Confirmed with Link: Avs sign MacKinnon to 7-year deal ($6.3M AAV)
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Foppberg
Registered User
By the time the draft came, MacKinnon was the consensus #1. Jones was #2 IIRC.
AvsCOL
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Yep, mostly everyone had MacKinnon at #1 after he dominated at the Memorial Cup.
Guys, if MacKinnon wasn't the pick at #1 that year, the Avalanche would've been laughed at. He was the best player on the board. Hindsight is 20/20, but it was the right pick then.
Foppberg
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Yeah it's very easy to look back in hindsight and, for example, be like hey why didn't they take Karlsson 1st overall! idiots!
Avs44
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I actually remember a lot of disbelief from non-Avs fans that they didn't take Jones. There was quite a reaction immediately after Sakic announced leading up to the draft that they were taking MacKinnon. It was not as obvious as some of you are saying.
Foppberg
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Well Sakic/Roy said for weeks we were taking MacKinnon, and he was the consensus #1 by the time the draft came.
agentblack
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tigervixxxen
Optimism=Delusional
MacK had the pedigree of the first overall pick in the Q and people had been following him since Shattuck because of the numbers he put up as a young teen. Then Jones had a great WJC and MacK was on the 4th line, then he had a knee injury where he didn't play until the playoffs that spring. Everyone knows what happened at the Mem Cup and that brought the hype back. So at the time either was seen as an acceptable choice. Most people thought the Avs would go D which is where the surprise came from. If it was an offense needy team that had won the lottery plus what he did at the Mem Cup then MacK would have been considered the no brainier choice.
McMetal
Writer of Wrongs
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It was really close at the draft between the two. It was a choice between what looked to be a 1D and a franchise 1C, and I think Sakic and Roy's stated bias towards "exciting" hockey nudged them towards the center. In hindsight, it's easy to say they should have started their rebuild with the top young D instead of the 1C, but hey, water under the bridge. You don't get do-overs in the draft.
CalderKing21
Darth Calder
I totally read that post wrong. For some reason I was confusing consensus with unanimous.
Proof that I should never post when hopped up on sinus medication.
I was thinking mostly about central scouting.
Not most. It was basically 50/50.
http://www.mynhldraft.com/2013-nhl-draft-prospect-consensus-rankings
MacK - 352
Jones - 350
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AvsCOL
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Avs actually had a pretty decent draft. MacKinnon, Bigras, Martin was a good haul.
Cousin Eddie
You Serious Clark?
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I wanted Mackinnon and would have been devastated had they taken Jones.
In hindsight, my opinion was very dumb.
In hindsight, my opinion was very dumb.
No they wouldn't get laughed at, that's crock and revisionist history. Most people were saying they should pick Jones. Nate being the best player at the time of the draft is arguable, and it was based on a 5 game sample size. Furthermore you don't pick the best player at the time of the draft, you pick the one who projects to be the best NHL player, and as of right now, Nate isn't even top 3 and I expect the gap between him and Jones to continue to grow in Jones' favor.
AvsCOL
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That's a total lie. Go back and look at all the mock drafts and tell me how many of them had Jones going #1. You'll find it's not "most"
I'll wait.
AvsCOL
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The common trait in all these championship teams is having that bonafide #1C. Obviously the Avs thought that MacKinnon could be that guy, and that's why he was picked over Jones.
Penguins - Crosby
Blackhawks - Toews
Kings - Kopitar
Bruins - Bergeron
Red Wings - Dastyuk
Ducks - Getzlaf
Hurricanes - Staal
Hasn't been a team in a long time do it without a top center. Penguins just did it without a #1 D.
Penguins - Crosby
Blackhawks - Toews
Kings - Kopitar
Bruins - Bergeron
Red Wings - Dastyuk
Ducks - Getzlaf
Hurricanes - Staal
Hasn't been a team in a long time do it without a top center. Penguins just did it without a #1 D.
No it's not a total lie, read through the threads from that time, read articles that were linked there, everyone and their dog expected us to draft a local kid and future #1 D in Jones even after Sakic publicly (like a moron) said that they will pick a forward at #1. I know that because I had to go through I don't know how many threads reading about other team's fans and pundits talking about how we need to draft Jones to fix our D. Hell, I even defended what I thought to be a dumb decision by Sakic when he said he'll pick a forward.
lonelybadger
Registered User
When the avs won the draft lottery I literally stood up, and yelled "We Get Seth Jones", I was happy with Mack and definitely probably have a few posts pumping his tires but during the lottery I was all Jones all the way.
Letang? And last year they had a great goalie to go with good defensive depth and amazing forward depth. And all those other teams had pretty damn good D units, hell Toews is the 4th best player on his own team and can't hold a candle to Kane and Keith, DD and Quick are the ones who carried LA, not Kopitar, Bergeron is great and all but he was no Chara, or more importantly Thomas, do I even need to mention Lidas and Niedermayer, Pronger and Frankie (it's also kind of absurd you mention Getzlaf since AMac was their #1 centre during their run, hell their forwards were so much in the shadows that their most glorified line was their checking line)? And Canes won because of Ward and their insane depth at both F and D, not because of Eric Staal.
Ararana
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He’s had 1 good game out of 11.... been extremely pedestrian save for a period or two.
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If Jones was really in contention to be the 1st overall pick, he wouldn't have gotten drafted 4th.
Two more teams passed on him, after he wasn't picked first overall.
You can't really argue team needs that high. You pick what you think is the best player. 3 organizations didn't think he was.
Two more teams passed on him, after he wasn't picked first overall.
You can't really argue team needs that high. You pick what you think is the best player. 3 organizations didn't think he was.
The draft is stronger than the likes of 2017 and others similar, but you're right, a lot of players got fairly overrated. And I believe MacKinnon, Barkov, and Monahan, along with others like Nurse, Pulock, Lazar, Mueller, Rychel, Mantha, etc., all fit that overrated category. That doesn't mean they're bad players, as a lot of them are NHL caliber, however a lot of them seriously got overvalued in trades and prospect talk. For example, remember how many teams "supposedly" passed on superstar Mantha? How Fucale was the best goaler since Price? How Shinkaruk was going to become Kessel 2.0? I think Zadorov is still one of the players who shouldn't be judged quite yet, along with Ristolainen as defenders take longer to develop.
Jones was consensus #1 yet people idiotically put MacKinnon above him over a silly tournament consisting of just 4 to 5 games. Especially in a tournament where Jones looked quite solid except one play against MacKinnon. Not only that, but you're wrong on the others....
- Avs: Under Pracey at the time, never drafted defenders high.
- Lightning: Purposely avoided defenders, drafted based on needs.
- Panthers: Purposely avoided defenders, drafted based on needs.
That's why he fell to fourth. Avs simply thought MacKinnon was the best player due to one tournament and two other teams drafted base on needs. Hilariously enough, teams like Panthers and Lightning needed defenders right after that draft with Florida getting Ekblad and Lightning giving up on Drouin for Sergachyev. Another example to never draft on needs until later on in the draft.
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dahrougem2
Registered User
IIRC the media was stunned when we didn't take Jones. He was ranked higher than MacKinnon leading up to the Memorial Cup but then MacK had a great tournament, a tournament which shouldn't mean anything since it's 4 freaking teams. The media was pumping up Jones' Denver connection, too, and thought he'd be a huge hit with the fan base.
Even looking back then, this Avs team didn't draft based on needs, they drafted who they thought was BPA. We had Duchene, O'Reilly, and Stastny in the fold down the middle. There was zero logic in drafting another centre, even with the O'Reilly fiasco and Stastny's pending UFA status. One of those two probably could have been salvaged. Meanwhile, we had Erik Johnson on the back end. That's it. This team didn't know what it had in Tyson Barrie, and everyone else either sucked or was an aging Jan Hejda.
I like MacKinnon, I really do, but the right pick at the time and I said it then was Seth Jones. That is still true today.
Even looking back then, this Avs team didn't draft based on needs, they drafted who they thought was BPA. We had Duchene, O'Reilly, and Stastny in the fold down the middle. There was zero logic in drafting another centre, even with the O'Reilly fiasco and Stastny's pending UFA status. One of those two probably could have been salvaged. Meanwhile, we had Erik Johnson on the back end. That's it. This team didn't know what it had in Tyson Barrie, and everyone else either sucked or was an aging Jan Hejda.
I like MacKinnon, I really do, but the right pick at the time and I said it then was Seth Jones. That is still true today.
