Best and Worst Personal "Finds"

[Siamese Dream]

Ive heard some credible sources say that to this day he has the best hands a prospect ever had

He had some of the best hands and one of the best quick release wristshots in the league

He was just really lazy most of the time

 

[Leafs87]

I thought Nik Zherdev was the next best thing.

Why he left the NHL after a 61 and 58 point season is beyond me.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Simple fun idea for a summer thread, what are some of the best and worse calls you made from impressions from live viewings, separate from media and scouting reports.

Two of my best now were Simmonds and Giordano when they were in Owen Sound,

worst was Kevin Dallman in Guelph, I was sure he was going to be a star.

Klefbom and Oliver Ekman-Larsson I was yelling at the internet for the oilers to move up to draft

a bust I thought would be great--Gilbert Brule and Sam Gagner

guys I knew suck: Adam Courchaine some giants fans loved him be he was just too slow and sluggish and Jordan McLaughlin--I was a season ticket holder for all giants season I was in Vancouver and some of the other season ticket holders were doing the hard sell that Jordon would be a legit NHLER--could not stand his style or work ethic

 

[Dempsey]

For me this is easy. Since 1999 I've drafted in a 30-team NHL sim league a week before the real-life NHL draft, so I have a documented history. When you're drafting before the NHL draft, sometimes your late-round picks don't even get drafted in real life.

My early drafting years were really bad until I started my learning hard lessons in what to look for in prospects, and scouting better starting around 2004.

Disclaimer: I know that nobody cares about other people's fantasy teams, but the topic somewhat calls for it

Here are my picks, in other words players I at some point believed in:

1999:

49th: Niklas Hagman
132th: Karel Mosovsky
133th: Adam Johnson
150th: Andrew Ianiero
153rd: Kenric Exner
206th: Antti Jokela

2000:

19th: Alexei Mikhnov
49th: Alexander Tatarinov
79th: Jakob Cutta
109th: Andrew Downing
229th: Derrick Byfuglien
259th: Eric Clark

2001:

22nd: Lukas Krajicek
59th: Adam Munro
90th: Jussi Timonen
122nd: Maxim Suchinsky
220th: Dusan Salficky
284th: Vaclav Kos

2002:

25th: Chris Higgins
55th: Cam Ward
56th: Brian McConnell
86th: Konstantin Korneev
127th: Matt Greene
152nd: Jarkko Immonen
185th: John Adams

2003:

56th: Joshua Hennessy
120th: Kevin Nastiuk
152nd: Jeremy Williams
182nd: Anton Khovrin
214th: Jan Hejda

2004:

26th: Johan Fransson
56th: Mark Fistric
117th: Alexander Nikulin
151st: Clayton Stoner
181st: Troy Brouwer
216th: Karri Ramo
248th: Petteri Wirtanen

2005:

7th: Jack Skille
54th: Tomas Pospisil
67th: Niklas Hjalmarsson
115th: Sergei Kostitsyn
180th: Dev Heshmatpour
228th: Drew Fisher

2006:

7th: Derrick Brassard
37th: Alexander Vasyunov (RIP)
81st: Brad Marchand
89th: Harrison Reed
110th: Jonas Junland
120th: Carter Camper

2007:

2nd: Patrick Kane
19th Oscar Moller
31st Bill Sweatt
61st Olivier Fortier
181st Jamie Benn
182nd Matt Frattin

2008:

4th: Alex Pietrangelo
34th: Jared Staal
64th: Justin Jokinen
124th: Sergei Ostapchuk
184th: Teemu Hartikainen

2009:

11th: Ryan Ellis
161st: Kristian Nakyva
191st: Henrik Thegel

2010:

33rd: Jordan Weal
55th: Jared Knight
125th: Sam Carrick
146th: Joe Rogalski
155th: Zach Hyman
188th: Alex Guptill

2011:

5th: Sean Couturier
10th: Mark Scheifele
11th: Ryan Murphy
77th: Mattias Backman
104th: Matt McNeely
190th: Lars Volden

2012:

30th: Ludwig Bystrom
60th: Calle Andersson
115th: Jaccob Slavin
180th: Tobias Tornqvist

2013:

24th: Ryan Hartman
105th: Colton Parayko
143rd: Andrew Copp
144th: Sean Maguire
200th: Tucker Poolman
204th: Jayden Hart

2014:

25th: Travis Sanheim
55th: Brycen Martin
86th: Mattias Janmark
146th: Rourke Chartier
176th: Michael Prapavessis
178th: Kyle Wood
201st: Liam Pecararo

2015:

24th: Noah Juulsen
54th: Nikita Korostelev
57th: Mitchell Vande Sompel
84th: Jesper Lindgren
114th: Connor Hobbs
133rd: Kevin Stenlund
144th: Matt Bradley
175th: Joey Daccord
205th: Christoffer Ehn

 

[thefeebster]

Sigh... in recent memory, one sticks out. I thought Dalton Thrower could become a Bieksa-esque D man. So wrong, now ECHL fodder.

 

[sync95]

I was convinced John Moore was going to be a great #2/#3 defenceman after watching him in Kitchener. He's still young-ish, so it's not too late for him to improve, but he's cetainly not trending towards that.

Yea he was such a fluid skater, probably better than Hanifin at that age. Made you think he was bona-fife, but it's not too late as you said. Around the same time (08-09), a young Jeff Skinner was playing sheltered minutes, but you could see the potential every game. After seeing him for the first time, I remarked to someone that he would likely be a star by 18...little did we know it would be in the NHL (As the ROY).

 

[Reddawg]

In my 2009 fantasy keeper prospects draft, I took Gustav Nyquist late in the 4th round (late 50's pick), but was mad that someone took Evgeny Grachev 6th overall which meant I couldn't take him at #12 overall (I took Ryan Ellis instead of OEL).

Fantasy hockey drafting is a fickle beast.

 

[francis246]

I though Sam Gagner was going to be one of the best players in the league by now.. Boy was I wrong lol

 

[DollardStLaurent]

Simple fun idea for a summer thread, what are some of the best and worse calls you made from impressions from live viewings, separate from media and scouting reports.

Two of my best now were Simmonds and Giordano when they were in Owen Sound,

worst was Kevin Dallman in Guelph, I was sure he was going to be a star.

Two of my biggest disappointments were Luca Caputi and Eric Tangradi.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

As a Habs fan, I thought Price would never be able to handle the pressure of Montreal after his repeated struggles early on. Yeah...

 

[leafs in five]

as a younger lad i couldn't understand why Brandon Reid wasn't a first round pick. i remember being upset when i looked up draft results in the paper and saw that Vancouver picked him one spot before the Leafs (in the 7th round).

i knew Toffoli would be good, but so did anyone who saw him a few times in Ottawa. it was crazy to see him fall like he did.

also, not a 'find' or anything, everyone knew Pietrangelo would be great, but his performance in the Ottawa vs Niagara series in 2009 was one of the best i've ever seen. he was so good in that series.

 

[LethalCookie]

Saw Bennett play in the GTHL, liked his overall game and thought he would be a good NHLer (never thought he would rise to become a top 5 pick).

 

[stempniaksen]

Yea he was such a fluid skater, probably better than Hanifin at that age. Made you think he was bona-fife, but it's not too late as you said. Around the same time (08-09), a young Jeff Skinner was playing sheltered minutes, but you could see the potential every game. After seeing him for the first time, I remarked to someone that he would likely be a star by 18...little did we know it would be in the NHL (As the ROY).

Yeah, easily one of the best skaters I've seen at that level. I remember posting here about him on the Blue Jackets board raving about him, I was sure his game would translate to the NHL.

Another guy I "missed" on was Ryan Martindale. I didn't expect him to be a superstar or anything like that, but I thought he had all the tools to become a legit NHLer (3rd line center with 2nd line upside). He had the size and seemed to have a very high "hockey IQ". Clearly he was being carried by his wingers (Toffoli and Shane Prince).

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I was a huge Brian Lee fan, one of the few. He was a very intelligent player who kept getting stronger, but he didn't have the skills to make it past being a depth guy. I didn't think he'd be a top pairing guy, but more of a 3/4 and that obviously didn't pan out.

 

[McDonagh]

I watched every Evgeny Grachev game I could. I wasn't crazy enough seriously consider him in those Grachev vs. Hodgson vs. Duchene threads but I thought for sure he would find success in the NHL.

 

[SenzZen]

Brian Campbell was an effortless skater for the 67's. I felt he had to break through.

Methot was incredible during the Knights' Memorial Cup run. Ditto Corey Perry- on the other end of the rink.

I thought Toffoli's skating would prevent his success from translating to the NHL. Glad I was wrong there.

Thought Sam Gagner would surpass Kane in time...

For me this is easy. Since 1999 I've drafted in a 30-team NHL sim league a week before the real-life NHL draft, so I have a documented history. When you're drafting before the NHL draft, sometimes your late-round picks don't even get drafted in real life.

My early drafting years were really bad until I started my learning hard lessons in what to look for in prospects, and scouting better starting around 2004.

Disclaimer: I know that nobody cares about other people's fantasy teams, but the topic somewhat calls for it

Here are my picks, in other words players I at some point believed in:

1999:

49th: Niklas Hagman
132th: Karel Mosovsky
133th: Adam Johnson
150th: Andrew Ianiero
153rd: Kenric Exner
206th: Antti Jokela

2000:

19th: Alexei Mikhnov
49th: Alexander Tatarinov
79th: Jakob Cutta
109th: Andrew Downing
229th: Derrick Byfuglien
259th: Eric Clark

2001:

22nd: Lukas Krajicek
59th: Adam Munro
90th: Jussi Timonen
122nd: Maxim Suchinsky
220th: Dusan Salficky
284th: Vaclav Kos

2002:

25th: Chris Higgins
55th: Cam Ward
56th: Brian McConnell
86th: Konstantin Korneev
127th: Matt Greene
152nd: Jarkko Immonen
185th: John Adams

2003:

56th: Joshua Hennessy
120th: Kevin Nastiuk
152nd: Jeremy Williams
182nd: Anton Khovrin
214th: Jan Hejda

2004:

26th: Johan Fransson
56th: Mark Fistric
117th: Alexander Nikulin
151st: Clayton Stoner
181st: Troy Brouwer
216th: Karri Ramo
248th: Petteri Wirtanen

2005:

7th: Jack Skille
54th: Tomas Pospisil
67th: Niklas Hjalmarsson
115th: Sergei Kostitsyn
180th: Dev Heshmatpour
228th: Drew Fisher

2006:

7th: Derrick Brassard
37th: Alexander Vasyunov (RIP)
81st: Brad Marchand
89th: Harrison Reed
110th: Jonas Junland
120th: Carter Camper

2007:

2nd: Patrick Kane
19th Oscar Moller
31st Bill Sweatt
61st Olivier Fortier
181st Jamie Benn
182nd Matt Frattin

2008:

4th: Alex Pietrangelo
34th: Jared Staal
64th: Justin Jokinen
124th: Sergei Ostapchuk
184th: Teemu Hartikainen

2009:

11th: Ryan Ellis
161st: Kristian Nakyva
191st: Henrik Thegel

2010:

33rd: Jordan Weal
55th: Jared Knight
125th: Sam Carrick
146th: Joe Rogalski
155th: Zach Hyman
188th: Alex Guptill

2011:

5th: Sean Couturier
10th: Mark Scheifele
11th: Ryan Murphy
77th: Mattias Backman
104th: Matt McNeely
190th: Lars Volden

2012:

30th: Ludwig Bystrom
60th: Calle Andersson
115th: Jaccob Slavin
180th: Tobias Tornqvist

2013:

24th: Ryan Hartman
105th: Colton Parayko
143rd: Andrew Copp
144th: Sean Maguire
200th: Tucker Poolman
204th: Jayden Hart

2014:

25th: Travis Sanheim
55th: Brycen Martin
86th: Mattias Janmark
146th: Rourke Chartier
176th: Michael Prapavessis
178th: Kyle Wood
201st: Liam Pecararo

2015:

24th: Noah Juulsen
54th: Nikita Korostelev
57th: Mitchell Vande Sompel
84th: Jesper Lindgren
114th: Connor Hobbs
133rd: Kevin Stenlund
144th: Matt Bradley
175th: Joey Daccord
205th: Christoffer Ehn

Meh

 

[Siignal]

I really liked Brandon Hickey from the moment we picked him last year and he's starting to look like an amazing 3rd round.

I had Monahan pegged as Calgary's pick specifically, but that doesn't really count. Thought Martin Frk would be doing better based off watching him in Halifax.

Vande Sompel for this year for the Isles

 

[InfinityIggy]

More recent one, said that Pastrnak should of easily been a top 10 pick and that he might even play in the NHL in his draft year.

Was sure Frk would be a star. Oops.

 

[vincetheprince]

I thought Oscar Moller was going to be a very good NHLer. He's doing good, just not in the NHL.

 

[CapSpace]

I wanted Kopitar so bad in Montreal the year we drafted Price. Sure he is elite now, and so is Kopitar and that was my feeling back then. But sometimes I still think about what we would be with Kopitar-Halak instead of Price-Desharnais. I could also think about a duo of Subban-McDonagh but these ideas aren't good for my health.

 

[SchennSational1022*]

The fact I was INFURIATED at the Flyers for drafting Sanheim over Kasperi Kapanen shows how much I know

 

[sync95]

More recent one, said that Pastrnak should of easily been a top 10 pick and that he might even play in the NHL in his draft year.

Was sure Frk would be a star. Oops.

People were saying Frk was an "Ovechkin-lite" in 2010-11. Pls

 

[Jayevs]

Tyson Barrie for the good

Stefan Elliott for the bad

 

[DaveG]

Justin Faulk for the good, called him the steal of the draft in 2010 when we took him in the 2nd.

Zach Boychuk for the bad. I thought he was going to be one of those "nhl ready" types that was a 20-30 type player by the time he was 21-22... yeah about that...

 

[Mashed Potatoes]

Datsyuk... Just kidding but both me and my father where very impressed with erik karlsson at the WJC and my father said that he would be better than hedman if i remember right.