Ottawa Selects Kelly Summers with the 189th Pick
After making a trade for the 189th pick, the Senators took defenseman Kelly Summers.
Ottawa added an extra pick to today's schedule, swapping a sixth round pick in 2015 for the 189th pick this year. After taking one Swede and two Americans, Ottawa went with the tried and true method of selecting a local, taking Kelly Summers, a defenseman who plays for Carleton Place in the CCHL.
The 6'2" defender weighs in at 192 pounds. The native of Golden Lake shoots right and is an offensive-minded blueliner. As a 17-year-old in 2013-2014, he played in 56 games for Carleton, recording 17 goals and 60 points with just 12 penalty minutes. After a great season with Carleton, Summers is headed to Clarkson University in the fall. He also added 5 goals and 13 points in 16 playoff games. Jeff Cox refers to him as a "one man breakout with terrific vision":
Summers, an offensive-minded blue liner, led his team to the Central Canadian Hockey League (CCHL) championship as Jason Clarke's team advanced all the way to the RBC Cup.
Summers does a terrific job in transition, seeing the ice well and making quick and accurate passes up ice. He has good hockey IQ and makes smart and concise decisions with the puck in his own zone. His offensive statistics, 17 goals and 43 assists, are what stand out, but he takes his responsibilities in the defensive zone seriously.
His coach with the Carleton Place Canadians, Jason Clarke has high hopes for Summers:
"He's a special player — he'll be a top-four guy in the NHL at some point for sure," Canadians coach Jason Clarke says. "Kelly's work ethic and Kelly's attention to detail and just overall maturity level has really just come to fruition ever since Christmastime. He's really taken the next step to becoming an elite player.
The Ottawa Valley teen just seems pleased to have been in the draft mix:
"Being put on the first [NHL Central Scouting] list [in January] was just a big surprise, then a couple days ago, I checked it out and I was 73rd," says Summers, who was No. 155 on the CSS list on the midterm before more and more scouts began making a point to check out Canadians' games. "It's a good honour ... It was [a sense of] finally just knowing it could come true, As a kid you always think about it and it just seems out of reach. Now, just making the list, it seems possible to make it there."
