GDT: 2014 NHL Entry Draft

[TheOllieC]

Charlotte's Bryan Moore is going to NYR's camp according to the main board.

 

[TheOllieC]

Carolina Hurricanes
2014 NHL Draft Grade B+
Best Value Pick: Clark Bishop 127th overall

The Hurricanes got the second best defenceman in the draft in Haydn Fleury, addressing a major organizational need. Fleury has the potential to be elite at both ends of the ice, and the Canes hope that he will become a franchise blue liner for them. Alex Nedeljkovic may be undersized, but he was the best goalie in the OHL this year, yes even better than those 18 and 19 year olds in the league. He was our second best goalie in the draft. Warren Foegele is a wild card as one needs to see if the high end offence he brings in a weak league will translate to higher leagues. I didn’t like the Josh Wesley pick as I feel he is a defensive defenceman who needs to work on both his skating and his physicality and was a reach at that spot. That said the Canes made up for it with their next three picks as Lucas Wallmark is a talented Swede who really should have been drafted last year and Clark Bishop was great value in the fifth round as a smart two-way player. Kyle Jenkins is a strong skater with good passing skills, who we had ranked just outside our top 100. We even felt he was a better player than Wesley and great value in the seventh round. Overall a solid first draft for Ron Francis.

http://lastwordonsports.com/2014/06/29/lwos-2014-nhl-draft-grades/

 

[DaveG]

Grade is about right but I think they overrated a few other teams drafts personally (Dallas, Winnipeg, even Tampa).

 

[Joe McGrath]

Charlotte's Bryan Moore is going to NYR's camp according to the main board.

I would think that unless he walks out of that camp with a contract (unlikely), you'll see him in Carolina 's camp as well a-la Tolchinsky.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

Pittsburgh Penguins (includes James Neal trade)
2014 NHL Draft Grade C-
Best Value Pick: Kasperi Kapanen 22nd overall

Things starterd off great, and Kasperi Kapanen is one of the biggest potential steals of the first round. The son of Sami Kapanen seemed to fall after a rough under 18, but was great before that tournament, so we feel that it was two big a fall based on a rough two weeks. He should have been a late lottery pick. However, he’s the only player in our top 100 that the Penguins managed to land, as they were without 2nd and 3rd round picks. The fourth round saw Pittsburgh take high school forward Sam Lafferty. While we haven’t seen him play, we do know he’s headed to the BCHL before going to Brown in 2015, so he’s a long term project. Anthony Angello has underwhelmed us in all of our viewings and we’re not sure what the Penguins see in him other than the size. Jaden Lindo is more of the same, another big body forward who just isn’t all that noticeable on the ice. Overall we love the Kapanen pick, but hated day two for Pittsbugh. Add in the fact that we feel they lost the trade for James Neal, and you have one of the most disappointing drafts in the league.

LOL. JR gonna JR.

 

[What the Faulk]

Speaking of the Neal trade:

Hope_Smoke
Dreger "I know Calgary, and others, were disappointed that the Pens didn't shop Neal more before they made the trade"

Sounds like JR pulled the trigger before he ensured he was getting the best possible offer. I wonder how many times he did that here. I think some GMs were pretty vocal about the Jack Johnson deal.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

http://thehockeywriters.com/james-neal-trade-rutherford/

Some Rutherford comments (made a while ago, not recently).

Jason Farris profiled Rutherford in his GM book ‘Behind the Moves’ a few years ago and this comment from Rutherford was telling:

“I’ve made deals where I know the other team is getting the better player, but I knew what I needed. Sometimes you’ve got to trade a better player to get what fits what you ultimately need.”

Rutherford’s trade of Neal on Friday at the NHL Draft in Philadelphia was the GM equivalent of throwing Shero’s belongings out of the house and onto the front lawn.

He wants the right fit (and obviously felt Hornqvist and Spaling were the right fit). In Farris’ book, Rutherford openly discussed how he’s even willing to overpay to get the guy that he wants.

“When I’m in one of those years where I think we’ve got a good run in us, I don’t care what the price is for a player — I’ll overpay for the player. Doug Weight is the best example…I made that deal five or six weeks prior to the deadline and jumped in ahead of the wild trading…That need for a player like Weight was identified all the way through the first half of the 2005-06 season. We were not strong enough down the middle…I called Blues GM Larry Pleau several times, several conversations. It became a matter of me asking, ‘So Larry, when are you going to do this? If you do it now, I’ll give you extra,’ and then things started rolling along.”

Rutherford never was a guy that tried to get the BEST deal and that was pretty obvious with most of his trades.

 

[garnetpalmetto]

Speaking of the Neal trade:

Hope_Smoke
Dreger "I know Calgary, and others, were disappointed that the Pens didn't shop Neal more before they made the trade"

Sounds like JR pulled the trigger before he ensured he was getting the best possible offer. I wonder how many times he did that here. I think some GMs were pretty vocal about the Jack Johnson deal.

Yup. Disappointing draft for the Pens, a botched coaching search, and a fairly lackadaisical attitude by JR makes me wonder how long it is until he's run out of town on a rail. Or until Mario takes him out into the woods of Fayette County in the middle of hunting season.

And Rutherford thought he overpaid in the Weight deal? Good grief. I'd consider that about "right" for Weight. Remind me if I'm wrong, anybody, but that was Boulerice, Zigomanis, our 2006 1st, our 2006 4th, and our 2007 4th, right?

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

I thought Boulerice was part of the Jokinen deal with Tampa Bay?

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

I thought Boulerice was part of the Jokinen deal with Tampa Bay?

Nah, that was Brookbank and Melichar, and a pick, I think.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Nah, that was Brookbank and Melichar, and a pick, I think.

I knew one of them started with a B

 

[Surrounded By Ahos]

I knew one of them started with a B

And to be fair, they were both equally useless 'enforcers'