Wheat Kings Opt For Russian

Toronto, Ontario -- The Western Hockey League's Brandon Wheat Kings used their first round selection (49th overall) to select highly touted Russian defenceman Nikolai Lukyanchikov in Wednesday's Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.
A 5'11" 185 lb. blueliner, the undrafted Lukyanchikov is expected to join left-winger Daniel Bartek on this year's roster.
As a member of Kapitan Stupino of the Russian Senior Hockey League this past season, Lukyanchikov scored four goals and nine points in 36 regular season games. As well, he had one goal and recorded a +4 ranking at this year's World Under 18 Championships in Finland.
"Nikolai is a good offensive defenceman," Brandon Wheat Kings' coach and general manager Kelly McCrimmon said after making the selection. "He moves the puck well and has good hockey sense."
Lukyanchikov is only the third Russian to be chosen by the Wheat Kings in the history of the Import draft. Brandon drafted Oleg Tverdovsky in 1994, before taking a chance on Igor Musatov last June.
Recent first round import picks of the Wheat Kings have included the likes of Norwegian blueliner Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, Finnish forward Sami Sandell, Jakub Sindel of the Czech Republic and Swiss sniper Juraj Simek, who scored 28 goals and 57 points in 58 games for Brandon last season.
The WHL's newest team, the Edmonton Oil Kings, had the first pick in today's proceedings and used it to select 6'2" 198 lb. center Tomas Vincour of the Czech Republic. The Ontario Hockey League's Erie Otters and the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League used the second and third picks overall to grab goalkeepers. While Erie opted for 18-year old Jaroslav Janus of Slovakia, the Sea Dogs selected 18-year old Robert Mayer of the Kloten Flyers.
What made this year's draft interesting is the fact that only 45 European players were chosen at this year's NHL Entry Draft in Columbus. That was well down from the record 123 picked by NHL teams in 2000. Of that total, only nine Russians were selected.