Winners and Losers of the 2007 Draft

[Reload]

Why do YOU think YOU have a better read on the situation than the guys sitting on the draft floor?
If Kevin Lowe traded up to get Riley Nash.. its probably because he thought he had to. You ever think that maybe someone else had him high too?


NHL draft lists do NOT look like central scoutings lists... or hfboard mock drafts.

I swear.. the same crap every year.


2 years ago the oilers had TJ Oshie high on their lists.. and probably thought they were gonna get him. The Blues surprised everyone and picked him just before the Oilers. Would the Oilers have been stupid to trade up so they could secure the player they liked? Ofcourse not.

Exactly. And look at TJ Oshie now, looks like a very good future player for the Blues. I'm betting that someone in that 22-26 range had Riley Nash in their sights and Lowe traded to whatever pick he could to get him. I'm tired of everyone saying how badly the Oilers drafted when we have yet to see these players at an NHL training camp.

 

[Dusty Grooves*]

Losers: and Montréal.

lolll, you kidding right ??

 

[Bookman]

I wouldn't call the Wild winners, but I've never liked their bottom of the draft as much as this one, with Falk, Almond. Ilvonen, and McMillan. No off the board goons or overage Euros for once.

 

[WOTR]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Everyone always said how good their drafts are, because they just seem to go from the lists already provided.

Why don't you write down and list their drafts and then compare to scouting services. I didn't make the statement so I am not going to waste my time, but you aren't int he ballpark with this. THe following were a few picks that weren't well known just to start:

Markarov rnd 2 last year

Denis Papin

Crawford

Kontiola

Nathan Davis

Bufuglien

Duncan Keith rnd 2


There are quite a few players the Hawks choose that stray from the scouting services.

 

[znk]

Winners: (Ironically these are my 3 favorite teams) Avalanche, Hawks and Penguins

Losers: Edmonton and Montréal.

uh? Montreal is definetly a winner in this draft. Super solid all the way through.

 

[Junius]

I'd say the Leafs lost somewhat but the players they picked later seemed to have decent upside.

This is really sad. Toronto fans actually believe this stuff.

If you are the center of the Toronto Universe then the center is a black hole.

I guess the good news is that you now have your #1 in 2008 which will be a strong draft year. You should get a very early - perhaps the first pick. Hope that Tavares gets into next year's draft.

Although no doubt Ferguson Jr. will find a way to screw this up as well.

 

[Hiishawk]

Any winners-losers discussion should be based on where the team was picking in the draft- value per slot- or else the top 3 picks are automatically the winners.

Every team naturally took the player best that was still available at their pick- so of course I think that my own club drafted the best! But, frankly speaking, of the 29 teams that I am not affiliated with, I think Columbus had the best selections.

 

[The Consiglieri]

I was thinking the exact same thing. Everyone always said how good their drafts are, because they just seem to go from the lists already provided.

All one can judge on and after draft day is simply whether you got something that represented genuine slot value on draft day. Any value more than that is essentially impossible to predict unless the player is a Gretzky, a Lemieux, a Crosby or Ovechkin etc. So you can judge the drafts, just only on the basis of whether a given team appeared to get a player who represented genuine value (acquired player lower than or equal to the consensus scouting reports suggested he'd go, or drafted way higher than he was expected to go).

That's why you can rip L.A. Now maybe L.A. got a guy who will be special, and maybe someone else loved him and would have reached for him, however, the available information suggests that LA could have potentially traded down and still got there guy and added picks in the process. They didn't. Therefore they got poor slot value. The poor slot value is immaterial a few years from now if the player is a stud, or if it comes to pass that said player would be picked fifth or sixth or seventh or whatever. However at the very least we do know that my caps were going Alzner, or Gagner or trade down, they weren't going after L.A.'s guy, so ripping L.A. is absolutely fair game, just as getting dropping high value players like Esposito and Cherapanov represents outstanding slot value.

There are no definitive great or bad drafts right now, just decisions that can be relatively judged to have been wise, or unwise. L.A.'s pick looks unwise, other picks look wise, some are harder to judge like the trades my Caps made, harvesting several picks in the supposedly deep and good '08 draft as well as a third rounder, in exchange for essentially the 28th overall this year.

Looking at the quote from Lombardi, I may have been a bit harsh on them, but it does appear as if they could have moved down and still gotten him, and I'm not sure how reliable his info was, today GMGM was quoted as saying that he didnt leak any info on the Caps interest in no small part because the media was already spreading misinformation that helped his interest (apparently a team was going to trade up for Alzner, but decided not to because they figured the Caps were all about Cherpanov).

 

[Meichel Kane]

Chicago seems to have done pretty good..Kane, Sweatt, Aliu, Tanguay etc..

Talk about boom/bust.

 

[Dragon]

For those of you who labelled Rangers and Penguins are winners, I got a question for you.
Let's say I know the prize for the 649 is 8 millions. I went and bought a ticket.
Without knowing the result, I am already a winner?????

Esposito and Cherepanov got great potential, but they come along with HUGE RISK!
I would say they are both picked where they should be. The teams bet on them, doesn't mean they get the players with potential maxed out.

Same old same old, time will tell. However I won't say the Rangers and Penguins are winners simply because they bought a lottery ticket.

I am a Habs fan, I think Habs did ok. However, it's the Sharks which is really impressive on the draft day. Impressive asset management!

 

[TheRedressor]

For those of you who labelled Rangers and Penguins are winners, I got a question for you.
Let's say I know the prize for the 649 is 8 millions. I went and bought a ticket.
Without knowing the result, I am already a winner?????

Esposito and Cherepanov got great potential, but they come along with HUGE RISK!
I would say they are both picked where they should be. The teams bet on them, doesn't mean they get the players with potential maxed out.

Same old same old, time will tell. However I won't say the Rangers and Penguins are winners simply because they bought a lottery ticket.

I am a Habs fan, I think Habs did ok. However, it's the Sharks which is really impressive on the draft day. Impressive asset management!

I can't defend Esposito falling, because I don't really believe he fell. Cherepanov on the other hand fell for the wrong reasons.

1. The Ducks have put it into GM's heads that Europeans can't win in the NHL.

2. People are afraid of having to pay money to get him into the NHL with the problem with the transfer agreement. The only thing is that Jim Dolan doesn't care if he has to pay a team off in Russia, he usually flaunts at spending money.

I am not going to compare him to Bure because that was so long ago. However he put up better numbers then Ovechkin and Malkin at the same age in the same league, both were not lockout years either. Not to forget he put up an impressive World Junoir Championship, where he dominated.

 

[Judas Tavares]

This is really sad. Toronto fans actually believe this stuff.

If you are the center of the Toronto Universe then the center is a black hole.

I guess the good news is that you now have your #1 in 2008 which will be a strong draft year. You should get a very early - perhaps the first pick. Hope that Tavares gets into next year's draft.

Although no doubt Ferguson Jr. will find a way to screw this up as well.

When I say they have good offensive upside, I dont automatically mean they are the next Michael Grabner or Patrick White.

 

[birddog*]

This is really sad. Toronto fans actually believe this stuff.

If you are the center of the Toronto Universe then the center is a black hole.

I guess the good news is that you now have your #1 in 2008 which will be a strong draft year. You should get a very early - perhaps the first pick. Hope that Tavares gets into next year's draft.

Although no doubt Ferguson Jr. will find a way to screw this up as well.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion but if you look at most drafts teams often only get 1 or 2 players that actually play for them. Often teams that have poor drafts don't get any players from certain draft years.

This draft was classified as a weak one and although many players will pan out. When you leave the draft with 2 NHL players for your top 2 picks that's not so bad.

Toskola has the ability to be a number 1 and if he puts up similar numbers to those in SJ he will be a steal.

Bell doesn't even have to play on the first or second line, if he plays on the third and plays well that will be enough.

If you ask me 2 players for your top 2 picks including a starting goalie ain't bad in a weak draft year.

 

[boredmale]

For those of you who labelled Rangers and Penguins are winners, I got a question for you.
Let's say I know the prize for the 649 is 8 millions. I went and bought a ticket.
Without knowing the result, I am already a winner?????

The thing about the rags and penguins is that sure they took high risk, high reward type guys, but instead of having to spend a dollar they spent a penny on that ticket.

 

[Ghost of jas]

The thing about the rags and penguins is that sure they took high risk, high reward type guys, but instead of having to spend a dollar they spent a penny on that ticket.

Exactly...what risk did either team take? Taking a risk to me is giving up assets to get either player. Esposito goes to a perfect situation, where he's not greeted as a savior, and the Rangers don't have to give up assets like Prucha or Montoya to move up to get a top talent. I'm not seeing the huge risk.

 

[loadie]

Winners - CLB, Voracek/Mayorov
STL, Eller/Cole/Perron/Hjalmarsson
SJ, Couture/Petricki
PIT, Esposito/Veilleux/Grant
CHI, all picks in the first 3 rounds were solid.

Losers - MTL, two picks in the top 22 (subpar picks)
LA, Hickey at 4??, good second round pick in Moller though

So, this is a draft that experts, kinda like yourself, have said that outside the top 5 - 8 is a crap shoot. So, how does Montreal's picks, particularly the 12th pick become subpar? Most experts, like yourself, have said that McDonough could end up being the best DMan in the draft. I'm curious if you were one of the experts that called the Habs pick of Price a bad pick? Pretty hard to call winners and losers on a draft that was considered by experts, like yourself, to be a little thin this year. Ahhh, but most of us aren't draft gurus like yourself. We just have to go by the teams scouting staffs, and hope that at least 2 of these picks make the NHL someday. Afterall, the scouts are the experts, kinda like yourself.

 

[j c petit]

Toskola has the ability to be a number 1 and if he puts up similar numbers to those in SJ he will be a steal.

And since the Leafs defense is as good as the Sharks you should expect him to put up the same numbers.

 

[Cush]

From a different angle, it was smart of McPhee to get additional picks for next years draft. The Caps now have three 2nd round picks. (though I do wish they had moved to up nab a guy like Eller or Backlund)

 

[Kaizer]

Avs aren't losers or winners - they just did their homework here. Organization were in need for defensemen and we have 2 very good one (I was very high on Shattenkirk before draft) and still is, Cohen looks like he is not bad either. Avs had to address goaltending position because we had only Sauer and Weiman as young goalies and I'm very very pleased with Cann and Patterson picks.. Other picks were ok for me ... but can select Galiardi and Malone from them.

 

[Shabutie]

Winners - CLB, Voracek/Mayorov
STL, Eller/Cole/Perron/Hjalmarsson
SJ, Couture/Petricki
PIT, Esposito/Veilleux/Grant
CHI, all picks in the first 3 rounds were solid.

Losers - MTL, two picks in the top 22 (subpar picks)
LA, Hickey at 4??, good second round pick in Moller though

Subpar? McDonaugh is seen as the Dman with the most upside of the draft by many scouts (and the majority of scouts had him in the top 10). As for Max Pac, alot of people had him in the top 20...Not sure how he will develop, but I don't see how he can be seen as a subpar pick, especially not for a team who needs size + grit such as montreal.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

If by many you mean three of 400 on the boards right now, then yeah I agree.

No by many I meant five/six of 10 fans that even bothered to respond on some comments.

 

[ARS]

I don't understand how people can call the Habs losers, and I'm not even a Habs fan. McDonagh is gonna be a great defencemen and he was a good pick at 12.

 

[Velociraptor]

The canucks were losers at this draft. They screwed Torquato in the 5th ROUND for some stupid russian guy. and the skipped first class talent in the second round for Ellington..

 

[It Kills Me]

I don't understand how people can call the Habs losers, .

Well they didn't make the playoffs , so I guess we can call them win challenged.

Seriously, I agree with you . They had good picks, I like McDonagh cause although Habs fans will disagree with me they don't have much on defense.

 

[Crusher20]

Oh well I guess now they are habs McDonagh and Pacioretty are garbage. Same with Suban and Fortier etc.

the truth is, no one know them... its normal i didnt know them either.. not enough to be considered that high.. of course here and there you see some great reports at those players.. like any other player in the draft. but what i will remember is that Doug MacLean mentioned on TSN he had Ryan Mcdunaugh very high on his list and was a very good pick, I remember same comments about the 22th overall.. also, Time will tell, right now i will believe Timmins opinion and we will see.. but i am very happy with 12th overall choice Not exicted but confident. as per 22nd pick, seem like a kind of Chipchura..

AS per the draft winners i will go with the majority, Chicago.