Best forward taken in the 2nd round

[Porn*]

Dan Bertram... big time steal!

 

[Blind Gardien]

Yup. lol

I just think they grossly blew out of propertion his skating.

It really is not that bad. It isnt great but there are a lot of NHLers who get by with average skating.

I think the main problem is though that latendresse looks awkward out there as well. Often times smaller guys will look much faster than they are and big guys look clumsy.

The QMJHL is a speed league and Lats had no problem keeping up.

I personally agree with the philosophy that there are indeed "a lot of NHLers who get by with average skating", and I am as willing to overlook a skating deficiency as I am any other type of deficiency, IF the player shows notable strengths in other important areas.

There are some GM/scouts who clearly feel the same (based on the fact that poor-skating players do indeed get selected in the draft).

I think there are possibly a few GM/scouts out there however who really feel that poor skating is the kiss of death, and will avoid a player who has that deficiency like the plague.

But there aren't so many of that kind of skating-plague-GM to account for Latendresse's 30-spot drop alone. I think instead the key comes back to the "IF the player shows notable strengths in other important areas".

Some teams reduced their scouting budgets to save $$$ during the lockout, as did Central Scouting. Latendresse is a guy who (and I say this from my personal experience of the games I saw him play on TV in the tourneys) you could easily come away thinking the other areas of his play were nothing special, if you missed his other more dominant games. You could get the impression that he was inconsistent, or that he didn't always give 100%. A key ingredient of the ability of weaker skaters to survive at the NHL level IMO is that their work ethic alone can partially overcome their skating deficiency. If you came away from limited viewing of Latendresse thinking he was an interesting package of size and skill, but a poor skater who also displayed an inconsistent work ethic... well, I think those two double whammys together would more accurately account for his drop in draft position than either element alone.

A team like Montreal who probably scouted much more extensively in the Q than any other team might have had better exposure to his dominant performances than some others who just saw the big tourney games or had a scattering of other inconsistent reports. Or who had a single Q/Eastern scout saying "pick Latendresse! pick Latendresse!" while the rest of the big guns on the staff overruled him saying "naw, saw him the WU-18 and his skating and consistency sucked".

 

[moosefan]

Dan Bertram

I agree Bertram then Latendresse. Bertram will be and is alot better than given credit for.

 

[sveiglar]

I put a poll on the poll board but might get a better response in this thread; to those backing Bertram, do you prefer him or T.J. Hensick as an overall prospect?