NHL Prospect Dating Game: Angelo Esposito

This is one in a series of profiles of the International Scouting Service's 2007 Top 15 NHL Draft Prospects, and relies heavily on the 2007 NHL Entry Draft Media Guide. Check back often leading up to the June 22 Entry Draft for more profiles and draft coverage and analysis.

Name: Angelo Esposito
Team/League: Quebec/QMJHL
Vitals: 6'1", 180 pounds, center, shoots left
Born: February 20, 1989 in Montreal, Quebec

The unimportant stuff: Was the CSB's #1 ranked North American skater at the Mid-Term, #8 in the final ranking... great skater, great passer... lacks consistency... needs to do better in traffic... captained Canada's 2006 U-18 gold medal-winning team... won a Memorial Cup in 2006.

The important stuff: Fluent in three languages (English, French and Italian), "Espo" is not related to former NHLers Phil or Tony Esposito, but does have uncles named Phil and Tony Esposito, would invite the more famous Phil Esposito to dinner and wears the same number (seven) that Phil wore in the NHL. Bizarre.... patterns his game after Vincent Lecavalier, his favorite player, and lists juniors head coach Patrick Roy (yes, that one) as "a good mentor"... favorite movie is "Rudy"... used to be "The Next One"... went to Shattuck-St. Mary's prep school for two years, where the previous Next One went.

Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match: Esposito is another guy, like Logan Couture, whose stock has fallen but still has big offensive upside. But whereas Couture could fall to the late first or even early second round, I can't see Espo falling out of the top half of the first round. He could go as high as seventh to Columbus, but I see him being John Davidson's first pick as St. Louis's de facto GM at ninth. After all, Davidson did play six seasons with that other Esposito.