Whalers/Hurricanes 1st Round Drafts Redux

[tarheelhockey]

So you think Suter wouldn't have left for Minnesota as a UFA if he played for the mighty Canes?

In this fantasy scenario, the Canes would be a juggernaut so who knows what he would have done.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

Just went through a little more in-depth, here's what I've got.

I'd definitely rather pick McDonagh than Pacioretty. Brodeur/Holik vs. Kolzig/Tkachuk is up for debate, as far as the 89 and 90 drafts are concerned, if that's how we're playing this. Depending on who our goalie is, Price over Kopitar in 05 is certainly a discussion to be had, or even Staal, depending on our biggest need. Of course this is a team that may or may not be led by Chris Pronger, so who knows...

 

[garnetpalmetto]

I apologize if I came off as overly critical of one pick. I didn't go through each draft, all I did was look at your picks and see if I agree that the player you picked was better than the one you chose to forgo. The only one I glaringly disagreed with was Staal.

As for the others, I agree that every substitute is better than every player we drafted, but I didn't check if there are other substitutes that I would pick over the ones you did.

Thanks, dude. Sorry I came off a bit heated there earlier.

Just went through a little more in-depth, here's what I've got.

I'd definitely rather pick McDonagh than Pacioretty. Brodeur/Holik vs. Kolzig/Tkachuk is up for debate, as far as the 89 and 90 drafts are concerned, if that's how we're playing this. Depending on who our goalie is, Price over Kopitar in 05 is certainly a discussion to be had, or even Staal, depending on our biggest need. Of course this is a team that may or may not be led by Chris Pronger, so who knows...

I'm interested in the thoughts - both by you and Dave - for McDonagh over Patches. I like McDonagh's offensive numbers but haven't really followed his career all that much.

Looking over that list too, I think it emphasizes that one of our problems was how abysmally we drafted from about 1996 until 2001. Granted two of those years we didn't have a first rounder, but Knyazev, Tselios, Heerema, and Tanabe all turned out abysmally, if at all. Meanwhile other teams are being led by their first rounders from that cohort - Phillips, Marleau, the Sedins, Kronwall, Spezza, Mikko Koivu...Heck, our draft classes those years sucked for the most part:

1996
1st - No pick
2nd - Trevor Wasyluk
3rd - Andrei Petrunin
4th - Craig MacDonald & Steve Wasylko
5th - Mark McMahon
6th - Aaron Baker
7th - Greg Kuznik
8th - Kevin Marsh
9th - Craig Adams & Askhat Rakhmatullin

1997
1st - Nikos Tselios
2nd - Brad DeFauw
3rd - Francis Lessard
4th - Shane Willis
5th - Kyle Dafoe
6th - No Pick
7th - Andrew Merrick
8th - Niklas Nordgren & Randy Fitzgerald
9th - Kent McDonell

1998
1st - Jeff Heerema
2nd - No pick
3rd - Kevin Holdridge & Erik Cole
4th - Josef Vasicek, Tommy Westlund, & Chris Madden
5th - No pick
6th - No pick
7th - Donald Smith
8th - Jaroslav Svoboda & Mark Kosick
9th - Brent McDonald

1999
1st - David Tanabe
2nd - Brett Lysak
3rd - Brad Fast
4th - Ryan Murphy
5th - No pick
6th - Damian Surma
7th - Jim Baxter
8th - David Evans & Antti Jokela
9th - Yauhenni Kurilin

2000
1st - No pick
2nd - Tomas Kurka
3rd - Ryan Bayda
4th - Niclas Wallin
5th - Jared Newman
6th - Justin Forrest
7th - Magnus Kahnberg
8th - Craig Kowalski
9th - Troy Ferguson

2001
1st - Igor Knyazev
2nd - Mike Zigomanis
3rd - Kevin Estrada
4th - Rob Zepp
5th - Daniel Boisclair
6th - No pick
7th - Sean Curry
8th - Carter Trevisani
9th - Peter Reynolds

Now there were some long-timers in that list and guys who helped us to the Cup (even including Zigomanis and Nordgren who we traded as part of the package to get Weight and Recchi, respectively), but how many of these guys are still on our roster? None. How many are still in the NHL? Adams and Cole. Is that as depressing as it sounds?

 

[Finnish Jerk Train]

Wow, Nic Wallin was 25 when he got drafted. I had no idea. But you're right, there were a few late-round diamonds in the rough, but most of these guys fell flat on their faces.

 

[bleedgreen]

Wallin was part of that impressive stretch where we drafted older euro's that could help now. Sad that guys could just walk in like that, but kapanen, Wallin and I believe Westlund all did it.