Does Your NHL Team Have A Distinct Drafting Style?

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Slats432

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There has much debate on the Edmonton board because at the 2003 draft it was well documented that Kevin Lowe had decided to draft with size being a strong component in his draft day decisions. Whether or not this philosophy will be successful won't shake out for several years.

Historically, it looks like the Oilers look for a very skilled player in the first round, then a goaltender or defenseman in the second round.

I am not sure if I am totally correct but I think the Oilers look to fill deficiency in the organization through the draft as 60% weighting, with the other 40% being the best player available.(Meaning that if they needed a blueliner, that means the best player available would have to be significantly better before they make the selection.)

The Oilers also seem to prefer the safe picks over the sexy picks.(Not always because Niinimaki was an off the charts pick in 2002. Mikhnov was also a bit of a stretch but not as much as Niinimaki.) But that is the impression I get.

They also seem to not mind drafting guys that are a bit of projects in their development without minding to wait for them for a few seasons to develop.

What about your team? Do they have a significant drafting style?
 

PhoPhan

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Feb 27, 2002
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Over the past few years, the Coyotes seem to have a preference for really big, really fast players.
 

Bill McNeal

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Well, the Habs don't have too much of a pattern lately. A few years ago they went 3 years in a row drafting an American from College Hockey in the first round (Hainsey, Komisarek, Higgins). Then last year we got Kastitsyn. A lot of our prospects have a European flavor, and I'd like a few Canadians in there as there are a nice crop of them out there now, but I trust Savard in charge of the draft.
 

Teemu

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Draft the shittiest player possible. Thats the Pulford way.
 

Debrincat93

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no idea what detroit is doing. They stayed in N.A. last year until the mid rounds, drafted a goalie which is a great goalie, but we also already got Liv and MacIntyre. We like to make sure we are completely set in 1 position/problem and then we move on. We made our defense solid, then goaltending, next i hope is getting us some stronger PF type prospect/prospects... We dont got a lot of guys with great potential (meaning 1-2 line PF)... err... we dont got any really

thats my take
 

Jeff Goldblum

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Pittsburgh seems to be going for safer picks.

Starting in 2000, we drafted players who were more known for their defensive abilities than their offense. In 2003, basically all of our picks past Fleury were guys who are tough, gritty, can score, and willing to drop the gloves.
 

Teemu

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Zherdev said:
I don't understand how the Oilers could have passed up on this kid...
i screamed at my inanimate TV when the hawks passed him up.

ZACH PARISE! ZACH PARISE!

DAMN!

although, Seabrook has been doing well so far
 

Munchausen

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Well, the Habs don't have too much of a pattern lately. A few years ago they went 3 years in a row drafting an American from College Hockey in the first round (Hainsey, Komisarek, Higgins). Then last year we got Kastitsyn. A lot of our prospects have a European flavor, and I'd like a few Canadians in there as there are a nice crop of them out there now, but I trust Savard in charge of the draft.

There is a pattern. Under Savard and Timmins, the team goes after the BPA at all time. They don't seem to care much for size, as opposed to say Philly to which it's of a big influence. They don't look for imediate needs either obviously as they did not draft a big power-forward last year when there was tons available. Also, Timmins said, giving the context, that at equal talent, they will choose the french-canadien player, for marketing purposes (but only if they have the choice between two players of equal talent). Speed and stickhandling skills seem to be a major factor determining the BPA for Montreal (Kastsitsyn, Plekanec, Perezhogin, Higgins, Korneev, Locke most notably) or if it's a Dman, size and physical play seem to come on top (ie: Archer, O'Byrne, Linhart, Korpikari, Komisarek). Finally, I think they also give importance to work ethic and attitude/maturity, as all of our 1st rounders under Savard (Komisarek, Higgins, Kastsitsyn and Perezhogin) are touted as very mature and level-headed kids working very hard on and off the ice.
 

X-SHARKIE

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2003 Entry draft I noticed the Penguins drafted players who are all good guys, all good hockey players as well, but Fleury,Stone,Filewitch ect. ect. are all good guys.

Sharks in 2003 needed speed and size up front, Michalek fits that bill and adds some more, Bernier adds the size, Hennessy with the speed. But I think there a "player we like most" type of org.
 

Big McLargehuge

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The Pens system has drastically changed in the past few years.

Before it used to be high risk-high reward players(some worked out, most never made an impact), now it's safer picks, and much more defensive oriented.

Also a big change in the area where these players come from...

Last 10 Picks
1994- Chris Wells, Center, Canadian- Power forward who had a ton of upside but never tapped it. Best thing he did was land us Barnes and Woolley.
1995- Alexei Morozov(now Aleksey), Right Winger, Russian- Had a huge career before coming to the states and has been a regular ever since coming over, but never fully tapped his amazing potential.
1996- Craig Hillier, Goaltender, Canadian- Crappy goaltender who never made it past the ECHL...and never even did decent there.
1997- Robert Dome, Right Winger, Slovakian- The biggest risk/reward player in this span. Tons of potential but nothing really worked out for him. Team thought he was closer to being NHL ready than he really was(played in the IHL before being drafted) and really ruined him by playing him too early.
1998- Milan Kraft, Center, Czech- Pure offensive forward who still is looking for his niche in the NHL. Another player taken on potential alone.
1999- Konstantin Koltsov, Winger, Belarussian- Another risk/reward type player. Has skill and has ungodly speed, but the risk was that his hands were tugging around in the slow lane when drafted, and still really are. Could turn into an elite player, could be nothing more than a third liner.
2000- Brooks Orpik, Defenseman, American- Big, rugged, tough defenseman who plays a very physical style.
2001- Colby Armstrong, Right Winger, Canadian- Not much high end potential but a fairly safe prospect. A probably third liner he's a great agitator who can drop the gloves but helps his team most by just annoying the hell out of opponents. Has some offensive skills.
2002- Ryan Whitney, Defenseman, American- The "safe" pick at the position he was drafted(guys like Lupul and Bouchard who were drafted shortly after him had better potential, but less certainty).
2003- Marc-Andre Fleury, Goaltender, Canadian- Franchise goaltender

In the past 4 years no first rounder has been taken outside of the North American continent, where in the 6 years before that only Wells and Hillier were from this continent.

Over the past two years there's been a huge emphasis on toughness and defense.
 

IslandersFan

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Mad Mike took over as G.M. for the Isles in December of 95 and for the most part his first round picks came from Juniors:

1996 - J.P. Dumont -LW- QMJHL
1997 - Roberto Luongo - G- QMJHL
Eric Brewer -D- WHL
1998 - Mike Rupp -LW- OHL
1999 - Tim Connolly -C- OHL
Taylor Pyatt -LW- OHL
Branislav Mezei -D- OHL
Kristian Kudroc -D- QMJHL
2000 - Rick Dipietro -G- NCAA
Raffi Torres -LW - OHL
2001 - Traded to Ottawa in Yashin deal

Since Mad Mike canned Gordie Clark as the Director of Personnel for the Isles, they have taken on a European flavor when drafting:

2002 - Sean Bergenheim -C- FNL
2003 - Kent Nilsson -LW- SEL

Regardless of where he drafts them from, the common denominator appears to be that he trades them before they get a chance to do anything anyways. Bergenheim & Nilsson are the only 2 that remain in the Isles organization.
 

nomorekids

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The Preds LOVE the WHL, especially gritty wingers with lots of heart\leadership. Dan Hamhuis from Prince George, Scott Hartnell from Prince Albert and Scottie Upshall from Kamloops all in the first round. Josh Morrow, Paul Brown, Brandon Segal are all non-first rounders from the Dub.
 

ShyCheetah

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I'd say that Brian Burke is probably more methodical then most in that he almost always follows the same script. Obviously we all know BB's 'best player available" concept that landed him 10 billion centres and no goalies over a span of about 3 or so years. But he seems to favour middle sized forwards with above average skating and two-way d-men. He also always seems to take a re-entry in the middle rounds, rutuu, Fedrov and most recently Nolan come to mind. He dosn't seem to favour 'specialists' such as small fleet footed d-men or lumbering powerforwards/d-men but more 'jack of all trades' players. He seems to like the safe pick but will swing for the fences a couple of times in the same draft once every 3 or so years. (he's done it only once his time here but I bet in a couple of years he'll do it again because it seemed very deliberate the first time considering how he likes his safe picks) But off course there will always be a few exceptions to anyones tendencies (Koltsov comes to mind but that was a no brainer pick and falls under the bpa theory) I know many teams probably use similar drafting techniques but Burke has his style. Shy.
 

kruezer

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Apr 21, 2002
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Calgary has just began the Sutter era, but still have Tod Button as director of scouting, so his influence is still strong. We we're very into Collegians and the late round Europeans. However, we are now into the Big, Fast, Tough players in the early rounds at least. That can be attributed to Sutter IMO. Button still has the teams confidence though as seen by the Moore pick.
 

Skydog

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For the Canes its drafting at least one player from Peter Karmanos other team, the Plymouth Whalers. A few years ago, on top of a Plymouth Whaler, teammates from Peter Karmanos' s son Jason Karmanos' Harvard team were also selected.

Former Jason Karmanos Teammates drafted: Tripp Tracy, Craig Adams, Craig MacDonald, Jeremiah McCarthy, and Steve Martins.
 

Lowetide

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Feb 27, 2002
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agree with slats on the Oilers drafting. They like to take guys over 6 feet who weight 175 or 188 and then after they're taken Kevin Prendergast will say things like "he has projectable size."

Which I think is scouting code for "he'll gain 20 pounds in the next two years."

I also think they draft their definition of the bpa, but that definition in no way resembles what Detroit considers bpa. Edmonton's ideal player looks alot more like a FLyer now, though there are differences.
 

Kevin Forbes

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Ducks were all about drafting skilled Euros back when Pierre Gauthier was in charge (Chistov, Smirnov, Bryzgalov, Havelid, Ronnqvist, Parssinen)
Since Bryan Murray took over, a distinct focus on North Americans and especially big North Americans has hit (Lupul, Getzlaf) and only 2 Euros in 2 drafts.
A real bonus is 2 way play from the forwards and defenceman with size and strength.
 

Hitman*

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Under Coates, it was drafting CHL players ahead of Euros, the assumption being that a Canadian kid would be more inclined to stay in Canada to play hockey than a European.

Under Button, it was drafting Collegians and Europeans. The main assumption there was that it would be less strain financially because you wouldn't need to sign them right away. Since Craig was an excellent judge of talent, I wasn't dissapointed.

Now with Sutter, he likes size, Canadians, toughness and strong work ethic. As kreuzer pointed out, Tod Button will still point out some good euros and collegians for him (it was Tod who picked Ramholt essentially), but if there are two players with similar skill and upside, expect us to take the Canadians again.
 

Belizarius

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The Devils love college players :
In the system :
NHL :
Gionta, Madden, Pandolfo, Rafalski, Hale, Martin, Rasmussen
AHL
DeMarchi...maybe others.
NCAA
Parise, Tallackson, Massen, Ryznar, Voros, Magowan, Glover, Tarkir, Dziama
 
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