Top 25 Islanders Under 25: Not to be pedantic, but #24 is Andrei or Andrey Pedan

Andrey Pedan is listed at 6'4", 204 lbs., and Lithuanian-born. If on his draft day you weren't already dreaming of a bigger, better Darius Kasparaitis for the 21st century, then you just don't let yourself engage in enough irrational fan dreaming.

Live a little. Let your fantasies run wild. These are prospects, after all.

The intriguing thing about Pedan beyond his size are reports of him being able to control the game calmly and show flashes of offensive awareness that he's not yet shown in the OHL (or rather, the OHL stat sheet at least). Everybody loves size, but size on a guy who knows how to play the game? That's truly lovable.

It is with that prospecting hope in mind that he ended up at #24 on our panel's Top 25 under 25 poll.

Pedan Draft Day Interview

(By the way, some places call him Andrei and some Andrey, but let's not get all pedantic about it. No one likes a pedant ... except me of course.)

Pedan's OHL stats -- 2-10-12 in 51 GP last year don't jump out at you (though wandering eyes might glance flirtatiously at the 8 assists in 6 playoff games) -- so this is definitely a kid with a nice physical profile, who took the "I'm serious about this" jump from Russia to Canadian juniors, about whom you'll have to rely on scouting reports for the time being.

Those reports generally say he skates well, uses his natural size well, and has probing offensive instincts (so, not just a stay-at-home banger).

That Jeff Marek report linked above was flattering but brief and, of course, from a sample of one. One preseason game, that is:

Andrey Pedan is a Russian defenseman who was picked up in the third round by the New York Islanders in last year's NHL Entry Draft and is looking like another outstanding selection by Garth Snow and company. He was the top player in the game, hands down. Controlling the play, anchoring Guelph's power play while moving well up and down the ice -- look for Pedan to have a breakthrough junior year this season.

But the kid looked good in rookie camp this summer and this month, too. That's about all you can ask, and that will do for now for a third-round, 63rd overall pick from this summer's draft.

Here's how our panel ended up having him at #24:

The Top 25 under 25 is an idea conceived (I think) by Oilers blog Copper & Blue and copied elsewhere, incorporated here by popular demand. We cut it off at players who were under 25 going into this season, so Andrew MacDonald, having just turned 25 this month, barely misses eligibility.

For this first edition, we polled Keith, WebBard, mikb, myself, and two particularly prospect-focused LHH regulars, CanadianIslesLifer and MatthewM11. We wanted enough to get a decent number of voters but not so much that we make the first run unwieldy. It is absolutely unscientific but solid enough with varied enough votes to get us thinking.

Previous Posts in this Series:

• Those who didn't make the Top 25
• #25: Anton Klementyev