Why should the Blues be ranked higher than 29th? Well, we had this debate previously where I pointed out how teams previously ranked below the Blues suddenly made huge jumps despite losing players off the prospect list, the Blues lost no one of real consequence and went from 22nd in May 2005 to 29th in November. Several people agreed the Blues got slighted, but apparently many either missed that discussion or think we're ranting about nothing.
Do Blues prospects get slighted in general? I'll give four examples:
T.J. Oshie - you know, the guy the Blues took 24th this year and got savaged by the draft analysts for taking? He's only looked *extremely* impressive thus far in his
freshman season at UND with 11 goals and 10 assists in 20 games. He's been UND's leading scorer much of the year, and has been praised highly by
many people for his play and work ethic. But when the Blues drafted him, many people had the usual
response. I'm sure many people *still* have that response because Oshie isn't on the #1 line for the U.S. at the WJC despite the talent the team has.
Marek Schwarz - was *very highly* touted going into the 2004 draft, people couldn't believe he dropped to the Blues at 17 and the Blues earned rave reviews initially for the pick (which was regarded as a steal by many). He comes over to North America, plays
one season for the Vancouver Giants (who were in their 3rd year of play as an expansion WHL team), Schwarz having never played in North America, and because he didn't have a GAA of 2.35 and a save percentage of .920, he was roundly dismissed here (including being written off as a bust by a few). According to people who saw Vancouver in the playoffs, Schwarz was
the only reason their series went 6 games.
So yeah - he was a franchise goalie, a can't miss guy - until the Blues drafted him and he played his first season in North America trying to adjust to the style of play and smaller ice rink here; then he's a bum, a stiff, a bust, and mediocre talent at best.
Carl Soderberg - ask the people in Sweden who watch him; they think he could hold his own in the Elite League. He's been the leading scorer in Tier II much of the season, and according to the people on the Swedish board he's going to be a top-6 forward in the NHL. But around here? (crickets) Guys from Sweden drafted by other teams who've done less thus far in their careers are getting more hype, Soderberg isn't even an afterthought to many.
David Backes - start a thread on Backes and ask people who've seen him what they think. Several people have said if he was on Minnesota, Michigan, UND, or any other high-profile college team,
everyone would know who he was. Instead, he's on Minnesota State-Mankato. He's been described as a future power forward who has great hands and plays with a chip on his shoulder, and again - people who've been around the game and who've seen him play say he's a future top-6 forward.
As P_B mentioned, guys like Zakharov and Shkotov never got a fair shake here for whatever reason - it wasn't because they didn't have talent (Shkotov has played very well in Russia since going back over). Yeah, you can criticize the Blues for other prospects who were highly touted in the past and busted out (anyone else remember Denny Felsner, Roman Vopat, Dave Roberts and Denis Chasse?) and I'm not saying they should be ranked in the top-10 or even top-15 on the prospect rankings - but 29th?
Colorado has gutted its prospect pipeline trying to get a Cup each year for the last few years and went from 30th to 26th on the basis of adding Yan Stasny and Ryan Stoa; Detroit has Grigorenko back from injury but according to the write-ups here only added Johan Franzen (who was drafted in a previous year) and they went from 25th to 23rd. The Blues lost Jay McClement to the NHL and later Zakharov left to go back to Belarus (but that was *after* the rankings had been released), plus Shkotov was in Russia (where he was when the May 2005 rankings came out) but added Oshie, Scott Jackson, Jeff Woywitka and Doug Lynch and still dropped 7 spots.
So either one of two things happened - either we got slighted badly in the November rankings, or in May 2005 we were overrated at 22. Even if you say we were overrated in May, ... 29th? Really? I think there's some basis when we (and others) say there's a bias when it comes to some prospects and some team's prospects.
