Most controversial draft picks all time?

[DFF]

Though Phaneuf scores more, he was a -11 last year as Coburn was a +7 in a shutdown role.

Phaneuf is also a -12 in his brief playoff career (only 25 games). Coburn a +6 in 20 playoff games.

I cant believe people would stoop so low to discredit a player. ****, 30 out of 30 GMs would take Phaneuf over Coburn right now.

 

[Grimshaw]

I don't have any links to back myself up, but my memory of Phaneuf vs Coburn was that on draft day, Coburn was regarded as better and Phaneuf just happened to get a lot better a lot quicker than what most people thought in the time after the draft.

 

[Analyzer*]

I cant believe people would stoop so low to discredit a player. ****, 30 out of 30 GMs would take Phaneuf over Coburn right now.

Montréal I'm pretty sure wouldn't. Actually, a lot of teams wouldn't. Salary cap, lack of defensive abilities from Phaneuf and the fact that Coburn is a shutdown dman. Phaneuf can't shutdown a computer by pressing one button.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

IIRC... a lot of people questioned whether or not the Penguins tanked the last part of their season so that they could get Mario Lemieux with the 1st overall pick.

I know the Devils made some noise about it considering they ended up with Kirk Muller at #2.

 

[Jeffrey]

I don't have any links to back myself up, but my memory of Phaneuf vs Coburn was that on draft day, Coburn was regarded as better and Phaneuf just happened to get a lot better a lot quicker than what most people thought in the time after the draft.

Yes Coburn was indeed regarded as a better option and Phaneuf was mostly slotted to go from 10th overall to the 15th pick.

He was regarded a huge hitter with a canon shot and that's it.

Coburn was regarded as a poor man Bouwmeester with his skating size and ability to control the game pace.

The real steal of the draft was Zach Parise, it was in the pre-lockout NHL so size was definately a factor. But he was supposed to in the top 10 ... and he dropped to the 17th pick.
That was a huge steal !!

I also remember the Brent Burns pick coming out of the left field nobody had him pegged as a 1st rounder.

As for the russian players there was tons drafted from memories and non achieved to anything significant. The 2003 draft was from memories one of the most intriguing draft ever.

 

[DFF]

Montréal I'm pretty sure wouldn't. Actually, a lot of teams wouldn't. Salary cap, lack of defensive abilities from Phaneuf and the fact that Coburn is a shutdown dman. Phaneuf can't shutdown a computer by pressing one button.

What salary has anything to do with the draft? Of course Montreal cant take Phaneuf or anybody that earned their salary, they already have the worst salary in the league in Gomez.

There are more than just shutdown dmen in the NHL. Your last statement proved that you are ignorant on Phaneuf. May be he is computer illiterate but he is invited to the Canadian Olympic team trial.

 

[Badger Bob]

It wasn't just Coburn who was ranked ahead of Phaneuf among d-men, but Suter was as well. Either the original poster made it up about analysts behing "shocked" or it was typical overreaction from TSN commentators for effect during the draft telecast .

 

[kmart]

there was a kid, a special Canadian kid, hyped with a good reason. supposed to be the next star player in the nhl, compared with the best. one of the highest talent level in the past 20 years.

and what they do ?

A draft-lottery behind the doors !(i guess its the first time ever a draft order is ascertained that way)



and why they do that ?

to max out his "money-potential" on a hockey market.

it would be very amusing to see Crosby getting picked by a team like Florida, they simply didn't let that happen, to risky on a live draft i guess they would repeat that lottery until a hockey market selected him.

that tells u how the league is run by guys who actually have nothing to do with hockey.
i want to add, in the biggest hockey-league of the world, money is more important than hockey, i think in some way that move will backfire.

of course from a fans point of view this "management fix" makes no difference, besides your team got robbed. edit: actually we dont know who got robbed, thats why so many people feel fooled by the nhl.

 

[Malefic74]

Montreal drafting Doug Wickenheiser instead of Denis Savard in 1980.
Everyone thought they would go with Savard. Turned out to be a bad choice for Montreal.

I remember reading that every team in the league had Wickenheiser #1 on the sheets, including Montreal.

Disappointing draft sure, but not too controversial to anyone who was not a fanatic francophone who feels every French player should be playing for Montreal.