Best Draft in Last 7 years

[Vinny Boombatz]

Initial observations...but I haven't been ever this excited for a draft we've had in the last 7 years.

And we've never been on the main board as a team that killed it in the draft, and we're being hailed as one of the winners of the draft along w/Nashville and St. Louis.

Perlini, MacInnis, Dvorak, Karlsson, Mayo, Bunting, Westlund, Fiegl and Kulda

Besides Westlund and Fiegl I think we killed it. I've never thought I'd be able to say that we killed it in a draft.

Click to read more...

 

[RABBIT]

Last year's was pretty decent, too.

 

[ClassLessCoyote]

Talk about a doing a 180 in terms of feelings from all that went on yesterday.

 

[XX]

It worked out for Tim and Don. It could have gone completely awry if a pick or two was off but we'll never know.

I like the value in the later rounds. But I'll need someone to sell me on Fiegl and Westlund.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

It worked out for Tim and Don. It could have gone completely awry if a pick or two was off but we'll never know.

I like the value in the later rounds. But I'll need someone to sell me on Fiegl and Westlund.

In years past, they needed to sell me on almost all the picks. This year 7 out of 9 one could argue were quality picks, even Perlini.

 

[joeyabs]

Really like your guys mid round picks, MacInnis, Karlsson, Mayo and Bunting. Good drafting!

 

[Kaibur]

"Know a lot about a little."

Dvorak - London - Domi

Bunting - Sault Ste. Marie - Gaudet

Mayo & Kulda - Edmonton - Samuelsson


It looks like they honed in on guys our scouts had seen a lot of in later rounds.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

2014: Perlini, MacInnis, Dvorak, Karlsson, Bunting, Westlund, Fiegl, Kulda
2013: Domi, Dauphin, LaPlante, Clifton, Burke, Soleway
2012: Samuelsson, Martinook, Melindy, Holland, Tikkinen, Fejes, Langhamer, Hache
2011: Murphy, Ruutu, Lessio, Ruopp, Kessy, Dziurzyinski, Fritsch, Larraza
2010: Gormley, Visentin, Lane, Lindberg, Domingue
2009: OEL, Brown, Lee, Szwarz, Weller, Bloodoff
2008: Boedker, Tikhonov, Staal, Stone, Brodeur, Long, Hextall, Billingsley
2007: Turris, Ross, MacLean, Gistedt, Ruzicka, Goncharov, Darling
2006: Mueller, Summers, Ahnelov, Bennett, Latal, Bendfeld, Frank, Ferrero
2005: Hanzal, Pelletier, Yandle, Krysanov, Brosnihan
2004: Wheeler, Stephenson, Lisin, Tomanek, Porter, Cormier, Kolarik, Gagnon, Engasser, WInnik

suffice it to say that this year is far better, first impressions, than anything we've had in the past 10 years

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

I could actually see 5 of these guys making our squad. I never said that about any other draft.

 

[Jakey53]

Initial observations...but I haven't been ever this excited for a draft we've had in the last 7 years.

And we've never been on the main board as a team that killed it in the draft, and we're being hailed as one of the winners of the draft along w/Nashville and St. Louis.

Perlini, MacInnis, Dvorak, Karlsson, Mayo, Bunting, Westlund, Fiegl and Kulda

Besides Westlund and Fiegl I think we killed it. I've never thought I'd be able to say that we killed it in a draft.

I thought it was pretty good also.

 

[Jakey53]

It worked out for Tim and Don. It could have gone completely awry if a pick or two was off but we'll never know.

I like the value in the later rounds. But I'll need someone to sell me on Fiegl and Westlund.

That holds true for every draft and every team.

 

[PhoPhan]

I'm not ready to do backflips over a draft with such limited upside, but I'm not upset, either. Way too early to see how this stacks up against other drafts, but I recall being much more excited about last year's haul

I had Perlini ranked 24th. He's got nice tools (though nothing jaw-dropping) and solid hockey sense and instincts, but I don't love that kind of perimeter game and lack of willingness to engage physically. He's been compared stylistically to some guys who make that style work (Carter, Hossa, etc.), but more often than not, those sorts of players have trouble making an impact. I share hbk's worry that he has only 15-goal upside as a third line scorer.

That said, because of those red flags, I soured on him early and didn't look as deeply as I should have before the draft. I was concerned by the fact that he started hot and cooled off (which looked to me like a hot streak and a regression to mediocrity), but looking a little closer, it seems like the cool down may have been injury related. Before his injury, he was making a lot of noise, and it looked like he recovered and returned to his earlier form by the end of the season.

In general, I noticed a few themes from this draft.

There was definitely an emphasis on size and speed, which seems like kind of a knee jerk reaction to the dominance of LA and Anaheim this season. On balance, size and speed are obviously assets, but they're also usually the easiest traits to notice. You're not often going to find a diamond in the rough that way.

There also seemed to be an emphasis on rawness. Perlini, Dvorak, Bunting, and MacInnis (at least) all sort of came out of nowhere this season. That upward trajectory is a strong positive indicator in general, but one scout's late bloomer is another scout's small sample size. As well, the longer a player can sustain pre-draft productivity, the more he'll be scouted and the more scrutiny he'll endure, so guys like these tend to be a more of a wildcard. But drafting so many similar players (big, strong, fast, raw, left-shooting forwards) feels like playing the odds, and you really only need two or three players to pan out to consider a draft successful.

After being burnt a few times, I'm seeing this new organizational focus on character manifest itself in this haul. Kulda in particular seems like a guy who will be a positive locker room presence even if he never cracks the NHL. There were also a lot of "value" picks this year, with the Coyotes selecting a number of players lower than how they were projected by the consensus rankings. That's really the only reason so many folks are already willing to call the Coyotes "winners" this year (both on this board and others—not trying to single anybody out here), and generally speaking, when you look back on past drafts, the guys who fell below where the consensus had them ranked tend to demonstrate why they fell. But there are obviously plenty of exceptions and previous draft philosophies haven't really done this team any favors, so I appreciate the new approach, at least.

Overall, I'd give this a C+ or maybe a B-. There were only a handful of big upside players in this draft anyway, but I see only Perlini as having top six upside from this crop. I'm as big of a "best player available" guy as anybody, but five left wings and seven total forwards in nine picks seems a little excessive, especially given the prominence of young left wings in the system already.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

C'mon Pho,
We've had drafts in the past where I knew the players would never make it to the pros.

ala Clifton, Burke & Soleway, and Martinook, Melindy, Tikkinen and then Ruutu, Ruopp, Kessy, Dziurzyinski, Fritsch, Larraza

This year's draft actually has kids that right now 'look' like they've got the skill to play in the NHL MacInnis, Karlsson, Bunting, Kulda, even Dvorak

We'll see in 5 years how this one turns out, but from the "get go" it's got more promise from rounds 2-7 than anything we've had here in 10 years.

 

[awfulwaffle]

I could actually see 5 of these guys making our squad. I never said that about any other draft.

I hope you are right. I love seeing home grown players.

 

[IPreferPi]

C'mon Pho,
We've had drafts in the past where I knew the players would never make it to the pros.

ala Clifton, Burke & Soleway, and Martinook, Melindy, Tikkinen and then Ruutu, Ruopp, Kessy, Dziurzyinski, Fritsch, Larraza

This year's draft actually has kids that right now 'look' like they've got the skill to play in the NHL MacInnis, Karlsson, Bunting, Kulda, even Dvorak

We'll see in 5 years how this one turns out, but from the "get go" it's got more promise from rounds 2-7 than anything we've had here in 10 years.

Cosigned. I share Pho's general assessment of Perlini, but he seems too bearish on the rest of our haul. I'd easily say our post-Round 1 picks this year are the most promising bunch we've had in a while. Yes, there's a lot of rawness, but that gives us even more incentive to make sure we follow the Detroit model to the letter and develop these guys properly. The challenge now lies with us to get these guys to the NHL.

 

[KG]

I still hold high hopes for Dauphin as well. He's a PPG player in junior while playing in all situations.

 

[PhoPhan]

I agree many of them seem to have legitimate pro potential, but for the most part, they all seem destined for the bottom six. That's not nothing, but is it better to overpay a free agent in that role or spend 5 years developing a player yourself?

 

[rt]

If we took Mayo at 43 and Bunting at 58, there'd have been zero posters on this forum talking about reaching.

The fact that we got McInnis, Dvorak, and Karlsson first is just mutha ****in icing on the mutha ****in cake.

Oh, and god bless Edgars Kulda.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

I agree many of them seem to have legitimate pro potential, but for the most part, they all seem destined for the bottom six. That's not nothing, but is it better to overpay a free agent in that role or spend 5 years developing a player yourself?

One of the reasons we all come down on GMDM for no trade activity is that he doesn't have many assets he can use to trade without hurting the core. The more guys we can get that are NHL caliber, the more we can use them in trades to get something we do need.

Just look at the Kings and Ducks as an example of the quality of depth that allows them to trade players like Ryan and go get Kesler, because they've got an abundance of prospects that are all NHL caliber. LA the same thing...and the same with Chicago.

 

[Grant McCagg]

Hi folks.

I do the rankings for the Hockey News and also co-publish McKeen's rankings. I've also scouted with the Canadiens on a part-time basis.

I just wanted to come on your board and congratulate you on a solid draft. The team had lots of picks admittedly, but I think took advantage of that luxury and made six or seven solid picks. In most drafts you are happy to end up with two regulars..Arizona may end up with five or six NHLers from this draft down the road...maybe even seven.

I'm not sure any other team can make that claim. For me it may have been the best draft in terms of quality depth, and quite possibly the team's best ever draft.

Perlini - I know where Pho is coming from on Perlini..I seemingly saw all of his poor games this season..there are some defensive and compete issues...but the size/skill/skating/shot package he has is significant. If he figures out the other stuff, he will be a handful at the NHL level. No he will never be a bruiser, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have 30-40-goal potential.

MacInnis looks like he's got decent third-line center potential...a 6-4 third-line center. Dvorak is very skilled..he may push for top six duty some day....Mayo for me was one of the steals of the draft where you selected him..I had him as a solid second-round pick...as did a couple of high ranking NHL scouts that I query each year. Really smart player, and may be on an NHL PP some day. Karlsson doesn't have a lot of offensive upside..but he's a solid bet to be a bottom line player with energy and a physical dimension.

Bunting has some skating issues, but some scouts are very high on him..has overcome a lot of adversity, and doesn't lack skill. For me the selection of Kulda in the 7th round was the piece de resistance....icing on the cake. The kid was outstanding the last month of the CHL playoffs...flat out knows how to play. At the very least he'll help your AHL team win lots of games, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him make it someday.

Not a sexy draft as there may no be any "home runs" besides Perlini, but i think down the road the club will have several NHL calibre prospects..and that's what the draft is all about..building assets.

 

[IPreferPi]

Thanks for coming by with your assessment, Greg! After years of mediocre drafting, it looks like Maloney and Co. finally were able to select a few keepers in Rounds 2-7 this year.

Now the challenge is to somehow field a forward group that can get us back to the playoffs. A tall task, to be sure.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

After years of piss poor drafting, it looks like Maloney and Co. finally were able to select a few keepers in Rounds 2-7 this year.

Fixed it for you haha

 

[IPreferPi]

Fixed it for you haha

Touchè, haha.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

Btw, several scouting services are doing the draft grades and looks like we're in the top 3 in most lists. One group has us as the winner.

I think this is the first time we've ever even been considered on any "great" draft list.

Finally...and this is after I roasted Barnhadt. If he can perform like this again next year, then he's a keeper in my book.

 

[IPreferPi]

Finally...and this is after I roasted Barnhadt. If he can perform like this again next year, then he's a keeper in my book.

Yeah, hopefully we don't rest on our laurels this year with regards to drafting. With all the high-end talent that's supposed to be in next year's class, we'd better be prepared and have done our due diligence.