Do we have to stop drafting/trading for high character, nice guys?

[HSF]

Not in the early rounds. We always go for the safe pick.

Chabot, puemple, brown, ceci, zibby,weir, Silverberg, Karlsson

Those are just off the top of my head. Lazar and Cowen were seen as potential Top pairing and 2nd line center same. With white

 

[Burrowsaurus]

We only had the one truly comical pick in lazar. Like which scout was watching that guy lmao.

Ceci totally understandable.

We left some serious flash on the board wen we took white. But eeehhhhh. And bowers was pretty meh. Especially seeing the two guys taken right after him play so well.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Chabot, puemple, brown, ceci, zibby,weir, Silverberg, Karlsson

Those are just off the top of my head. Lazar and Cowen were seen as potential Top pairing and 2nd line center same. With white

Okay lazar was safe. Even McGuire called him a “probably third line type” at the draft lol.

 

[Wallet Inspector]

Problem with Lazar, White and Bowers was that you can get those type of "character" two-way guys in the 2nd or 3rd round. You need to use your 1st round picks on players with high skill ceilings. Of course, not EVERY 1st round pick a team makes will be a success, but this scouting/drafting staff's philosophy on who to draft seems a little misguided to me.

 

[branch]

Drafting Bowers over Tolvanen was a joke(and no not in hindsight, it was a bad pick at the time as well).

I really liked Jokiharju as well in that draft. Oh well. I don't think we have a big Finnish scouting presence.

 

[HavlatMach9]

Chabot, puemple, brown, ceci, zibby,weir, Silverberg, Karlsson

Those are just off the top of my head. Lazar and Cowen were seen as potential Top pairing and 2nd line center same. With white

i think Zibanejad was a high character pick from what i remember hearing from interviews, that and being raw

 

[jbeck5]

Ottawa's problem is they don't seem to succeed much with their first round picks. It seems we make 2-4 bad first round selections for every good pick. We have no problem getting a top 6 forward out of our later picks. We just can't get those first liners often found in the first round.

Dzingel - 7th round
Stone - 6th round
Hoffman - 5th round

Which is good for late drafting....but then we have:

-brian lee
-jim O'Brien
-jared cowen
-stefan noesen
-matt puempel
-curtis Lazar

That's a lot of failed 1st round picks. Hard to have success with that.

 

[Stylizer1]

was just a young lad when I saw this on tv. Couldn't believe it. So entertaining!

 

[Benjamin]

I wanna say thats not the problem when we got to the ECF's last season but then I think about having Boeser this year instead of White.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Boro needs a wing man. He goes into scrums by himself. Neil type.

Team needs more grit in their top players. Our forwards are way to soft, starting with Hoff, Ryan, Brass we need a top 6 player like Brady Tkachuk who is old school and plays the game with emotion.

Up front we have Stone and I like Pageau, Dzingel, Duch as a follow up core. But way to soft.

Grit is a flaw, and so is character.
The NHL is moving farther and farther away from these hard-working gritty, hit you type guys. It's all about skating, skating, skating, passing, shooting, recovery, passing and starting again.
The NHL is getting more soft as well, so it doesn't bode well to sign guys like Borowiecki or big guys on D who will be turnstiled in their own end.

And yes, we have overvalued character in the past. I attribute this to Murray being a bit of a bumpkin and having a very narrow idea of what makes a hockey player valuable. He loved his grit and character. Thankfully Dorion has moved on from this, and we're starting to see results from Dzingel, Chabot and a few others. So yes, let's just get skilled guys that can skate like the wind and have high hockey skills. We can just free agent whatever homeless guy with character we need to make the Don Brennan's of the world happy. They are a dime a dozen and should not be paid much above a replacement player's wage.

 

[dumbdick]

The point about hindsight is good. Usually the highest skill prospects go on to be stars. Why we and other teams don't take them is mind boggling.

 

[aragorn]

Aside from Karlsson and Chabot do we even have a legit roster player we've drafted in the first round?

Edit I guess Ceci too

What does it matter whether we get good legitimate players in the 1st rd or the last rd as long as we continue to get good players. Lots of players that people have wanted on here who were thought to be sure fire superstars have not panned out that way. We often bring up the ones we could have had but rarely bring up the ones we wanted who also didn't work out. The draft is always going to be a bit of a risk although scouting is getting better, you can't measure heart & we can't predict the future ... yet.

 

[aragorn]

Grit is a flaw, and so is character.
The NHL is moving farther and farther away from these hard-working gritty, hit you type guys. It's all about skating, skating, skating, passing, shooting, recovery, passing and starting again.
The NHL is getting more soft as well, so it doesn't bode well to sign guys like Borowiecki or big guys on D who will be turnstiled in their own end.

And yes, we have overvalued character in the past. I attribute this to Murray being a bit of a bumpkin and having a very narrow idea of what makes a hockey player valuable. He loved his grit and character. Thankfully Dorion has moved on from this, and we're starting to see results from Dzingel, Chabot and a few others. So yes, let's just get skilled guys that can skate like the wind and have high hockey skills. We can just free agent whatever homeless guy with character we need to make the Don Brennan's of the world happy. They are a dime a dozen and should not be paid much above a replacement player's wage.

Isn't that the kind of team we have now? Isn't that the kind of players that Boucher likes & has brought in speedy soft players who can skate? It hasn't worked for him though. Winnipeg & S Louis I think disagree with you too, they both have big tough teams & seem to be doing just fine & both pushed Ottawa around. I would prefer to see more Formenton & Batherson type players but would also love to see Ottawa draft Tkatchuk to bring in an element of grit.

 

[dumbdick]

Honest hindsight. I prob would have still taken puemps. Maybe rattie that year too. MPS instead of Cowen. Couturier instead of zib. Prob beau Bennet or etem instead of trading for runt. Maata over Ceci. Maybe sevechnikov over chabby. Bean over brown. Jokiharju over Bowers.

It's bad when randos like me can match the performance of our scouts by reading a magazine.

 

[4thlineduster]

What does it matter whether we get good legitimate players in the 1st rd or the last rd as long as we continue to get good players. Lots of players that people have wanted on here who were thought to be sure fire superstars have not panned out that way. We often bring up the ones we could have had but rarely bring up the ones we wanted who also didn't work out. The draft is always going to be a bit of a risk although scouting is getting better, you can't measure heart & we can't predict the future ... yet.

What does it matter? Imagine this team with gems like stone and Hoffman playing along side legit first rounders.

Wasting first rounders on garbage like Lazar, Cowan, Lee etc etc will eventually come back to bite a team.

It would seem for us that time is now

 

[Langdon Alger]

brady tkachuk is a 3rd liner middle 6 at best lol

Projected to be a high pick. I think he has a higher ceiling than that.

 

[branch]

Projected to be a high pick. I think he has a higher ceiling than that.

Brady Tkachuk will be a force in the top 6. Once he fills out he has the potential to be a Getzlaf type player. He’s a nasty kid too.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Brady Tkachuk will be a force in the top 6. Once he fills out he has the potential to be a Getzlaf type player. He’s a nasty kid too.

I wouldn’t be upset if we got him this June.

 

[HSF]

I wanna say thats not the problem when we got to the ECF's last season but then I think about having Boeser this year instead of White.

I don't think anyone thought. Boeser would be as good as he has been

I also think people are selling white short

 

[HSF]

If batherson can be considered a skilled guy I don't see why white can't. Being a good 2 way player doesn't mean you lack skill.

 

[Icelevel]

Honest hindsight. I prob would have still taken puemps. Maybe rattie that year too. MPS instead of Cowen. Couturier instead of zib. Prob beau Bennet or etem instead of trading for runt. Maata over Ceci. Maybe sevechnikov over chabby. Bean over brown. Jokiharju over Bowers.

It's bad when randos like me can match the performance of our scouts by reading a magazine.

Yup. Bob Mackenzies tsn list works just as good as any scout group

 

[Beville]

was just a young lad when I saw this on tv. Couldn't believe it. So entertaining!

Closest we’ve had since then is the line brawl against Montreal in the playoffs.

Just wish this team had something about it, all these “character” players but nothing about them as a collective. We’d never have a fight like that anymore. Maybe it’s what we need to see who is a true team player and show some grit and determination.

 

[dumbdick]

Closest we’ve had since then is the line brawl against Montreal in the playoffs.

Just wish this team had something about it, all these “character” players but nothing about them as a collective. We’d never have a fight like that anymore. Maybe it’s what we need to see who is a true team player and show some grit and determination.

Yep when I see this I get a bit nostalgic for the way the game was played back then. Feels like there's less soul to the game now somehow. Prob just me getting old though.

 

[Langdon Alger]

If batherson can be considered a skilled guy I don't see why white can't. Being a good 2 way player doesn't mean you lack skill.

Not at all, but I’m not sure White will be a high end offensive guy. Projects more as a third liner I think.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

If batherson can be considered a skilled guy I don't see why white can't. Being a good 2 way player doesn't mean you lack skill.

...but is he? Batherson has had a dream season so far, but I still don't see any elite level skills in his game. It's a good bet he settles as a 3rd liner in the NHL, with 2nd line upside.