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Post by Zoom Waffles on Jun 29, 2009 11:19:58 GMT -5
Anyone have any thoughts from the draft? everything pretty much went as expected on top. I was surprised to see Kulikov go as late as he did, and Ekman-Larsson go as early as he did. Also surprised to see Despres fall as far as he did... but not complaining.
how'd it go for your team?
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Post by fukufuji on Jun 29, 2009 11:41:31 GMT -5
I thought it was a pretty uninteresting draft actually, all the high picks were pretty much exactly as predicted, only one real big trade. The only real surprise before I tuned out was Toronto pick, but it wasn't like, wow, more like, WTF.
I was impressed by NYI fans and organization, they really rolled out the red carpet and made the number one pick an event. NY is still quite a hard core hockey city.
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Post by Zipper14 on Jun 30, 2009 0:15:07 GMT -5
I was hoping the Canucks would draft a D-man, but I'm very happy with Schroeder. The lowest I ever saw him projected was 15th overall, and I did see him ranked as high as 8 somewhere. I don't expect him to be a superstar in the league, but I think he'll be a great second liner.
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Post by The Hockey Hitman on Jun 30, 2009 6:38:30 GMT -5
While I can't agree that the draft was uninteresting, given the immense talent in almost every round, it was a bit of a let down in terms of lack of activity overall.
There were a couple of trades, the Pronger one of course, which Philly overpaid sure but makes them a favorite out in the East right now. Adding Pronger to the blueline of Timonen, Coburn, Carle, Jones amd Parent is one of the best six packs in the NHL, and also one of the most expensive.
The Kings finally gave up on 2003 draft pick Brian Boyle and shipped him to the Rangers. Heres a player with great size and good skills but has a difficult time applying them at the NHL level. His questionable work ethic doesn't help his cause either. It'll be interesting to see if John Tortorella and company can help him turn things around.
As far as the actualy draft goes, there were many surprises, from players going earlier than anticpated to later, and MUCH later than anticipated.
Of course, the draft started off with the infamous 1st overall pick, who would it be, Johnny, Vic or Matthew? As a Lightning fan who has been dreaming of getting Hedman for about 6 months, it was such a relief to here Garth Snow call John Tavares name. I knew once that happen Hedman would be a Bolt, which means Duchene would be an Av. The first 5 picks went exactly as anticipated in my book, although I thought Kane and Schenn were interchangable.
I figured Phoenix would select defenseman, but I had my money on Jared Cowen, I guess I should have had it on OEL. OEL is said to have the poential of a Lidstrom-lite, if that makes any sense, it certainly doesn't sound like a bad thing.
Brian Burke, who had been highlighted throughout the event, whether it be his facial expressions or listening to his audio from being "mic'd up" for TSN, Burkie entertained as usual. He selected Nazem Kadri which I felt was a bit too early, I personally like MSP, Scott Glennie and Jordan Schroeder more, but it could end up being a really good pick. Classic Burke moment while talking to divisionr rival Ottawa's GM Bryan Murray, "Kadri the guy you wanted..." Yep... "okay yeah we're taken him, thanks...."
MSP "fell" a little bit to 10 but I can tell you theres a ton of Edmonton fans who went absolutely crazy when he was Steve Tambellini announced his pick.
Garth Snow had traded up twice since his 1st pick to get the 12th overall pick...and I'm thinking he is going for Jordan Schroeder, or mayb Dmitry Kulikov or John Moore...maybe the gritty Zack Kassian, whom many believed would go to Buffalo at 13 if available...well turns out he didn't take any of those players. Snow chose defenseman Calvin de Haan, who was ranked 25th among North American skaters, a general consensus he would go between 20-30 overall, maybe an early 2nd rounder...but he traded up, twice, sacrificed several picks to take him early at 12?
You have to trust the man, he seemed very, very confident when announcing the pick, even made some kind of "look" towards someone standing out on the arena floor, which I took it as "we got our guy." de Haan played with John Tavares in Oshawa and the two had excellent chemsitry together, so I like the way Snow is thinking here, trying to think ahead and get guys who will mesh will together, it make sense and I applaud him for making sure he got the player he wanted. Definitely someone for poolies to keep an eye on in the near future, I know I personally drafted him in my league's dynasty keeper league just the other day.
Minnesota will regret not draft Jordan Schroeder at 16. Leddy will be a fine defenseman, but Schroeder is already tearing up the college ranks and is arguably the best pure goal scorer not named John Tavares in the draft. Definitely made it hurt worse that he went to division rival Vancouver.
There were several players selected towards the end of the 1st round that left me scratching my head a little...Tim Erixon to Calgary, Marcus Johansson to Washington, Jordan Caron to Boston, Philippe Paradis to Carolina...and in my opinion because of those picks, Tampa was able to trade up to get a guy that should have been gone earlier in Carter Ashton. The Wings were able to snag up Ray Ferraro's son Landon at 32. The Thrashers took highly touted Swede Carl Klingberg, a potential Johan Franzen like player, at 34.
It was a very interesting draft In my opinion, I could go on and on talking about picks, surprises here and there and how this player fell and who the heck is this player haha...
I was surprised Leblanc made it to 18th overall. I was surprised St. Louis took yet another defenseman with their 1st rounder, and more so that they chose David Rundblad over John Moore. Although Rundblad should be good as well, the general consensus was Moore is the better pick.
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Post by fukufuji on Jun 30, 2009 10:24:03 GMT -5
Very well put. I think msp at 10 was the a great steal for edm. The way he is willing to drive the net would be fun if he plays with hemsky once he makes it up.
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