Wings select Torquato in sixth round
Center Zack Torquato (pick #178 in the sixth round) played in 65 games this season with the Erie Otters (OHL). In that time span, he had 30 goals and 39 assists with 93 PIM.
Torquato was ranked as high as 36th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting (at mid-season). His final ranking was 61st. He was the Saginaw Spirit’s rookie of the year in 2005-06 before being traded to Erie, where he had 30 goals and 39 assists in 65 games last season.
“Big goal-scorer in the OHL, he’s been a highly rated guy,” Nill said. “He needs to work on his skating. He’s got real good hockey sense and real good hands.”
After producing 10 goals and 23 points in 22 games with the Saginaw Spirit as a sophomore in the OHL, he was traded to the Otters in 2006-07. There, he wound up leading the team in scoring by totaling 30 goals and 69 points in 65 games… owns a wealth of offensive skill and hockey sense… leads by example and displays sound work ethic… has a questionable skating stride, which should keep him out of the first round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft… needs to put on muscle to fill out his 6-0, 195-pound frame…
The Hockey News reports on the agony Torquato faced as he was projected to go in the second round and ended up being drafted in the sixth round.
The Quebec Remparts’ Angelo Esposito and the Omsk’s Alexei Cherepanov both watched in mute agony as their stocks plummeted on live television Friday night, but that was nothing — nothing — compared to a radar player like Zach Torquato of Sault Ste Marie.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers scooped up Esposito and Cherepanov like good little tyrants to return all lost bearings and dignity to the touted prospects.
But Torquato, whom I (and certain others) had going in the late first round, finally came off the board late in the sixth with two men on and one out and nobody paying attention anymore.
The Detroit Red Wings grabbed Torquato with the 178th pick, a slot that seems particularly risk-free.
Unlike the objective of poker, the draft is a cruel game of reverse attrition. Nobody wants to be the last man standing here.
Torquato has a deft stick for the Erie Otters of the OHL, but big league scouts have a way of seeing taboos in the good aims of heaven. A lazy hooking penalty, coasting into the zone here, reluctance to join a scrum there, all add up to collectively cooled enthusiasm. At least so one scout — whose team was this close to selecting Torquato a round earlier — told me.
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