Totally understood. But history shows that rarely will something great comes out directly from the AJHL. He didn't exactly destroy it last year even though it's not his game. But if he does and even just slightly play in the NHL, we will more than willingly praise TT and Co and just say how great they are. As of now, I think we can be "perplexed" (is that a word???).
And I would obviously love to know, but we won't, how many other teams were interested that made TT chose him that soon when he wasn't even ranked that much. Seemed to me the type of guy you pick in the 7th....Ã la Colin Sullivan, unless you know that the interest is there.
Keep it in perspective...you are expecting a fifth round pick to be great? I'd temper your expectations a bit - if there are two "great" players that come out of the 30 picks in this year's draft..that's a high number.
He was ranked by Central Scouting..just because you, me and a lot of other guys who follow the draft didn't know much or anything about him doesn't mean he was completely overlooked by every team..but sometimes a kid playing tier 2 hockey blossoms late and slips though the cracks.
You want to bring up history...the last time TT drafted a kid from Tier 2 that was a big surprise and hadn't been heavily scouted was Ryan O'Byrne. He ended up being a mid round pick that made the NHL and fetched us Bournival. Would that work for you..or do all of our fifth round picks have to be great?
Yes O'Byrne was a little more highly touted in his draft year..but he also went higher in the draft.
How many "great" players have come out of the Q in the fifth round in recent times? Who cares if he was drafted out of a midget girls hockey..the club scouted him and thinks they have a diamond in the rough. Just because we didn't see him...who cares? There were at least 50 guys drafted who I know little or nothing about...doesn't mean they all suck. It's not like the AJHL is some barren wasteland...off the top of my head there have been some recent grads who went on to the NHL, including Frattin and Colborne. MacWilliams was a 7th round pick by Toronto...he's turned out pretty well for a really late pick...solid AHLer already.
To look at his stats and try to figure out how well a guy played is pretty arbitrary.. If you are going to do that...look a little closer at the stats. He led his team in dman scoring as a rookie..the other six dmen on the team combined for ten goals...he had five. 18 points isn't a huge amount, but he played on a low scoring team with one player who scored more than 20 goals. On top of that..he had 150 PIM's..obviously he wasn't a wallflower. To come out of midget hockey and lead your junior team in d scoring is a pretty good sign that this kid isn't just a fighting defenceman...he's got some all around ability, and that's what I've been told..and read.
Even though he was leaning towards college a WHL team made him a mid round pick..again..an indication that he didn't just come out of nowhere.
Let's see how he looks at rookie camp...then decide if he has any skill or upside.
