By Drew Wilson

Raiders add two imports

Jun 29, 2011 | 2:37 PM

It's a roll of the dice whenever the Raiders go shopping during the annual CHL Import Draft.

However, director of player personel Dale Derkatch is hopeful the two players selected Wednesday morning will be long term fixtures at the Art Hauser Centre.

Norwegian Jonas Knutsen, 18, was the Raiders first pick, 18th overall (obtained from Seattle in the Ryan Button trade). The 6-foot, 181-pound forward was scouted by the team this past April at the World Under 18 championships in Germany, said Derkatch.

“From his agent as well as dealing with some NHL scouts, as well as Joe West, our own scout who was over in Europe and watched him at the under-18, he's a potential top six forward for us, we hear he is a very good skater and he competes very hard so those two things for sure make us happy. If he can make the jump and be a top six for us some time next year and the year after that would be a very good pick.”

Knutsen scored three goals for Norway in six games at the World Under-18 championships. Raider Centreman Mark McNeill played for Canada in the same tournament.

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The Raiders went younger and to the back line with their second pick. Defenseman Kristaps Bazevics,16, from Latvia was snapped up in the Raiders spot on the grid, 24th overall. Knutsen will get his first exposure to North American hockey when training camp opens Aug. 25.

However, Bazevics who is considered by some scouts as a good prospect for next year's NHL draft, has already played in North America, said Derkatch.

“We've heard he is the second ranked Latvian player for the NHL draft next year, so that was a positive thing we heard, as well he had played a year of bantam for the L.A. selects, so he was over here for a year, so he speaks English (so does Knutsen) and the other thing he is doing, he is on the ice and is working out with the Skills coach for the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning. He says the kid looks very good and can play in the WHL.”

Bazevics will turn 17 on Aug. 2.

Import players don't always work out. Two years ago Swedish winger Frederick Cedergren went sent home at Christmas time. Meanwhile, Igor Revenko just just completed a successful three-year stint in P.A. However, the Belarusian struggled for a half season learning the language and culture in addition to the North American game.

The team is venturing into the unknown with the import draft because they don't see the vast majority of players they are considering, said Derkatch.

“For the most part you are dealing with agents and NHL teams and gathering information from them and trying to sort through that to make some sort of list and see who will be there once you are picking, so it's a different game than the Bantam draft.

The Raiders won't really know if either will contribute at the WHL level until at least the preseason. However they are optimistic about Knutsen and Bazevics, said Derkatch.

“We have two players that can be with us at least two to three years which is nice and we have a core, our 93's (18 year olds) and 94's (17 year olds) are going to be our core as we move forward. So these two fit in perfectly and it gives us time to work with them. It's like anything, you have to give a little transition time.”

Accoring to Derkatch the agents for both players say they will report.

In addition to the departure of Revenko who will now play pro in his home town of Minsk, last year's other european player Michal Hlinka has been released.

dwilson@rawlco.com