Hawks second pick Pirri a man with a plan Print E-mail
Written by Chris Block   
Saturday, 27 June 2009 13:00

This is priceless.  So the Blackhawks use their second round pick (59th overall) to select Ontario Junior Hockey League (one step below OHL) center Brandon Pirri.

What’s funny is minutes later a story goes up on Blackhawks.com written by NHL.com writer John McGourty with Pirri and how his plan all along was to stay out of Major Junior and dominate the lesser league so he’d get noticed.  This looks like a face you can trust.  Originally size was the excuse.  Pirri was 5-8 and 155 pounds when he was first drafted by Sudbury of the OHL as a 15-year old and not much taller and 160 pounds the next year.  Then prior to this past season, Pirri was closer to six feet and 170 pounds but still elected to stay in Junior ‘A’, a league he’d dominated for two years.

At least he’s honest.  Pirri will be attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (R.P.I.) in the fall and most draft prospects will diplomatically state their intentions in avoiding the OHL, WHL or QMJHL is to maintain college eligibility.  Not Pirri.

Step one – get noticed.  Step two – get bigger.  Step three – get drafted.  Step four – develop into a pro.  Even if part of the equation meant being an admitted bottom-feeder.

Pirri is smart and knows what works best for him.

“In college hockey, with the shorter schedule, it will work to my strengths,” Pirri told NHL.com’s John McGourty.  “I’ll have more time to work out, get bigger and stronger.  When I go to play pro hockey, I’ll be physically ready to play against men.

“I’m a good student but I chose RPI more because I really believe in the coaching staff, that they’re going to get me to the level I need to be a dominant hockey player.  I’d like to play pro hockey as soon as possible.  When I go play pro hockey, I want to be ready when that time comes.”

Sounds like the kinds of things Akim Aliu was saying prior to last year.  Hopefully he commits himself to the university, his coaches and teammates, not solely professional aspirations or there could be trouble.

For future historical purposes, the Hawks picked Pirri two spots ahead of Chicago Steel defenseman Philip Samuelsson (6-3, 198), the son of Ulf Samuelsson.

Rensselaer competes in the ECAC (or Ivy) league out East with Princeton, Harvard,

Yale, Brown, Cornell, etc.

-- The big news of the day so far has Darryl Sutter and the Calgary Flames acquiring rights to impending unrestricted free agent Jay Bouwmeester in exchange for defenseman Jordan Leopold and a third round pick.  While that sounds like a lot (and it is) for a player who they’ll only have four days of exclusive rights to get a deal done before he hits the open market, keep in mind that a Bouwmeester signing will induce a Dion Phaneuf trade with Toronto and Ottawa as two possible destinations.  Phaneuf for Heatley would be fair but Calgary may not be able to afford Heatley’s $7.5 million cap hit should Bouwmeester get an annual 7.5M deal of his own.  The answer to who centers for Heatley on the Red Mile is Mikael Backlund.  If Sutter does sign Bouwmeester, his blue line will look much different than the one the Hawks saw in the Conference quarter-finals.  With Leopold and possibly Phaneuf out, Adrian Aucoin is also expected to walk potentially leaving Bouwmeester, Robyn Regehr, Cory Sarich, Jim Vandermeer and Mark Giordano.  Missing Regehr was an x-factor for Calgary down the stretch and a healthy Cory Sarich is an improvement over Aucoin.  Giordano can really move and was missed versus Chicago and Vandermeer’s an average depth guy.

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