All aboard the Travis Zajac bandwagon!

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Mizral

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Yours truely has seen him in action more than a few times, and some recent ratings by very reputable sources have me basking in my own confidence as a talent evaluator.. I said early this year that I felt Zajac had 1st round talent and thought he would go in the 1st round. While he still might not, I am feeling at least confident that I was ahead of plenty of these professional scouts in having this guy as a first round pick (though certainly not everyone does).

As my father would say: I'm not really brilliant. It's just that my friends are stupid.

Now, with all that back-patting aside, I engineering this band wagon, and I won't have anyone bobbing up and down off this sucker.

Sure, I've been wrong before. I thought Josh Holden was going to be the next Jeremy Roenick. Hell, I was convinced that Boyd Devereaux was going to be a 1st line centreman too.

Is this time different? Who knows! But I still say this Zajac kid is going to turn some heads. He's got a Hobey Baker in his future, I'm telling you. Maybe not next year, but I think you'll see this guy become a really big-time scorer in the NCAA just like he was in the BCHL.

So all aboard the bandwagon, boys and girls. I'll follow Zajac right off the cliff if I'm wrong on this one!
 

Russian_fanatic

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Zajac over Schremp though ??? This guy is talented , but I would NEVER take him in the second round maybe trade up for him in the second round at best !
 

X-SHARKIE

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Zajac could have put in 60-70 points in the CHL IMO. I'm on his bandwagon, but I don't know if a team well want to select him and go for a safer pick instead ? Plus he's going to arguably the best hockey program in the NCAA and I agree with you.
I havent seen him play but from people who have, and what the reports say, sounds like the real deal.
 

Teemu

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Ive always had Zajac penned as one of the last firsts or first seconds. Hope the hawks nail him at 32.
 

Dr_Chimera*

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It's interesting how McKeen's had this guy on the radar before anyone else had a clue. He and Chucko.
 

Mizral

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Alfredo_Garcia said:
It's interesting how McKeen's had this guy on the radar before anyone else had a clue. He and Chucko.

The BCHL has been written off (and rightly so) in the past as just not a great developmental league. The thought is that a young player, 15 or 16 years old say, goes to the BCHL as a stepping stone to the WHL.

However, lately, players have been staying longer in the BCHL and it's really not hurting their draft status. If Zajac is drafted in the 1st round, he would be the first player selected directly out of the BCHL since the 80's, maybe before (I haven't gone through it all).

Why the jump? The BCHL has really improved the level of play in the league drastically. Zajac's team, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, were a truely loaded squad. Zajac and Chucko are the cream of the crop there, but there are other really fine players on that team (some others later on in the draft). I firmly believe that the Silverbacks could have competed and probobly bettered several WHL squads out there. I would have taken them over, say, Saskatoon of the WHL (they were a truely awful team).

Next year doesn't look as promising as this year does, however Zajac could end up being a big-time trail blazer out West, and perhaps more guys like him end up staying in the BCHL. With the way he league is going, it won't hurt players' draft status. Plus, they keep collegiate hockey open to them down the road. It's a great option for guys wanting to go to college.
 

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He will not go in the first round.

:D

I haven't seen him play... but you'll see.
 

V for Voodoo

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Sorry, I just can't get over the fact that he is one of the oldest eligible players in the entire draft and that he played against weaker competition than virtually all other eligible prospects. First Round? Maybe, considering the unpredictability of this years draft, but I am not sold on him.
 

me2

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Jay Thompson said:
So all aboard the bandwagon, boys and girls. I'll follow Zajac right off the cliff if I'm wrong on this one!

Bandwagons are so passé. Can we have a train?
 

chris_dub

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I saw both him & Chucko play during the BCHL Championship series with Nanaimo. As well in that, Nanaimo prospect Raymon Sawada. Who is currently ranked 33rd among North American skaters by Central Scouting. Although Ray didn't have a good playoffs, he was playing injured, he is better than both Zajac & Chucko. I will go on record by saying that Sawada will go ahead of both of them in the Draft.
 

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Teemu08 said:
Ive always had Zajac penned as one of the last firsts or first seconds. Hope the hawks nail him at 32.

Chicago likely has a close eye on him. They got Matt Ellison in the 4th round of the 2002 draft from Cowichan Valley (BCHL)...and Zajac dominated the BCHL more than Ellison did. If Zajac is available at #32, I don't see Chicago passing on him.

I also wouldn't be surprised if Los Angeles trades down from #11 to make Zajac a mid-late first round pick. After all, Andy Murray is a part-owner of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, and Zajac will be attending North Dakota next season, the same university as Murray's son Brady. If anybody has the most extensive scouting information on Zajac, it's Los Angeles.


chris_dub said:
I will go on record by saying that Sawada will go ahead of both of them in the Draft.

Not a chance. I know you love your Clippers, but Zajac will be the first BCHL player taken this Saturday.
 

Shane

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I've also had the oppurtunity to watch Zajac play, several times in fact. I don't profess to have any talent in regards to judging young hockey players, but I must say I was rather unimpressed with him.
 

Karamazov

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His age and where he played really scares me away from him. How many points would Shremp, Tukonen, or Radulov have had at that level? I tend to regard Euro's playing in the elite leagues (RSL, Finnish Elite, Extraleague) higher than those in the CHL, but his competition doesn't compare even to that. I'm not saying he's not the real deal, but you his selection would seem to be based heavily on prediction and speculation as to what he could be...
 

Dr_Chimera*

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Karamazov said:
His age and where he played really scares me away from him. How many points would Shremp, Tukonen, or Radulov have had at that level? I tend to regard Euro's playing in the elite leagues (RSL, Finnish Elite, Extraleague) higher than those in the CHL, but his competition doesn't compare even to that. I'm not saying he's not the real deal, but you his selection would seem to be based heavily on prediction and speculation as to what he could be...

That's why scouts don't judge on points, but on viewings.

Food for thought.
 

Karamazov

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Yeah I'm not saying that I'm judging it on points alone really, just that his exceptional performance might be influenced by his less than spectacular opposition. You'd really need to have seen him play many many times and be a great and objective judge of individual talent to make this work. My concerns are from a guy who's never seen him personally :dunno:
 

Dr_Chimera*

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Karamazov said:
Yeah I'm not saying that I'm judging it on points alone really, just that his exceptional performance might be influenced by his less than spectacular opposition. You'd really need to have seen him play many many times and be a great and objective judge of individual talent to make this work. My concerns are from a guy who's never seen him personally :dunno:

I'm sure that the team that drafts him will have seen him quite a bit.
 

PecaFan

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I don't know very much about the BCHL. So who's been drafted out of there that's a star, or I've likely heard of?

I admit I lean to the side of the doubters. Against a lower level of talent, it's much easier for your talent to be amplified. Your shots that would normally be saved are goals. Your passes that would normally be blocked get through. The hits that would normally be avoided are real board shakers, etc.
 

Mizral

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PecaFan said:
I don't know very much about the BCHL. So who's been drafted out of there that's a star, or I've likely heard of?

I admit I lean to the side of the doubters. Against a lower level of talent, it's much easier for your talent to be amplified. Your shots that would normally be saved are goals. Your passes that would normally be blocked get through. The hits that would normally be avoided are real board shakers, etc.

To my knowledge, it's been a while since anyone has been drafted directly out of it.

However, Scott Gomez, Shaonne Morrisonn, and Ivan Huml are three young players off the top of my head who have played in the NHL since the BCHL. There are more than a few others actually.

I understand you guys thinking the BCHL is some loser league, but you really have to watch the hockey to appreciate how much better it has gotten. I would say the BCHL is getting very close to the NCAA.

PS: To the guy who said Sawada would go before Zajac or Chucko.. I watch a lot of Clippers games, and while Raymond had a good rookie season, Zajac is on another level. Sawada needs to become a lot more mature and disciplined before he's even going to be able to think about the NHL.
 

looooob

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well we're going back a few years now, but didn't the Flames draft a fat kid named Brett Hull out of Penticton in the BC(J)HL at one point? didn't Kariya play several years later on Penticton also?

I guess there have been some players in this league over the years. but of course its buyer beware in terms of projecting their NHL level talent (as it is with most teenagers of course)
 
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