Draft Day Musings

Raleigh, NC – It did not take long for the crowd at the RBC centre in Carolina to realize just how strangely the events to come would unfold. Predictability lasted for a grand total of four picks, until the Phoenix Coyotes pulled off a shocker, selecting Blake Wheeler fifth overall. From the way things looked, it was not a last-second decision either as they had his name attached to the sweater ahead of time.

This is certainly an interesting pick, one that might pan out big time, though if it does not then heads should roll, as the likes of Al Montoya, Rostislav Olesz, Lauri Tukonen and A.J. Thelen were still there for the taking and chances are that at least one of them will wind up to be something extra special. With Wheeler, the wait will be very long as he may not make the jump to college until 2005. The high schooler’s level of competition was very questionable this year to say the least – whether he can prove that he can transfer his spectacular end-to-end moves to a higher level remains to be seen.

This and That

One shocker at the draft weekend was the lack of Russian selections – post Ovechkin/Malkin. Most of the better Russians seemed to fall considerably, including the likes of Enver Lisin and Kirill Lyamin. Sergei Shirokov, Alexander Plyuschev and Dmitri Megalinsky were not drafted. One word is that the looming lockout might be partly to blame – many teams are not excited at the prospect of paying Russian clubs a lot of money to buy out players out of their contracts. What could Marek Schwarz possibly do to make teams so unwilling to take a flyer on him in the top 15? Inside information on the interview process with Marek is unlikely to be revealed entirely, so we’ll just assume that Schwarz’ style, which is less fluid than Montoya’s, may have scared some teams off … We were very glad to see both Travis Zajac and Kris Chucko, the brilliant duo of BCHL’s Salmon Arms, crack the top round. McKeen’s has been hyping these guys early in this year, back when everyone else was too put off by their level of competition to give the kids their well-deserved props. In fact, we would have easily taken Zajac over Blake Wheeler, as it has been proven with players like Andrew Ladd that solid, well-coached kids come out of the BCHL and we’ll only see more in the near future … It was mostly a dull draft for trade enthusiasts, although that may have been alleviated somewhat with a couple of late day-two trades. A moment of unintended comic relief lightened up the mood when the LA Kings selected Japanese goalie Yutaka Fukufuji with their eighth round selection whose name was very unfortunately pronounced like something out of prime time cable tv. It seemed funny at the time… Fukifuji is the second Japanese player all-time to be drafted after Hiroyuki Miura in 1992, who was a Montreal Canadiens selection.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The happiest selectee at the draft was Blake Wheeler, who must have been ecstatic not only due to the fact that he was taken fifth, but standing beside Wayne Gretzky when he pulled on his jersey was an added treat. This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment … Yet another one in the ‘we told ya so’ category – the Rangers picked the player they wanted in Al Montoya, a goalie just as the pre-draft talks suggested. You could almost hear the clicking of stations changing among the Ranger faithful as the team remains without a blue chip forward prospect. As good as Montoya is, Dan Blackburn must feel like he’s being placed on the back burner and Henrik Lundqvist is in the system as well … A head-shaker among the McKeen’s scouts – Ladislav Smid is the second defenseman drafted (ahead of A.J. Thelen and Boris Valabik) after performing like a ballerina at the U-20 WJC … Interesting selection by the Edmonton Oilers with their first pick, as they opted to select the tall goalie Devan Dubnyk, whose appearance is somewhat reminiscent of Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers. The Oilers clearly think that with Deslauriers as their future between the pipes, they can afford to take a raw netminder who they can develop for as long as they need. The upside is clearly substantial. Clearly in need of an offensive boost going into the draft, Kevin Lowe and Co. quickly snapped up the free-falling sniper Robbie Schremp with their late first rounder and shot two birds with one stone … So much for the talk of Andrej Meszaros being the second defender drafted. Our warnings about his makeup did stand up, even though we had even more concerns with Lukas Kaspar who preceded the talented Slovak … Here is an argument in favour of the notion that teams still place too much stock into size: Mark Fistric and Andy Rogers, who may not amount to much more than stay-at-home defensemen in the future, were taken in the first round ahead of the likes of Johan Fransson and Roman Tesliuk. Here is an argument in favour of the notion that teams have gone beyond the Neanderthal tendency of drafting players based mostly on size: the little Chris Bourque, listed as low as 5-6, depending on who you trust, was picked up by Washington with their first second-round pick. The reason to be optimistic about Bourque is that he has the guts, will and muscle to beat the odds and maybe develop into a poor man’s Martin St. Louis … Everyone seemed to be down on Jordan Smith except for us and NHL scouts. He was drafted 39th overall by Anaheim and we like the selection, even though we’d take him about 10-15 spots lower … The word around the rink is that Robbie Schremp bombed in his pre-draft interview considerably. Among the concerns are his studies and drinking habits. No word yet on what Wes O’Neill did to offend the teams … We struck out on our Bruce Graham prediction and were surprised to see him fall to 51st. He improved substantially over the course of the season and is quite competitive as well. Perhaps teams found him too raw … The following is the list of gems (as usual) selected by the Detroit Red Wings (always picking late, but earning top marks): overager Johan Franzen (can step in and contribute very soon), the struggling but very talented Evan McGrath (on day two!) and the crafty and chippy Tyler Haskins … Sense any trends in the Calgary Flames picks? Kris Chucko, Brandon Prust, Dustin Boyd, Kris Hogg, Adam Pardy, Fred Wikner, etc. These are all character guys who don’t stand out for their skill, but for their hustle and play in traffic. Prototypical Darryl Sutter picks … As usual, Ottawa drafted very well, but did not limit themselves to the same kinds of players. Consider the diversity of: The explosive Andrej Meszaros, the physical Volchenkov-like Kirill Lyamin, the heavy-duty Shawn Weller, the finesse Peter Regin, athletic netminder Jeff Glass, the raw sparkplug Alexander Nikulin, the skilled and physically endowed Jim McKenzie and the sniper Roman Wick. Now that’s good drafting … Better luck next time to Alexander Plyuschev and other players who showed up but were not drafted. The unfortunate fact with Plyuschev is that he was sure that he’d go in round one. Perhaps he’ll be less cocky next time … Common sense often seems absent when looking at draft results: talented Swede Fredrik Naslund flashed little else than utter disinterest at the U-18 WJC, but went ahead of Chad Painchaud who was simply outstanding in the second half of the season and exhibited sound potential … Speaking of Wes O’Neill – he wasn’t there on day two to shake the hand of Mike Milbury … Best pick getting no press: Mike Brown to Vancouver in the fifth round … Potentially huge steal for Columbus in the sixth round, selecting Rob Page 167th overall … The Dallas Stars picked up Craig Ludwig’s kid, Trevor Ludwig – and quite a good player in his own right, very much in the mold of his old man … Snapping up the undersized, but very opportunistic and skilled, Matt Christie were the Anaheim Mighty Ducks 236th overall in the eighth round. We had him ranked in the top 100 and consider him to be a potentially solid NHL’er with good scoring upside … Martin Vagner still lives as the Carolina Hurricanes gave him another chance by selecting the struggling former first rounder with their ninth-round selection. Message to the Hurricanes: you’ve wasted that pick … Ample proof of why ‘pretty’ usually won’t get you drafted. There was certainly a lot of hype about Mathis Olimb, but when you’re small you have to score. No goals, no stock, he’s undrafted … Interesting pick by the Philadelphia Flyers to conclude the draft, selecting John Carter from the Brewster Bulldogs of Independent Jr. They took a guy with size and skill, but a real lack of experience. At least they did not waste their pick as certain teams did on day two.