As draft day approaches, most people are talking about the Boston Raiders and Montreal Metros expected rebounds from having draft picks one and two respectively, but nobody is talking about the players expected to drag these franchises back to playoff contention. Canada’s Shane Hollander and America’s Ilya Rozanov are widely regarded as the most talented prospects and will likely be the players that these teams select on draft day, but there is some talk that the MLH is not ready to have an omega go first pick and doubt that Rozanov’s talents alone will be able to carry him. However, it’s my personal belief that this doubt is completely unfounded.

Here’s why:

1. Rozanov has lived in Boston since he fled Russia at the age of twelve as a victim of underground child omega trafficking. He’s a hometown star, and with first pick Boston will make sure they don’t let their talent get swept up by a rival team.

2. Rozanov would not be the first omega drafted by the Raiders. The team knows that as long as the talent is there, secondary gender has a minimal effect if any on performance.

3. Rozanov is one of the few prospects, maybe even the only one, that has seen three different countries’ training methods. Having been born and raised in Moscow, his first exposure to hockey was in training to be an aggressive forward. He spent his teenage years continuing that training on his Boston area junior team and Canadian intensive hockey camps.

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2010 is shaping up to be one of the most exciting and pivotal draft years for the MLH, with Canada’s Shane Hollander and America’s Ilya Rozanov—two of the most talented prospects we’ve seen since the turn of the century, maybe even earlier—both up for grabs. It’s almost certain that these two will go to the Montreal Metros and the Boston Raiders respectively, but it’s not set in stone until the contracts are signed, and they are not the only prospects to look out for. Here’s an introduction to the guys to watch.

1. Ilya Rozanov

   Boston has been waiting for Rozanov to enter the draft ever since he hit the ice, and luckily for them he’s guaranteed to stay in his hometown with the Raiders having the first pick this year.

   Rozanov is a physical player and can have a short fuse at times, evidenced by his impressive record of fights, but he consistently out skates most of his competition and is one of the bigger guys on the ice at six foot three. When he’s not in the penalty box, you better watch out, he’s not your typical omega.

2. Shane Hollander

   If Ottawa had the pick and could afford to keep their hometown hero home, they would. God knows the Centaurs need someone like him to bring the poverty franchise up from the bottom of the rankings.

   Hollander’s style of play is extremely technical. At five foot ten, he’s not small, but he’s not the biggest guy either. He relies more on speed and precision to keep the puck in his control.

3. Ethan Korogyi

   Often forgotten about when Hollander and Rozanov are considered top two, Korogyi is still a great talent. He’s likely going to go third pick to the Houston Drillers as the talent the Western Conference has been waiting for for too long.

4. Vincent Lemaire

   I know, I know, he was technically drafted in ‘09, but the Nomads kept him down in the AHL the whole season even after their first overall pick snapped his ACL. This year we’re going to see what his rookie season should have been.

5. Cliff Marleau

   Unless another team snaps him up first, we can expect to see Marleau go second overall to Boston as another hometown hero. We know he has chemistry with Rozanov, they’re adoptive brothers and have played on the same teams for five years, which makes them a dangerous line combination.

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“Ilya Rozanov is one of the most talented prospects”

Surface level, okay sure, Russian guy probably knows his way around a puck. I don’t listen to hockey too much, but I know enough to say that you can’t go wrong drafting a Russian guy. I even believed that the Raiders should use their first pick on him. Then I heard the rest of that statement.

“Despite being an omega.”

Now at that I had to take a step back. I was shocked that an omega was being talked about so much as some kind of savior for the Raiders. Now I know that omegas still have some merits, I know that they’re not weaklings, I know that there’s nothing exactly wrong with omegas playing hockey, but people really think Rozanov can go pro? He’s always going to be an omega first…(see more)