Gwyddbwyll
Registered User
- Dec 24, 2002
- 11,252
- 469
A thorny subject but certainly an ever increasing trend is the drafting of goalies in the first round. Which teams this year will definitely not be considering doing this and which ones are considering it? While all teams mouth the "BPA" mandate, every single one of them will have assessed their goaltending depth and quality and decided if it is something they need to address.
This year we have a clutch of hopeful first rounders. Schwarz, Montoya and Dubnyk are rated by many to be among the best 30 players. There are also four outsiders who may very well rise all the way to the 1st in Ellis, Shantz, Schneider, LaCosta. We may well see a repeat of 2001 when 4 goalies were drafted in the first.
In my opinion there are six NHL teams who will be paying extra close attention:
Los Angeles, Nashville, St.Louis, Montreal, Tampa and Toronto. I dont believe any other team is interested in drafting a goalie in the first round.
Los Angeles have a couple nice 03 prospects in Munce and Zaba. Despite the pressure of the high goaltending standards among the Pacific teams I feel they will bide their time another year. They also have the highest pick of the six teams and are deep everywhere else. Nashville has the history and the depth problems to take a goalie. Vokoun is a workhorse though and I think they will prefer to address offense. Montreal does not have the drafting history to take a goalie early and can also rely heavily on their goalie for another year. So this is how I see it going down:
St.Louis takes Montoya with the 18th pick
Tampa takes Dubnyk with the 20th pick
Toronto takes Schwarz with the 27th pick
Although a goalie may be ranked in the top 10 there is no team that needs a goalie till the 15th pick at the earliest.. then you have a whole clutch of teams from 15th to 20th pick that do (LA, CGY, NAS, STL, MTL, TAM). What that also means is we will probably see the teams after them in the draft order in a great position to make a steal - likely to be Dallas, Boston and San Jose.
I looked at each team and noted their current NHL/AHL pro goalies and who their "goalie of the future" stud prospect was. Drafting positions are taken from league standings as of today. This started as a small curiosity of mine and turned out a bit longer than I expected! Hope you enjoy.
This year we have a clutch of hopeful first rounders. Schwarz, Montoya and Dubnyk are rated by many to be among the best 30 players. There are also four outsiders who may very well rise all the way to the 1st in Ellis, Shantz, Schneider, LaCosta. We may well see a repeat of 2001 when 4 goalies were drafted in the first.
In my opinion there are six NHL teams who will be paying extra close attention:
Los Angeles, Nashville, St.Louis, Montreal, Tampa and Toronto. I dont believe any other team is interested in drafting a goalie in the first round.
Los Angeles have a couple nice 03 prospects in Munce and Zaba. Despite the pressure of the high goaltending standards among the Pacific teams I feel they will bide their time another year. They also have the highest pick of the six teams and are deep everywhere else. Nashville has the history and the depth problems to take a goalie. Vokoun is a workhorse though and I think they will prefer to address offense. Montreal does not have the drafting history to take a goalie early and can also rely heavily on their goalie for another year. So this is how I see it going down:
St.Louis takes Montoya with the 18th pick
Tampa takes Dubnyk with the 20th pick
Toronto takes Schwarz with the 27th pick
Although a goalie may be ranked in the top 10 there is no team that needs a goalie till the 15th pick at the earliest.. then you have a whole clutch of teams from 15th to 20th pick that do (LA, CGY, NAS, STL, MTL, TAM). What that also means is we will probably see the teams after them in the draft order in a great position to make a steal - likely to be Dallas, Boston and San Jose.
I looked at each team and noted their current NHL/AHL pro goalies and who their "goalie of the future" stud prospect was. Drafting positions are taken from league standings as of today. This started as a small curiosity of mine and turned out a bit longer than I expected! Hope you enjoy.