Phantoms pick up 15 players in two drafts

Brothers Brandon and George Saad have been invited to join the team.

STAFF REPORT

The 2009-10 version of the Youngstown Phantoms has grown by 15 players the last two days following the United States Hockey League’s expansion and future drafts.

The Phantoms, who will begin play in the league next season, selected 10 players from existing USHL clubs on Monday in the expansion draft, and five more in the league’s Futures Draft on Tuesday.

Owner Bruce Zoldan said the Phantoms are waiting to hear from Brandon Saad and his brother George about invitations to play. The Saads played for Zoldan’s 2008-09 team that played in the North American Hockey League. Brandon Saad was the NAHL Rookie of the Year.

The Futures Draft is for prospects born in 1993.

The Phantoms’ top pick on Tuesday was goaltender Matthew Mahalak (6-foot-2, 180 pounds), a highly-regarded prospect from Culver Academy in Indiana. He is a native of Monroe, Mich.

Youngstown’s next two picks, defenseman Connor Murphy (5-11, 150) of the Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets, and Peter Dudek Jr. (6-3, 170), of Nichols Prep in Buffalo, N.Y., were selected last week in the Ontario Hockey League draft. Both were taken in the 15th round of that draft — Murphy to Sarnia (Ont.) and Dudek to Saginaw (Mich.).

Murphy is a native of Dublin, Ohio, and Dudek is from Cheektowaga, N.Y.

The Phantoms completed Tuesday’s draft by selecting forward Reid Boucher of Lansing Capitals in the fourth round (Boucher has already committed to Michigan State) and Adam Reid, a goaltender from LA Selects U-16.

On Monday, six of the 10 players taken in the expansion draft played in the USHL last season. The other four were on the affiliates list and didn’t play.

Jefferson Dahl, a forward with the Green Bay Gamblers in 2008-09, had the best scoring output of the players taken by the Phantoms — he had 15 goals and 11 assists in 55 games.

Matt Lindblad, a forward with the Chicago Steel, had five goals and 20 assists in 51 games last season, while Brett Gensler played in 52 games with the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, scoring 10 goals and 10 assists. Taylor Holstrom, a forward with the Omaha Lancers, had eight goals and 11 assists in 55 games, and had 56 penalty minutes.

Also selected by the Phantoms were forwards Jack Callahan (Lincoln Stars), J.T. Osborn (Indiana Ice) and Tom Serratore (Sioux City Musketeers), and defensemen David Donnellan (Tri-City Storm), Doug Marshall (Sioux Falls Stampede) and Nick Mattson (Des Moines Buccaneers).

Players selected in Tuesday’s Futures Draft will remain the property of the Phantoms for three years.