I think have the possibility to get drafted, including a couple I dropped down due to CHL concerns.
Tier 1
Tarek Baker-F -Omaha U16
Jared Bethune-F Warroad HS
Brock Boeser-F- Burnsville HS
Jake Coleman-F- Pittsburgh Jr. Penguins U16
Kevin Conley-F- Wausau West HS
Michael Davies-D- St. Louis Blues U16
Matt Freytag-F- Wayzata HS
Colin Gallagher-D- Henry Sibley HS
Will Garin-F-Holy Family Catholic
Nick Heid-D- Spring Lake Park HS
Robby Jackson-F- LA Jr. Kings U16
Chase Jungels-F- Benilde-St. Margaret’s
Mark Kaske-F- Benilde-St. Margaret’s
Jordan Klehr-D- Shattuck U16
Vasili Kolias-D- Chicago Mission U16
Tanner Laczynski-F-Chicago Mission U16
Ben Newhouse-D- Benilde-St. Margaret’s
Tom Novak-F- St.Thomas Academy
Ethan Price-F- Omaha U16
AJ Robbel-D- Bloomington Jefferson HS
Evan Robert-G- Shattuck U16
Tanner Tweten-F- East Grand Forks HS
Christiano Versich-F-St. Thomas Academy
Daniel Warpecha-F-Chicago Mission U16
Max Zimmer-F- Wayzata HS
Tier 2
Wyatt Aamodt-D- Hermantown Bantam
Jack Ahcan-D- Burnsville HS
Tye Ausmus-D- East Grand Forks
Van Barr-F-Russell Stover U18
Koby Bender -F-Cloquet HS
Josh Biasillo-F - Buffalo Sabres U16
Jonah Bischoff-F- Grand Rapids HS
Alec Broetzman-F- St. Thomas Academy
David Brumm- F-Maple Grove HS
Kris Carlson-G-Washington Caps U16
Joseph Cecconi-D- Buffalo Sabres U16
Jackson Charlesworth- D-Antigo HS
Alex DeBrincat-F-Victory Honda U16
Matt Doran-D- Milwaukee Jr. Admirals U16
Zach Driscoll-G- Eastview HS
Chase Ellingson-F-Breck
Sam Franta-D -Maple Grove HS
Jason Fritsche-F-Cleveland U16
Elliot Gerth-G-Chicago Mission U16
Michael Joyaux-D-Chicago Mission U16
Larry Jungwirth-F- Shattuck U16
Tyler Jutting -D-Mankato West HS
Mason Kohn-F- Shattuck U16
Jason Krych- D-Totino-Grace
Daniel LaPointe-D- Rocky Mountain Rough Riders U16
Joseph Matthews-D-St. Louis U16
Sam McCormick-F- Green Bay Notre Dame
Michael Montambault-F- Victory Honda U16
Keith Muehlbauer-D- Eastview HS
Nathan Noel-F- Shattuck U16
Luke Osterman-D- Omaha U16
Adam Parsells-D- Wausau West HS
Chase Pearson-F- Atlanta Fire U16
Ty Pelton-Byce-F- Madison Memorial HS
Andrew Picco-D-Shattuck U16
Rem Pitlick-F- Shattuck U16
Matthew Pulver-F- Regis/McDonnell/Bloomer HS
Collin Saccoman-D- Shattuck U16
John Schuldt-D- Minnetonka HS
Toby Sengvoxnay -D-Luverne HS
Anthony Stillwell-D- Green Bay Notre Dame
Troy Terry-F- Colorado T-birds U16
Peter Tufto-F- St. Thomas Academy
Keegan Ward-F-West Michigan U16
Blake Wareham-D-Chicago Mission U16