2017-2018 Blues Discussion Thread Part Three

Status
Not open for further replies.

Xerloris

reckless optimism
Jun 9, 2015
6,912
7,516
St.Louis
having nothing but left handed shots also makes your PP predictable. That's an issue for the GM to actually f***ing fix instead of doing nothing.

Or possibly, you know. Maybe put a Dman that happens to be a right handed shot in the slot or make your right handed dmen actually take one timers. Parayko has been sad this year offensively.
 

Renard

Registered User
Nov 14, 2011
2,148
761
St. Louis, MO
Our power play used to be heavily dependent on Shattenkirk shooting from the blue line, and Backes scoring on rebounds and tip-ins.

Those two are gone, and we haven't found people to take their places. That's the trouble with the power play.

I takes a mix of the right kind of players to have a good power play. You have to have a good face-off man, an elusive puck handler to gain the zone, a good shooter from the blue line, a couple of guys who can pass the puck with speed and accuracy.

Coaching plays a part in it, of course. The coaches have to identify the guys who can do the job, and motivate them to execute the plan.

But I see the current power play problems as primarily skill problems. At least Dunn has emerged this year as a guy who can gain the zone.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blueston

Ranksu

Crotch Academy ftw
Sponsor
Apr 28, 2014
19,661
9,296
Lapland
Has Dunn played 1st powerplay? I mean he has the wheels play with puck in the blueline, maybe the best hands in there, over Pietro too. His lateral skating is perfect to play at blueline and he can change so quickly his direction.
 

Novacain

Registered User
Feb 24, 2012
4,362
4,875
Seed 7. That's what we want. Just gained 2 points on the Stars.

The Stars aren't the 7 seed anymore, Colorado is, due to less games played. Catching Colorado will probably be a lot harder then a falling off Dallas, honestly.
 

Alklha

Registered User
Sep 7, 2011
16,875
2,751
The Stars aren't the 7 seed anymore, Colorado is, due to less games played. Catching Colorado will probably be a lot harder then a falling off Dallas, honestly.
Dallas are really going to have to pick it up to make the playoffs. They have been in terrible form and have a really tough run in. They have one game against Vancouver, aside from that their lowest ranked remaining opponent is Anaheim. I agree that Colorado are going to finish above them.

We probably have the "weakest" run in remaining, we have 5 games against teams placed below us and 3 against the East. San Jose, Vegas and Colorado (last game) are the three Western teams above us that we play again. Where as the teams on 84 points have plenty of games against each other to come.

We're actually in an okay position from a schedule standpoint, but the reality is never that simple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blueston

MortiestOfMortys

Registered User
Jun 27, 2015
4,740
1,702
Denver, CO
So since the new year, Barbashev has 13 points in 31 games, which puts him on ~34 point pace for a full season, or just a little bit below what Parayko has done this season.

No other players on our team besides those two and Dunn, who were drafted in 2011 or afterwards, are scoring more 1 point every 3 games, and most are at or below 1 point every 4 games. That includes Blais, Edmundson, Jaskin, Schmaltz, Soshkinov, Sundqvist, and Thompson.

Obviously not having Fabbri here makes a difference, but... that strikes me as a problem. If we’re going to be handing the reigns over to the young guys, we need more than 15-20 points from them if we’re going to be successful.

As much as I have liked Barmstrong in the past, a good deal of that falls on his and our other scouts’ shoulders. Our WHL scouting in particular has been mostly atrocious. Our Euro scouting hasn’t been much better. The AHL situation through the last few years has affected our ability to properly develop guys, but we also need to be hitting on more mid- to late-round guys. We’ve blown early picks on William Carrier, Tommy Vannelli, Sam Kurker, Mackenzie MacEachern, Max Letunov (when Christian Dvorak was still on the board), And Rattie since 2011, and that as much as anything has contributed to where we’re at right now, imo. That’s a lot of value left on the board there, not to mention the 5 1st rounders we’ve traded since 2011 as well. That’s a lot of reinforcements that never came behind Tarasenko and Schwartz.

So, good on Barbie for finding his game after Christmas, but unless he and the others can really nail down his role here, we could still find ourselves in a pickle until Kyrou and Thomas go through their adjustments. Our drafting really needs to improve big time if we’re going to get anywhere close to a cup.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blueston

wannabebluesplayer

Registered User
Apr 16, 2012
1,359
466
So since the new year, Barbashev has 13 points in 31 games, which puts him on ~34 point pace for a full season, or just a little bit below what Parayko has done this season.

No other players on our team besides those two and Dunn, who were drafted in 2011 or afterwards, are scoring more 1 point every 3 games, and most are at or below 1 point every 4 games. That includes Blais, Edmundson, Jaskin, Schmaltz, Soshkinov, Sundqvist, and Thompson.

Obviously not having Fabbri here makes a difference, but... that strikes me as a problem. If we’re going to be handing the reigns over to the young guys, we need more than 15-20 points from them if we’re going to be successful.

As much as I have liked Barmstrong in the past, a good deal of that falls on his and our other scouts’ shoulders. Our WHL scouting in particular has been mostly atrocious. Our Euro scouting hasn’t been much better. The AHL situation through the last few years has affected our ability to properly develop guys, but we also need to be hitting on more mid- to late-round guys. We’ve blown early picks on William Carrier, Tommy Vannelli, Sam Kurker, Mackenzie MacEachern, Max Letunov (when Christian Dvorak was still on the board), And Rattie since 2011, and that as much as anything has contributed to where we’re at right now, imo. That’s a lot of value left on the board there, not to mention the 5 1st rounders we’ve traded since 2011 as well. That’s a lot of reinforcements that never came behind Tarasenko and Schwartz.

So, good on Barbie for finding his game after Christmas, but unless he and the others can really nail down his role here, we could still find ourselves in a pickle until Kyrou and Thomas go through their adjustments. Our drafting really needs to improve big time if we’re going to get anywhere close to a cup.

I don't think it's nearly as bad as your describing, but I agree that you need to draft well for a run at a Cup. Parayko and Edmundson are more hidden gems and good scouting than anything. I truthfully think anything after the 1st round, when it comes to the NHL, is a crap shoot for what you're going to get. I think if you hit on at least 2 of your draft picks from every year, you're probably fine. The list you mentioned with Rattie, Kurker, and others were mainly 2nd round or later picks if I recall. The Blues have definitely had their rough picks but they've also managed to find some pretty good players outside of the 1st round.

I think you'll see decent improvement next season, if some of the veteran players are removed from this roster. Thompson was done no favors by playing with guys like Sundqvist, Paajarvi, Berglund, etc this season. He, arguably, wasn't ready for NHL time either, but the Blues needed him. If he had played on a line with Schwartz and Schenn the whole season, or Stastny, what might have happened? How may his development been different? Yeo likes to reward players who work, and that's great, but work can only get you so far. Eventually, you have to have the skill to compliment that work, see Dmitrij Jaskin. That's why I think this is an important off-season for DA. He can't keep committing to guys who just work hard. He needs to clear the deck of the dead weight and maybe let some younger players develop up here with the current core.

I don't think it's super likely that there is a massive overhaul of the roster, but one is definitely needed. This team isn't built to play a Mike Yeo style of game. Mike Yeo's team in Minnesota that dumped the Blues was basically a bunch of Jaden Schwartz's. That's his style of game. I think he'll try to adapt the offensive side more as more skill is brought in, but he needs those Schwartz, Parise, Schenn style players to really implement his system. Berglund doesn't fit that mold. Sobotka used to, but not really anymore. Brodziak and Upshall can play that style but the Blues have younger, faster players who can fill in next season for them.
 

Alklha

Registered User
Sep 7, 2011
16,875
2,751
So since the new year, Barbashev has 13 points in 31 games, which puts him on ~34 point pace for a full season, or just a little bit below what Parayko has done this season.

No other players on our team besides those two and Dunn, who were drafted in 2011 or afterwards, are scoring more 1 point every 3 games, and most are at or below 1 point every 4 games. That includes Blais, Edmundson, Jaskin, Schmaltz, Soshkinov, Sundqvist, and Thompson.

Obviously not having Fabbri here makes a difference, but... that strikes me as a problem. If we’re going to be handing the reigns over to the young guys, we need more than 15-20 points from them if we’re going to be successful.

As much as I have liked Barmstrong in the past, a good deal of that falls on his and our other scouts’ shoulders. Our WHL scouting in particular has been mostly atrocious. Our Euro scouting hasn’t been much better. The AHL situation through the last few years has affected our ability to properly develop guys, but we also need to be hitting on more mid- to late-round guys. We’ve blown early picks on William Carrier, Tommy Vannelli, Sam Kurker, Mackenzie MacEachern, Max Letunov (when Christian Dvorak was still on the board), And Rattie since 2011, and that as much as anything has contributed to where we’re at right now, imo. That’s a lot of value left on the board there, not to mention the 5 1st rounders we’ve traded since 2011 as well. That’s a lot of reinforcements that never came behind Tarasenko and Schwartz.

So, good on Barbie for finding his game after Christmas, but unless he and the others can really nail down his role here, we could still find ourselves in a pickle until Kyrou and Thomas go through their adjustments. Our drafting really needs to improve big time if we’re going to get anywhere close to a cup.
I made a couple of posts a few weeks ago reigning in some of the praise that our scouting department gets. We've done okay, and how good we're doing depends on how our current prospects establish themselves in the League. I'll wait until then until I make a judgement over just how great out scouts are.

You are going too far in the other direction.

Since Bill Armstrong took over in 2011 we've added a top-4 defenseman or top-6 forward in 2011 (Edmundson), 2012 (Parayko), 2014 (Fabbri) and 2015 (Dunn). We didn't in 2013, but we had 4 picks that year and the first was at 47.

Then we still have guys in the system from those drafts that could play roles of varying degrees (Jaškin, Schmaltz, Barbashev, Husso, Walman, Blais & Mikkola). Then Gawdin wasn't signed for whatever reason, not that I think he'll be a major loss.

That's a lot of quality, and some decent progressing prospects, from 5 years with just 2 late first round picks.

From 2016, we have Thompson and Kyrou with top-6 upside. Fitzpatrick has looked great since his trade. Kaspick and Stevens look interesting as mid/late rounders.

From 2017 we have Thomas and Kostin, then a whole lot of not much since we didn't have another pick until the fourth.

If we're going to continue to come out of each draft averaging a quality roster player and maybe also a depth roster player, I'll be delighted with that.

You can look at most draft picks and complain about guys that any team could have taken instead. The only time that I think this is appropriate might be in 2011 when we too Rattie and Jaškin when there was the likes of Gibson, Saad, Jenner, etc on the board. No point in getting hung up on that.
 

Brian39

Registered User
Apr 24, 2014
7,027
12,733
So since the new year, Barbashev has 13 points in 31 games, which puts him on ~34 point pace for a full season, or just a little bit below what Parayko has done this season.

No other players on our team besides those two and Dunn, who were drafted in 2011 or afterwards, are scoring more 1 point every 3 games, and most are at or below 1 point every 4 games. That includes Blais, Edmundson, Jaskin, Schmaltz, Soshkinov, Sundqvist, and Thompson.

Obviously not having Fabbri here makes a difference, but... that strikes me as a problem. If we’re going to be handing the reigns over to the young guys, we need more than 15-20 points from them if we’re going to be successful.

As much as I have liked Barmstrong in the past, a good deal of that falls on his and our other scouts’ shoulders. Our WHL scouting in particular has been mostly atrocious. Our Euro scouting hasn’t been much better. The AHL situation through the last few years has affected our ability to properly develop guys, but we also need to be hitting on more mid- to late-round guys. We’ve blown early picks on William Carrier, Tommy Vannelli, Sam Kurker, Mackenzie MacEachern, Max Letunov (when Christian Dvorak was still on the board), And Rattie since 2011, and that as much as anything has contributed to where we’re at right now, imo. That’s a lot of value left on the board there, not to mention the 5 1st rounders we’ve traded since 2011 as well. That’s a lot of reinforcements that never came behind Tarasenko and Schwartz.

So, good on Barbie for finding his game after Christmas, but unless he and the others can really nail down his role here, we could still find ourselves in a pickle until Kyrou and Thomas go through their adjustments. Our drafting really needs to improve big time if we’re going to get anywhere close to a cup.

You're not wrong that we will need more offensive production if handing over the reigns to kids. However, I disagree with your assessment of the scouting. I don't consider picks in the mid-late 2nd round "early picks" and I think expectations need to be calibrated for 2nd round (and later) picks that are still in their early 20s.

Only 8 guys drafted in the 2nd round or later in 2013 have 50+ career points.

Only 8 guys drafted in the 2nd round or later in 2014 have 25 or more career points and Barby is 8th.

Only 4 guys drafted in the 2nd round or later in 2015 have 25 career points.

Only 2 guys drafted in the 2nd round or later in 2016 have 25 career points.

Guys drafted outside the 1st round are generally not close to NHL ready and almost all of them either never stick in the NHL or take years of development to make a real impact. We're not seeing bad scouting by the Blues in these drafts, we're seeing the natural progression of almost every non-1st round pick. Fabbri is the only forward the Blues picked in the 1st round from 2011 and 2015. The forwards we picked in rounds 2+ aren't making a huge impact, but they are doing better than your average 2nd round pick. Our scouts aren't missing with those picks. Any pick after 45 is a lottery ticket of some degree and a good number of our picks are producing better than expected. In a re-draft based on NHL production so far, Barbie would be drafted 6 picks earlier, Carrier would rise about a dozen spots and Jaskin would rise about 5 spots, and Rattie would fall about a round. We have a couple guys who never made the show, which is expected once you're out of the 1st round. We don't have any home runs (on offense), but all in all the forward drafting in the 2nd round has been fine. When you consider half of our blueline (Paryko, Dunn, and Ed) were picked in the 2nd round or later, that's pretty damn good work by our scouts. Expecting 5+ gems outside the 1st round in 5 years is just unrealistic. We got 3 very good D men, a goalie prospect who is progressing as planned in Husso and at least 2 actual NHL caliber forwards.

The organization is well aware that we focused a lot of D in the draft for a few years and needed more forward talent. That's why 4 of our last 5 picks in the first 2 rounds were forwards and we spent assets to make sure all 4 of those picks were in the top 35.
 
Last edited:

PiggySmalls

Oink Oink MF
Mar 7, 2015
6,107
3,516
One thing to consider, 2014 was really what I see as the first draft where Blues selected players that fit the quicker style that the league is going to. Bill Armstrong and his scouts go off of what DA and Dave Taylor tells them what kind of players they are looking for. So basically 12 and 13 draft were selected more for a heavier hitch style. When Parayko was selected, his skating hadn’t caught up to his frame yet. Not alot of people even remotely expected him to become the skater he is today.

Every team has room for improvement when it comes to drafting. At least Bill Armstrong and company are still miles ahead of Larry Pleau and Jarmo in their selections.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MortiestOfMortys

MortiestOfMortys

Registered User
Jun 27, 2015
4,740
1,702
Denver, CO
All I’m saying is that while yes, Barmstrong has done a good job of stocking the cupboards lately, it is maybe no wonder that we’re struggling right now, as there are big gaps in our farm team from draft misses both before and for a few years after his tenure here began. Part of that stems from bad player development (mostly because of financial uncertainty and unfortunate issues with Peoria/Chicago), part of that stems from poor player evaluation at the draft table.

Regardless, it’s plainly obvious to me that we haven’t been able to replace aging vets with players hitting their primes (ages 20-26) because we haven’t drafted nearly enough players in early rounds who have the capacity to contribute in that way. As a result, today we might be rushing guys like Thompson, or forcing trades for guys like Sanford or Foley because we have those holes to fill. Not that I don’t think those were good players to get. All of our top-tier prospects are very young, and we’re expecting them to come in and replace the production that should have been ahead of them, if that makes sense.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and I get that, but at the same time the proof is in the pudding and those early Barmstrong drafts are really coming back to bite us right now. And I’m not sure he’s completely turned his thinking around, as evidenced by taking guys like Bourque or Noel in later rounds when there were clearly better players on the board at the time. I’ll say it till I’m blue in the face, but drafts are won in the later rounds, especially when you’re having trouble hitting on the early rounds. We aren’t doing that (Blais aside), and it’s starting to show.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blueston

PiggySmalls

Oink Oink MF
Mar 7, 2015
6,107
3,516
I get what you are saying. It’s easy for me to look at Larry Pleau’s era and then cry in the corner when I see how abysmal our drafting was then. So I guess my point of view on Billy and the scouting crew is more on the optimistic side because of that.

I place more blame on the lack of early picks on DA. The need for absolutely any playoff games at scottrade forced the Blues to do an half assed rebuild.

Edit: I forgot to add, The Athletic did an article on Tuesday ranking the teams based of the 2011-2015 draft. Blues finished 26th out of 30. Central teams ranked worse were Wild and Stars. Those better were Avalanche, Predators, Blackhawks, and Jets.

From worst to first, ranking how each NHL team performs at...
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: MortiestOfMortys

Bluesnatic27

Registered User
Aug 5, 2011
4,712
3,209
All I’m saying is that while yes, Barmstrong has done a good job of stocking the cupboards lately, it is maybe no wonder that we’re struggling right now, as there are big gaps in our farm team from draft misses both before and for a few years after his tenure here began. Part of that stems from bad player development (mostly because of financial uncertainty and unfortunate issues with Peoria/Chicago), part of that stems from poor player evaluation at the draft table.

Regardless, it’s plainly obvious to me that we haven’t been able to replace aging vets with players hitting their primes (ages 20-26) because we haven’t drafted nearly enough players in early rounds who have the capacity to contribute in that way. As a result, today we might be rushing guys like Thompson, or forcing trades for guys like Sanford or Foley because we have those holes to fill. Not that I don’t think those were good players to get. All of our top-tier prospects are very young, and we’re expecting them to come in and replace the production that should have been ahead of them, if that makes sense.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and I get that, but at the same time the proof is in the pudding and those early Barmstrong drafts are really coming back to bite us right now. And I’m not sure he’s completely turned his thinking around, as evidenced by taking guys like Bourque or Noel in later rounds when there were clearly better players on the board at the time. I’ll say it till I’m blue in the face, but drafts are won in the later rounds, especially when you’re having trouble hitting on the early rounds. We aren’t doing that (Blais aside), and it’s starting to show.

I honestly have no idea what point you're trying to make here.

Could Barmstrong could have drafted better? well of course, but that could be said about every team in the league. The point of the draft is to obtain assets that can help the team in meaningful ways. That doesn't just mean that getting a superstar like Kucherov in the 2nd round. If you select players that provide assistance to the team in meaningful ways, then that's all you can ask a scouting director to do. Jaskin could have been Saad or Rask, sure. But by that same reasoning, Edmundson could have become Ryan Sproul or Tyler Wotherspoon.

Reading your post, all I'm getting out of it is that you think Barmstrong needs to be better. Which is either incredibly unrealistic or undermining how difficult drafting is. And based on the hyperbole in the bolded, I'm thinking it's more of the latter.
 

Brian39

Registered User
Apr 24, 2014
7,027
12,733
All I’m saying is that while yes, Barmstrong has done a good job of stocking the cupboards lately, it is maybe no wonder that we’re struggling right now, as there are big gaps in our farm team from draft misses both before and for a few years after his tenure here began. Part of that stems from bad player development (mostly because of financial uncertainty and unfortunate issues with Peoria/Chicago), part of that stems from poor player evaluation at the draft table.

Regardless, it’s plainly obvious to me that we haven’t been able to replace aging vets with players hitting their primes (ages 20-26) because we haven’t drafted nearly enough players in early rounds who have the capacity to contribute in that way. As a result, today we might be rushing guys like Thompson, or forcing trades for guys like Sanford or Foley because we have those holes to fill. Not that I don’t think those were good players to get. All of our top-tier prospects are very young, and we’re expecting them to come in and replace the production that should have been ahead of them, if that makes sense.

Hindsight is always 20/20, and I get that, but at the same time the proof is in the pudding and those early Barmstrong drafts are really coming back to bite us right now. And I’m not sure he’s completely turned his thinking around, as evidenced by taking guys like Bourque or Noel in later rounds when there were clearly better players on the board at the time. I’ll say it till I’m blue in the face, but drafts are won in the later rounds, especially when you’re having trouble hitting on the early rounds. We aren’t doing that (Blais aside), and it’s starting to show.

I think I just fundamentally disagree that drafts are won in the later rounds if you're defining that as 5+. Finding a Parayko at pick 86 is a massive win for the scouting staff. If you re-do the 2012 draft today, he goes top 10 without question and likely top 5. The jury is still out on Schmaltz but even if he washes out, you're still talking about getting a top talent from the draft in the 3rd round. I don't think it matters that we picked him in the 3rd and not the 5th. Simply by getting our 2nd best D man without a top 10 pick, 2012 is a win for the scouting staff IMO. Husso is a top 15 goalie prospect (and tons of people have him in the top 10) and we plucked him with pick 94. Again, I don't think it matters that we got him in the early 4th instead of the mid 6th. Combine that pick with Fabbri and Blais in the 6th round and that's a fantastic draft by our scouting staff for 2014. In 2013, we only had 1 pick after round 4, so I'm not going to blame the scouts for not going 1 for 1 on a 6th rounder.

I think the lack of youth infusion is much more a result of having only one 1st round pick in a 3 year span and only 2 in a 5 year span. The fact that one of those two 1st rounders has missed the last season and a half due to injury is just salt in the wound. I think they have been about average in the middle/late rounds and well above average in the 2nd round. A 2nd rounder has about a 20-25% chance of becoming an NHL regular and around a 10% chance of becoming a top 6 F or top 4 D man. With our eight 2nd rounders from 2011-2014, we got a top 4 D men in Ed, an NHL regular in Jaskin, an NHL regular in Barbie (jury is still out on whether he can be a legit 3rd line player or eventual middle 6 guy) and Carrier is somewhere between fringe guy and NHL regular. Expand that to 2015 and you would include DUnn, who is certainly looking like he will be atop 4 D man in this league. That's a damn good hit rate in the 2nd round.

We don't really have much to go on with 1st rounders. We crushed the 2010 draft with Schwartz and Tarasenko and it is clear that B Armstrong's voice was a big factor in making the trade to draft both instead of just one. Schmaltz was a dud, Fabbri was good talent evaluation and it's too early in the Thompson/Kyrou/Thomas/Kostin wave to make any concrete assessments. That's just an absurdly low sample size and the lack of a bigger sample size is the reason we haven't had adequate youth stepping in IMO.

All percentages come from this article:

Cullen: Updated NHL Draft Pick Values, Observations
 

Blueston

HFBoards Sponsor
Sponsor
Dec 4, 2016
18,699
19,276
Houston, TX
I think I just fundamentally disagree that drafts are won in the later rounds if you're defining that as 5+. Finding a Parayko at pick 86 is a massive win for the scouting staff. If you re-do the 2012 draft today, he goes top 10 without question and likely top 5. The jury is still out on Schmaltz but even if he washes out, you're still talking about getting a top talent from the draft in the 3rd round. I don't think it matters that we picked him in the 3rd and not the 5th. Simply by getting our 2nd best D man without a top 10 pick, 2012 is a win for the scouting staff IMO. Husso is a top 15 goalie prospect (and tons of people have him in the top 10) and we plucked him with pick 94. Again, I don't think it matters that we got him in the early 4th instead of the mid 6th. Combine that pick with Fabbri and Blais in the 6th round and that's a fantastic draft by our scouting staff for 2014. In 2013, we only had 1 pick after round 4, so I'm not going to blame the scouts for not going 1 for 1 on a 6th rounder.

I think the lack of youth infusion is much more a result of having only one 1st round pick in a 3 year span and only 2 in a 5 year span. The fact that one of those two 1st rounders has missed the last season and a half due to injury is just salt in the wound. I think they have been about average in the middle/late rounds and well above average in the 2nd round. A 2nd rounder has about a 20-25% chance of becoming an NHL regular and around a 10% chance of becoming a top 6 F or top 4 D man. With our eight 2nd rounders from 2011-2014, we got a top 4 D men in Ed, an NHL regular in Jaskin, an NHL regular in Barbie (jury is still out on whether he can be a legit 3rd line player or eventual middle 6 guy) and Carrier is somewhere between fringe guy and NHL regular. Expand that to 2015 and you would include DUnn, who is certainly looking like he will be atop 4 D man in this league. That's a damn good hit rate in the 2nd round.

We don't really have much to go on with 1st rounders. We crushed the 2010 draft with Schwartz and Tarasenko and it is clear that B Armstrong's voice was a big factor in making the trade to draft both instead of just one. Schmaltz was a dud, Fabbri was good talent evaluation and it's too early in the Thompson/Kyrou/Thomas/Kostin wave to make any concrete assessments. That's just an absurdly low sample size and the lack of a bigger sample size is the reason we haven't had adequate youth stepping in IMO.

All percentages come from this article:

Cullen: Updated NHL Draft Pick Values, Observations
This actually goes back prior to BArmstrong. Typically you need to average 2-3 legit players per draft to build and maintain your roster. We have generally hit on 1st and 2nd round picks at or above league average, but whiffed after. Combine that with trading 1st round picks and we get issue described by Morty.

Most of your stars may be 1st round picks, but you need to find players after 1st 2 rounds and we generally haven't. Parayko is only player we've drafted after 2nd round that has played 100+ games since we picked Lehtera in 2008. We haven't had 100+ game NHLer after 3rd round since Peluso in 2007. This makes it exceedingly difficult to sustain success and it absolutely reflects poorly on our scouting group. That said, some of the players in last few draft still look promising (Husso, Blais, etc..) so hopefully we have addressed this issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MortiestOfMortys
Status
Not open for further replies.

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad

-->