You can see who was picked where in the first round here.
Winners
Florida Panthers: They came out of today with the number one goalie that they were looking for, and were able to pick up a nice defensive prospect as well. That was two areas they really needed to improve.
St. Louis Blues: They were one of the few teams that knew their guy would still be available a little later on in the draft, and were able to work out a deal to move down. They basically got a few extra picks for free.
Montreal Americans: Montreal picked up two more great American prospects in the first round of the draft. Both players look like really solid, fairly safe picks.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Angelo Esposito shouldn't have slipped that low. The Penguins made the most exciting offense in the NHL even more exciting.
Losers
Edmonton Oilers: I guess Kevin Lowe had a hot date to get to tonight, and wasn't planning on being up early tomorrow. They traded up from 30 to 21, giving up an early second round pick tomorrow, in order to draft Riley Nash, who probably would have been available at 30. They also took a bit of a reach on Alex Plante in the middle of the first. I kind of like the pick of Sam Gagner over Voracek, but if Voracek works out better, they'll look foolish for not following conventional wisdom.
Los Angeles Kings: Dean Lombardi looked pretty defeated after they couldn't work out a deal to trade down and then draft Thomas Hickey, and instead, had to pick him 4th overall.
Minnesota Wild: You'd think the Wild would have finally learned this offseason that you don't win the Stanley Cup scoring 1 goal per playoff game. Two great offensive talents were sitting on the when they came up to draft in Alexei Cherepanov and Angelo Esposito, and the Wild selected another hard-working grinder.
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26 comments:
Angelo Esposito.
Gee, the major junior route really helped his draft status!
He must of been sleeping through class while at SSM.
Hey, he gets stuck with Crosby, Staal, and Malkin. Maybe it was best for him that his interest drop a little bit =)
Hey it might not have helped Angelo "soft as a pillow" Esposito but it sure the heck helped out Pat Kane! The number one pick was from the Major Junior ranks as were 7 out of the top 10!
Chew on that for a while!
Chris-
I don't know how you could be surprised at the Mild's actions. Their style is such that, while other teams try to create offense, the Mild wait for the opposition to make a mistake and then capitolize the "easy way." Problem is, that only works on teams that already suck or teams that come to the arena and not take you seriously.
It won't beat any of the top tier teams in the league and certainly will be less effective that even that in the playoffs.
Risebrough and Lemaire have simply made it known that they wish to remain a 1-1.5 scoring line team with more grinders and character guys than any other team in the NHL, AHL, ECHL, Major Juniors, and DI hockey combined.
However, right now, the Wild are the second most successful Minnesota pro team (the most successful if you talk home attendance I'm sure). Since Minnesotans seem to only care if the team makes the playoffs, Risebrough and Lemaire have cushy jobs.
Pat Kane would of went first anyway.
Funny how the TSN guys never (at least that I heard) mention Kane's year (or was it two?) with the NTDP.
"Pat Kane would of went first anyway."
Really? Kane wasn't even ranked in the 1st round at the beginning of the year. He never would have gone 1st overall if he had dicked around this year waiting to play 15 games for his college team in the spring.
Did anybody find it odd that Kane's name on the back of the Hawk's jersey was barely sewn on? It almost looked something was "supposed to happen." Either that Wertz just went one step further to cheapdom.
I think the bigger and better steal of the first round was Cherepanov going to the Rangers. I think more than a few teams will be kicking themselves down the road for not drafting this guy.
I noticed the name tag on Kane's jersey as well. I really looked like they were going to trade down, and that went through at right before they were on the clock and took Kane. If they were going to take Kane all along, it pretty damn shameful of the Hawks to have the name plate hanging. I mean he was the no.1 draft pick for christ sake! His name looked like it was being held up by safety pins!
Tallon announced at 6:00 - 1 hour before the draft - that they were taking Kane. So ya, Pat Kane - welcome to the cheapest organization in the NHL.
Dear Major Junior Rubes:
Where are these 2002 first rounders? I'd call all of these busts ... they could have/should have been taken in later rounds.
#3 -- Jay Bouwmeester
#6 -- Scottie Upshall
#9 -- Petr Taticek
#17 -- Boyd Gordon
#20 -- Daniel Paille
#23 -- Ben Eager
#26 -- Martin Vagner
Grand total of Major Junior first rounders who weren't a "bust" from the 2002 draft = 2
Jeffery Lopul
Cam Ward
In my mind this means one of two things:
1. Draft placement is ridiculously overrated and the scouting system is periously flawed with politics and irrational preferences ... OR
2. Major Junior isn't anywhere near the great development route that it's proponents pretend it is.
(I say a lot of #1 and a bit of #2 is the answer)
BTW ... A quick look at 2000 and 2001 first rounders looks pretty much like 2002 ...
2000 -- Raffe Torres, Scott Hartnell, Nathan Smith, Brad Boyes, Steve Ott ....
2001 -- Weiss, Hemsky, Armstrong, Foster ...
So ... um ... get off your high horses.
Well said Donald!
Donald-
It's quantity over quality. It doesn't matter how good those players are (most of them get obscene amounts of points in Major Juniors. Here's an example: Wes Walz has 120 games in the WHL in which he scored 84-162-246 in 2 years (+1 game) in MJ yet, in 593 games, he has a mighty 256 points! That's going from 2.05 PPG to a whopping .431 PPG! WHOA DOGGIE! Ok, ok, he is a minor guy. How about Alexandre Daigle? That guy Again scored 2.05 PPG in 137 games and, in the NHL scored at a .531 PPG clip.). In the NHL, a 1.0 PPG clip over a season is a BIG DEAL. In the Major Juniors, averaging a 1.0 PPG clip as a forward is an EXPECTATION.
That's HARDLY NHL-like. It's lopsided.
Anyways, the Wild had a relatively "Safe" draft this year. Which is a LOT like their playing style. No risks, no boom, no bust, just mediocre. In college hockey terms: That would be like Minnesota Gophers taking delight in getting a recruiting class like UMD or Michigan getting a recruiting class like NMU or LSSU and being happy about it. That's ok.
Mediocrity and Minnesota both start with the capitol M. Nah... That's not fair to the Gophers hockey team (men and women). They are the only team in the state beyond the high school level that actually tries to win it all every year. The Vikings, Twins, and Wild just try to make the playoffs and are happy about their season. The Gopher football team...well, they're the T-wolves of DIA football. We'll see how Brewster does.
It's quantity over quality. It doesn't matter how good those players are (most of them get obscene amounts of points in Major Juniors)
Major Juniors is a reasonable route for many many players. My nephew for example had "hella" potential in his teens and we always thought he'd end up playing in college but didn't see the reality of his lack of education potential. He should gone MJ at 16 instead of Jr. A ... it might have made the difference between him working in construction or playing hockey for a living.
My only real bitch here is the jersey-popping fruitcakes that show up here (and other places) touting the #'s of Major Junior players drafted as some sort of indication that CHL hockey is better than NCAA hockey.
There are hundreds of 4th line players in the various CHL leagues that couldn't cut it on pretty much any NCAA team (and a fair number of USHL teams as well). There are very few 4th liners in the NCAA that wouldn't make pretty much any CHL team.
Of course there is a bit of an age difference that makes comparisons like that less than perfect. The NCAA game is cleaner, faster, and the players from top to bottom are generally more skilled.
So I'm just saying the same thing to those CHL loudmouth wankers that I'd say to that Oxiclean TV huckster Billy Mays ... Shut the fuck up.
devs:
Think NJ will even try to resign Gomez?
I taped the draft and looked for Kane name tag thing people have been talking about and they are absolutely right. It looks totally unprofessional. I guess what do you expect from the Hawks. Even lower 1st rounders have the tags sewn on nicely. I do like Tallon though, I think he's a class act, and when you have a cheap-ass owner it's not totally his fault the Hawk's have been in the crapper. Has to be very frustrating for him.
Donald, how the hell would Jay Bouwmeester be a bust? He is probably a top 10 defenseman in the NHL and he is still only 22 or 23.
I'm not sure how playing 84 games from 03-05 in the AHL makes him a top ten guy. I'll grant you that his inclusion was a mistake on my part.
That's what I get for spending only 20 minutes looking at past drafts to make my assessment when I'm certainly not an expert on the current NHL (especially the Florida Panthers).
Look on Ebay for my upcoming "Jump To Conclusions" interactive mat game.
Well, you have to remember that not many players go right to the NHL when drafted. Bouwmeester was drafted in 02, which gives him the 02-03 season and the 03-04 season to try and make the Panthers(Remember there was no season for the NHL in 04-05). Defenseman especially tend to take a good amount of time to bulk up and be able to take the physical play in the NHL. 2 seasons is pretty quick for a young defenseman to make it to the NHL.
But since the lockout, he has been a force. He was even an all star this past year and I think he will be one for the rest of his career. IMO, he's actually a better ALL AROUND defenseman than Dion Phaneuf(I think he's pretty overrated when it comes to the defensive zone). Anyways the rest of your bust-list is pretty much spot on.
Lets not forget that Jay Boumeester was touted as the next coming of Bobby Orr.
He hasnt even been close to that.
Sounds like he would of been better off going to college.
Looking at the Panthers roster I have to believe that soon to be 4 year UAA defenseman (and 9th round draft pick) Luke Beaverson ought to have a decent shot at making their team in 08-09.
rankings seem to start 2 years ahead of their draft year for high end prospects.kane was not on the radar because he was neither in the NCAA or CHL at the time.these get scouted a lot more than tier jr B etc.kane will stick in the nhl.
Donald I agree with you. You should spend more then 20 minutes examining a draft. Maybe try 20 years. Cause you aren't making much sense on the topic.
Anon@10:09
The extensive analysis and thoroughly researched points your providing here certainly are. Having you as part of the commenting community is invaluable. I read your blog's and your book's. Your insight is legendary.
The rest of us are in awe of your contribution.
Donald, I'm sorry. I forgot to post a list of all the American College drafted players who "never made it" and all the CHL players who "made it" to make a great counter agrument. (rolls eyes)
Point: Why would anybody bother replying to your points? Which begs the question why I'm even bothering writing this. Maybe I'm just a messed up Canuck.....anyways, I have to go, my Igloo is starting to melt. The temp has gone up the last couple of days.
Anon@7:20
I watched my first NHL game on TV in 1970. I attended my first NHL game in 1977. In total I've attended close to 1,000 hockey games at all levels over the last 37 years.
If you had read my original comment or my second one you'd find any number of points that are arguable depending on perspective. However, instead of bringing to bear any of your experience of knowledge (which apparently is imparted to you by your status as a Canadian) to argue the points I made, you do nothing but point out that I didn't spend much time reveiwing the past drafts I commented on (a fact that I'd previously admitted).
What does all this mean? It means that instead of contributing to a discussion; all you want to bring is some sort of ill-advised personal attack on me. Which leads me to believe you're nothing but another one of the jersey-popping CHL blowhard loudmouths that I fished up from the ether to prove the other point I was making.
Stick to reading.
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