How in the world was Jared Cowen picked above Ryan Ellis?

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Jared Cowen
Ryan Ellis

Ellis absolutely killed it in his draft season. Sure he was on a great team, but Ellis made the team great. Cowen was also on a very stacked Spokane team and yet had almost zero offense. Yes size mattered especially back then, but still size didn't matter to the point where a player who outscored another player 7x would be picked lower. Ellis was also only a little over 3 weeks older than Cowen so age is irrelevant.

Was it attitude? Maybe it's just me but I remember Ellis was considered a very humble, polite, intelligent on and off the ice, and gentlemanly person on a TSN/Sportsnet (Forget which one) show back in 2009. Cowen was practically unheard of. Sure Cowen wasn't considered a person with a bad attitude, but there was nothing to prove he was a better person than Ellis either, so that can't be the factor can it?

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[FireGerardGallant]

Size

 

[izzy]

cuz hes f***ing big buddy you know it

 

[Soundgarden]

Size. Remember Ellis broke records in juniors, if he were 6ft he'd probably be top three. Nobody knew if his game would translate. I remember some Preds fans were pissed about drafting yet another defenseman, and a small one at that. Glad it turned out well for us though.

 

[Seanaconda]

What a weird player to bring this up about . Why was kucherov picked in the second round

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

Size

Came here to post this, short and sweet

No pun intended

 

[Not Jared Cowen]

Because he was actually supposed to be a big, nasty Chara-light defensive prospect. Injuries wrecked him and his refusal to mentally accept and work on his weaknesses kept him from realizing his potential. He actually fell in his draft year due to a major knee injury.

 

[Elias Pettersson]

Because he was actually supposed to be a big, nasty Chara-light defensive prospect. Injuries wrecked him and his refusal to mentally accept and work on his weaknesses kept him from realizing his potential. He actually fell in his draft year due to a major knee injury.

username checks out

 

[Jumptheshark]

Jared Cowen
Ryan Ellis

Ellis absolutely killed it in his draft season. Sure he was on a great team, but Ellis made the team great. Cowen was also on a very stacked Spokane team and yet had almost zero offense. Yes size mattered especially back then, but still size didn't matter to the point where a player who outscored another player 7x would be picked lower. Ellis was also only a little over 3 weeks older than Cowen so age is irrelevant.

Was it attitude? Maybe it's just me but I remember Ellis was considered a very humble, polite, intelligent on and off the ice, and gentlemanly person on a TSN/Sportsnet (Forget which one) show back in 2009. Cowen was practically unheard of. Sure Cowen wasn't considered a person with a bad attitude, but there was nothing to prove he was a better person than Ellis either, so that can't be the factor can it?

this is a monday morning quarterback thread.

Cowan was compared to Chara and D Hatcher in this draft. 6-6 and projected to be a top D man that would send fears down the neck of opposition players

Ellis was a small PMD who scouts questioned whether or not he could put up with the NHL pressure of forwards crashing towards him. Ellis was as a good all around D who if he had 2 more inches would have gone top 5. There was talk of making him a FW after his draft

 

[NyQuil]

What’s funny is that Cowen actually dropped in his draft year because of his injury.

 

[McRpro]

Drafting isn't an exact science. Cowen was rated as a top 3 pick at the start of the year.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

It's about projection and what you think they can do in the NHL. You can't just look at production and the statistics.

Remember when Drouin scored 100+ points on the same team Nate MacKinnon had 70?

I think Colorado made the right choice. Sometimes you don't.

 

[StrangeVision]

Drafting is imperfect.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Hindsight is 20/20.

2008 NHL Draft
3 - Zach Bogosian
5 - Luke Schenn
6 - Nikita Filatov
10 - Cody Hodgson
13 - Colten Teubert
15 - Erik Karlsson

 

[Teemu]

Go check out the Quinn Hughes thread if you need a refresher

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Go check out the Quinn Hughes thread if you need a refresher

??

 

[Yamazaki]

Cowen before he tore his acl would have probably gone higher. He was an absolute stud in the minors.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Cowen was actually seen as a top 3 prospect going into his draft prior to his injury. Ellis was a small offensive dman who wasn't seen as a lock to be a top 4 dman. That being said, you could ask this question for every draft. There's always going to be busts and gems.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Murray was and had always been in love with the plod. Big Canadian "D", zero mobility, grunting and impeding...the dreams of a GM are realised. Cowen's mobility was actually ok before his injuries, but the brain never connected to the rest of his body. One of the few Senators I actively cheered when we got rid of him. Not as much as Wade Redden's departure, for whom I hosted a BBQ, but it was still happy days when he left.

 

[FireGerardGallant]

??

People are throwing the same complaints (size) about Hughes that they did with Ellis ignoring the Skill

 

[Smartguy]

Size

Bingo, Ellis was dominant in juniors, and a Canadian Hero through the WJC pre draft. Everyone was scared he wouldn’t have the size to do the same at the NHL level

 

[Mickey Marner]

Ryan Ellis was, like, 5'9 170 lbs at the time of the draft. Sure, it looks funny now, but Ellis only became a top-4 defenseman at 24 and a top-2 at 26. For a guy that had arguably the greatest major junior career ever by a defenseman that's quite a few years of development.

 

[Ainec]

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Ellis was slow. Could've at best been Cody Franson but he's worked his ass off and is living up to his WJ/jr performance

 

[Henkka]

People are throwing the same complaints (size) about Hughes that they did with Ellis ignoring the Skill

Different situation. Then there was this wood-hand slow-brain big guy vs. skilled but small Ellis.

Now, at 2018 draft, there's this skilled but small Hughes and skilled big guys to pick from.

Of course, Cowen was a disaster pick. Old thinking.

As stupid as it would be taking a smaller skill guy in front of bigger guys, is the skill edge is just marginal. That would be as stupid modern thinking. Big guy has defensive edge in reach and power etc. There still exists the fight and battle for loose pucks in hockey.

How is Hughes gonna protect the net front, when 6'6 Michael Rasmussen with 3 meter stick enters there? How does his reach match with Rasmussen's reach for a rebound?

 

[Beville]

Because being the 6-6 monster he is, it was thought brilliant we’ve got size and strength on the back end.

He started off alright, with satisfactory production for that ‘stay at home defenseman’.

He then blew his hip out, and the season after (maybe) at RFA he held out a bit. (Proper bug bear of mine when players over value themselves) and he never really got back to the same skill level he had after the injuries.