Your team's 2003 draft

[jay-P]

Red Wings:

64 G Jim Howard - The goalie of the future. After a brilliant showing in University of Maine, he has had two fine seasons in the AHL. As the Red Wings are not a team that will rush their prospects to the NHL level, they will make sure he's ready when his time will come.

132 D Kyle Quincey - Big, solid defensive d-man who has proved his worth in the playoffs with steady play as an injury fill-in. Plays a safe, intelligent game and has physicality. In the future he'll likely be firmly ensconced as a mainstay on the second or third defensive pairing.

164 C Ryan Oulahen - A hard working, diligent defensive specialist. His second season in the AHL was average, until he really stepped up his game in the latter half. Could make the NHL as a fourth liner.

170 R Andreas Sundin - Bust. A scoring who has gathered his points the most at the tier-2 levels in both Sweden and in Finland.

194 D Stefan Blom - Bust. A big defenseman who didn't pan out. Has played on Swedish second and third tier levels.

226 L Tomas Kollar - Bust. A power forward type with size who has performed in the SEL with limited success. Unlikely to ever traverse over the ocean.

258 L Vladimir Kutny - Bust. Drafted out the QMJHL, another big forward who ultimately didn't succeed even in the Q. Plays currently in the Slovakian league.

289 C Mikael Johansson - Bust. A water bug type with small stature, he put up decent numbers last season in the SEL (7+9=16). Still, unlikely to ever amount to anything special.

 

[Debrincat93]

How is a 4th line centerman a 2nd rounder a good pick at? im dying to know

 

[jay-P]

How is a 4th line centerman a 2nd rounder a good pick at? im dying to know

What do you mean? Oulahen was selected at the fifth round.

 

[00Sexay]

Crappenfest for the Leafs:



2003
57 D John Doherty
91 L Martin Sagat
125 R Konstantin Volkov
158 C John Mitchell
220 C Jeremy Williams
237 C Shaun Landolt


Mitchell and Williams might turn into players someday, but I'm not holding my breath. Sagat is a Marlie, and that's probably as high as he'll get. Doherty is a bust, Volkov will probably stay in Russia, and Landolt is in the CHL.

At least we did better than Phoenix, right?

There's a decent chance Williams will stick with the big club next season.

 

[whatthef]

Philadelphia Flyers 2003 draft review

1st round, 11th C - Jeff Carter - NHL forward. Should end up as a 1st line goal scoring center.

1st round, 24th C - Mike Richards - NHL forward. Should end up as a 2nd line center who can do it all. His only real weakness is he's not a natural goal scorer.

3rd round, 69th C - Colin Fraser - Could make it as 4th line maybe even 3rd line center. At least he should carve out a career in the AHL.

3rd round, 81th R - Stefan Ruzicka - Has top six scoring forward potential.

3rd round, 85th D - Alexandre Picard - NHL defenseman has 2nd pairing, 2nd PP potental.

3rd round, 87th F - Ryan Potulny - NHL forward has 2nd line potental.

3rd round, 95th R - Rick Kozak - Bust. Doesn't even seem like he can hack it in the ECHL

4th round, 108th F - Kevin Romy - Bust. He'll never play in North America

5th round, 140th G - David Tremblay - Bust. Looks like he's done already

6th round, 191th G - Rejean Beauchemin - Low level prospect. Probably a career minor league, possibly will get some games as a back up.

6th round, 193th G - Ville Hostikka - Bust. Probably won't even ever play in North America let alone the NHL

All in all a pretty good draft. Seven of the eleven are at least still prospects (6 have played at least 1 NHL game). Five of them look like they could have pretty good NHL careers. Looks like this could end up being the best overall draft in the Flyers history.

 

[Phaneufed]

We got Phaneuf at #9. The rest will likely not make the NHL.

 

[Lunatik*]

We got Phaneuf at #9. The rest will likely not make the NHL.

Ramholt will see some time in the next couple year... probably an injury call up... i'd like to see how he develops this next season before making a decision on him... because i believe this was his first pro north american season

 

[Chainshot]

Sabres:

Thomas Vanek (rd 1, #5) - 40 goal scorer, league plus/minus leader in his second NHL season. Bonafide top-line winger at this point and a dynamic scoring threat whenever he's on the ice. Defensive game is improving.


Branislav Fabry (rd 2, #65) - Has been in training camp the last couple of seasons and reports suggest some skill and promise but hasn't been signed and needs to be this offseason. Odds don't look great.

Clarke MacArthur (rd 3, #74) - Rochester's leading scorer in the AHL this year. Successful offensive player everywhere he's been. Uneven tenure in 19 games this year for the Sabres. Will be in the fight for a roster spot come training camp.

Jan Hejda (rd 4, #106) - Overage European player who the Sabres never signed and ultimately traded to the Oilers for a 7th rounder. Ask Oil fans about him for more detail but he seems like he was a decent depth player for them this year.

Denis Ezhov (rd 4, #114) - Veteran of a few WJCs but hasn't seemed to make much headway on the Sabres depth chart and seems to be falling down it. Needs to be signed this summer, doesn't look likely.

Thomas Morrow (rd 5, #150) - Well, he's very tall. Incredibly unspectacular career at BU and almost certainly won't be signed this offseason.

Pavel Voroshnin (rd 6, #172) - Drafted out of the OHL, returned to Europe and disappeared off the map. For all I know, he just served me the sandwich I had for lunch.

Nathan Paetsch (rd 7, #202) - Re-entry who couldn't come to a contract deal with the Caps as a former 2nd rounder. Good puck moving defenseman with a solid shot, a bit of chippiness. Undersized but plays hard, has dropped the gloves on a couple of occasions. Versatile, has played wing in the AHL and NHL.

Jeff Weber (rd 8, #235) - Goalie who seems like he played for half the OHL. Never signed, probably working the deli with Voroshnin.

Louis-Philippe Martin (rd 9, #266) - Never signed, I think he manages Jeff and Pavel at the deli.


Summary: When you have the 5th overall pick you can't afford to miss and they didn't. Vanek has been everything you could hope for. Beyond that Paetsch is an NHL-quality player, though maybe just a 3rd pair guy. MacArthur is on the fringe at this point. Hejda is in the NHL but if you draft an overager, he has to player in the league otherwise there's no point in making the pick. I'd give the class a B+ mostly for getting the Vanek pick right.

Voroshnin just burned my bagel at Hortons.

MacArthur looks like he'll press hard to be on the roster next season. Cap considerations might fast-track him, since he's a third of the cost of a guy like Kotalik and when given the opportunity to play due to the injury situation, showed he has the skills and wheels for the NHL game.

Not a great draft overall, but certainly worthwhile with the Vanek pick (understandably) and landing Paetsch as a re-entry. MacArthur's development might land them three NHLers out of it.

 

[Kaktus*]

4th round, 108th F - Kevin Romy - Bust. He'll never play in North America

Too early to call him a bust. He still has a chance.

 

[jax00]

19.Getzlaf - Just Awsome.
28. Perry - Awsome.
86. Shane Hynes - meh...
90. Juha Alen - Who?
119. Saunders - Maybe a #6 defensman
186. Drew Miller - Ryans brother, great pick.
218. Dirk Southern - Who?
261. Shane O'Brien - AWSOME pick. Its a shame we dont have him anymore, but I'll take a first round pick in exchange for a 8th rounder.
280. Ville Mantymaa - Maybe a 7th defenseman

I highlited the "good" picks. Although Im not saying Hynes or Saunders are bad, I'm just not to high on them.

 

[whatthef]

Too early to call him a bust. He still has a chance.

I just call it like I see it. He's 22 and still playing in the Swiss league. Frankly, it doesn't sound very promissing.