Farewell, Anders Lovdahl and Martin Beck. Hello, Tomas Mojzis.
The Western Hockey League's Moose Jaw Warriors made Mojzis its newest member Tuesday, selecting him in the first round, 20th overall, of the annual Canadian Hockey League European import draft.
Mojzis, a 6'1", 180-pound defenseman hails from Pardubice, Czech Republic and played last year with the Czech Republic's under-18 national team.
While in many cases imports are drafted sight-unseen with teams basing their selections on hearsay - often from the players' agents - the Warriors had a chance to scout Mojzis when the Czech squad played a series of exhibition games in Saskatchewan and Alberta before competing at the Viking Cup at Christmas.
"He's a good sized kid, is a good skater with good skill," Warrior general manager Ralph Schmidt said. "He's more or less an offensive style of defenseman. If he's got any shortcomings, he maybe has to work a little on his defensive game.
"We're hoping he'll be a very good player," he added. "Most of the top-end Europeans stay in Europe because they can get some pretty good contracts over there so we're basically looking at (Mojzis) to help out with our depth."
WHL clubs are only allowed two import players, unless one is a 20-year old, and the Warriors plan on drafting another import in today's second round.
In order to make room for the newcomers they were forced to drop Lovdahl and Beck from their list.
"Anders would have been a 19-year old playing on the fourth line and Mary worked very hard for us but in reality we've got a lot of 18-year olds who will play ahead of him," Schmidt said. "We felt we had more of a need on our back-end."
Beck, who also hails from the Czech Republic, was picked one year ago by the Warrirs in the first round, 36th overall, in the European draft. Listed - generously - at 6'0", 163 pounds, Beck scored seven times and added one assist in 70 games as a rookie last season.
Lovdahl came to the Warriors along with netminder Sean Connors at the trade deadline in the deal which sent import goaltender Rastislav Stana and forward Cory Hintz to the Calgary Hitmen.
The 6'2", 200-pound Swede was picked three spots ahead of Beck - 33rd overall - in last year's draft. He played 68 games with Calgary and Moose Jaw, scoring eight times and adding nine assists.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League had the first pick in Tuesday's opening round with Val d'Or selecting Czech winger Ivan Huml.
The 18-year-old, who played for a Jr. A team in Langley, B.C., last season, was a second round pick by Boston in the NHL draft last month.
Lethbridge, with a pick acquired from Portland, followed Val d'Or by taking Slovak forward Tomas Kopecky, a second-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings.
Order of selection is based on how teams finish in their standings. It was the QMJHL's team to pick first this year ad the WHL will get first pick next seaon.
