Laphroaig
Registered User
I was living in Edmonton when they entered the league in 1979. Barry Fraser was their head scout and was widely hailed as a genius after his first three drafts when he was responsible for selecting Kevin Lowe, Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Andy Moog, Grant Fuhr and Steve Smith. I doubt that any team has ever done better in three consecutive drafts.
The problem was that Fraser remained as chief scout until 1990. His first round picks from 1982 to 1990 were as follows..... Jim Playfair, Jeff Beukeboom, Selmar Odelein, Scott Metcalfe, Kim Issel, Peter Soberlak, Francois Leroux, Jason Soules and Scott Allison. Of these only Beukebboom had anything resembling a career. In later rounds in that nine year span only Esa Tikkanen and Kelly Buchberger were notable.
It's always amazed me that such a spectacular beginning to a scouting career ended in such abject failure.
Thoughts?
The problem was that Fraser remained as chief scout until 1990. His first round picks from 1982 to 1990 were as follows..... Jim Playfair, Jeff Beukeboom, Selmar Odelein, Scott Metcalfe, Kim Issel, Peter Soberlak, Francois Leroux, Jason Soules and Scott Allison. Of these only Beukebboom had anything resembling a career. In later rounds in that nine year span only Esa Tikkanen and Kelly Buchberger were notable.
It's always amazed me that such a spectacular beginning to a scouting career ended in such abject failure.
Thoughts?