''Weak'' 2002 First-round looking strong

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

i agree with the sentiments that jbo is a great dman, however he is not as good as pitkanen

 

[leafaholix*]

He a star in the RSL at a young age, and he always had the potential. Many people is Russian are also saying he's turning it around. I was high on him when he was in the AHL, and I'll continue to do so until I know he's a bust.

There's a reason he's in Russia and not in the AHL. He has a bad attitude, and frankly he's not a very smart hockey player. Though, offensively he's extremely gifted. But you say, he can "seriously" become a top line guy, same can be said for "seriously, he can become a bust". It's a blanket statement my friend.

 

[WILDTATE10]

Im loving the Pierre Marc Bouchard pick, and people thought he would be to small, players cant even check him and i agree with the 100 point thing you said.

 

[Stephen]

This draft isn't weak. I mean it has 4 Franchise players in it, and some other very good players. I'd call it an average draft. imagine this draft in the 90's. Everyone would be calling it very strong. Drafts in the 90's were pretty poor.

It was projected to be weak one after the fourth pick or so, compared to the 2001 draft ironically, which was supposed to be full of franchise players. Obviously the experts were wrong.

 

[leafaholix*]

Im loving the Pierre Marc Bouchard pick, and people thought he would be to small, players cant even check him and i agree with the 100 point thing you said.

Pierre Marc Bouchard in the old NHL is a 3rd or 4th line forward. He was too small for that league.

 

[PSUhockey34]

Capitals have 5 of the '02 first round picks...Semin, Eminger, Gordon, Klepis, and Johansson

 

[The Vengabus]

There's a reason he's in Russia and not in the AHL. He has a bad attitude, and frankly he's not a very smart hockey player. Though, offensively he's extremely gifted. But you say, he can "seriously" become a top line guy, same can be said for "seriously, he can become a bust". It's a blanket statement my friend.

Not quite.

He has been offered a one-way contract by Vancouver. They know he can, and would, be on the team. The reason he is in Russia is because his mother was ailing, and he left, with Manitoba's consent, to be with her at home.

He's also on the Russian roster for the World Championships.

 

[Russian_fanatic]

There's a reason he's in Russia and not in the AHL. He has a bad attitude, and frankly he's not a very smart hockey player. Though, offensively he's extremely gifted. But you say, he can "seriously" become a top line guy, same can be said for "seriously, he can become a bust". It's a blanket statement my friend.

Please you know nothing about him. He went to russia to be with his AILING MOTHER. Vancouver also offered him a ONE WAY contract.

 

[DFF]

No, Nystrom (assuming this is the Flames Nystrom) will not do anying, and definetly not the future captain on the flames, hopefully maybe one day he might be good enough to crack the 3rd line.

well he didnt say captain of the flames...he is capable of being a captain of a ECHL team but for sure he will be schrimp boat captain in a couple years.

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

Based on what evidence?

He was going to be a top 15 pick in 2001 if he entered that draft.

 

[kdb209]

Not quite.

He has been offered a one-way contract by Vancouver. They know he can, and would, be on the team. The reason he is in Russia is because his mother was ailing, and he left, with Manitoba's consent, to be with her at home.

He's also on the Russian roster for the World Championships.

Not possible. Under both the old and the new CBA, all ELS contracts are two-way deals.

 

[hockeyfan125]

There's a reason he's in Russia and not in the AHL. He has a bad attitude, and frankly he's not a very smart hockey player. Though, offensively he's extremely gifted. But you say, he can "seriously" become a top line guy, same can be said for "seriously, he can become a bust". It's a blanket statement my friend.

frankly people besides Canuck fans (unless they live in Russia) have no idea about Koltsov. Hell, most Canuck fans don't either.

 

[The Vengabus]

Not possible. Under both the old and the new CBA, all ELS contracts are two-way deals.

I'm quite sure it was his second contract actually. I believe he had one signed when he was playing on Manitoba earlier.

 

[badrobot101]

Agreed.
I´d say the overall talent is much better than that of 04 (and 06 for sure).

Too soon to say that the talent levels of 2004 and 2006 are not as good as 2002. People said all along that 2002 would be a weak draft, but as the post demonstrates it is actually not that bad.

2004 may turn out to be very good, we don't know yet. And 2006 hasn't even happened yet. Let's not be hasty.

 

[bert]

The rip on Ben Eager is ridiculous. Especially compared to how overated the rest of the prospects are on this list based on your evaluation. He has been an physical force this year in philly plus when he was drafted he is a 6'3 210 pound hitting machine. Who was scoring at a ppg pace ofcourse he was a first rounder.

 

[Form and Substance]

The rip on Ben Eager is ridiculous. Especially compared to how overated the rest of the prospects are on this list based on your evaluation. He has been an physical force this year in philly plus when he was drafted he is a 6'3 210 pound hitting machine. Who was scoring at a ppg pace ofcourse he was a first rounder.

Fine I never liked Ben Eager, I haven't followed him much since the draft..but he was not a PPG player in juniors nor in the AHL.

 

[MS]

The first round is underrated.

Not really.

The top 4 were always considered franchise players, and with Whitney as well it was considered the best top-5 in years ... probably since 1993 or 1990. No surprise at all that those guys are where they are now.

Picks 6-14 have probably been a little better than was projected at the time. 5 of those 9 guys are top-6/top-4 guys, and two more might be eventually.


Picks 15-30 are every bit as bad as expected, or worse. 1 guy (Steen), who will fill a top-6/top-4 role in pro. Two good goalies. A couple decent grinders (Slater, Eager, Bergenheim) and a couple more who might develop into decent grinders. And a whole bunch of busts. The sort of 16-pick stretch you'd see in the 40s or 50s of most drafts, not the first round.

First half of that round has actually turned out pretty good, bottom half pretty much sucks.

 

[Stars-Preds]

Man it still hurts as a Stars fan that we drafted Martin Vagner. Seriously Vagner? Man we suck at drafting.

 

[MiZZZike*]

Any one of the first four players selected could have gone #1 in retrospect and it would have been a good choice. (Nash, Bouwmeester, Pitkanen, Lehtonen)

 

[Form and Substance]

Not really.

The top 4 were always considered franchise players, and with Whitney as well it was considered the best top-5 in years ... probably since 1993 or 1990. No surprise at all that those guys are where they are now.

Picks 6-14 have probably been a little better than was projected at the time. 5 of those 9 guys are top-6/top-4 guys, and two more might be eventually.


Picks 15-30 are every bit as bad as expected, or worse. 1 guy (Steen), who will fill a top-6/top-4 role in pro. Two good goalies. A couple decent grinders (Slater, Eager, Bergenheim) and a couple more who might develop into decent grinders. And a whole bunch of busts. The sort of 16-pick stretch you'd see in the 40s or 50s of most drafts, not the first round.

First half of that round has actually turned out pretty good, bottom half pretty much sucks.

It's still is an underrated draft...I remember people comparing this one to '99 and even '96.

 

[Hockey-Freak]

Not really.

The top 4 were always considered franchise players, and with Whitney as well it was considered the best top-5 in years ... probably since 1993 or 1990. No surprise at all that those guys are where they are now.

Picks 6-14 have probably been a little better than was projected at the time. 5 of those 9 guys are top-6/top-4 guys, and two more might be eventually.


Picks 15-30 are every bit as bad as expected, or worse. 1 guy (Steen), who will fill a top-6/top-4 role in pro. Two good goalies. A couple decent grinders (Slater, Eager, Bergenheim) and a couple more who might develop into decent grinders. And a whole bunch of busts. The sort of 16-pick stretch you'd see in the 40s or 50s of most drafts, not the first round.

First half of that round has actually turned out pretty good, bottom half pretty much sucks.

That´s exactly my opinion!
If you wanna rate a draft, you have to start at the bottom (the stregth of a group depends on it´s weakest members), not with the top-4.

Yes, there´s some top-end talent and some "nice" NHLers in the first round, but is that really special? There are very good guys in nearly every draft, but in 02 there´s not enough quality from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th round to rate this draft as "good". It´s average, and it´s average because of the later rounds. It´s hard to find players that could some day be in the NHL from round 2 and later and that can´t be compensate by an outstanding top 4 or 5.

 

[clefty]

Petr Taticek has a ways to go before being considered "coming around."