fm a Jim Matheson article in the Edm Journal:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/spor...eopardize+2013+entry+draft/7743046/story.html
I've been away for a time. Sorry if this discussion is redundant, but does anyone know what the Oilers are doing in the scouting department? I would hope they would add people to cover more territory or have better depth. It sounds like ideal conditions for a couple of steals; see Kopitar and Quick.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/spor...eopardize+2013+entry+draft/7743046/story.html
There’s no wondrous talent like Crosby in the 2013 draft pool of talent, but if the NHL season is scrapped next month and we do get a new CBA in by July, for example, then you would think there would be a lottery again for the draft order in 2013 as there was eight years ago. But who really knows? The teams haven’t been notified.
“You can’t just give the pick to Edmonton again. Nobody’s going to agree to that,†said Murray, who was chief scout for the Kings in 2005 when they struck gold and selected forward Anze Kopitar and then goalie Jonathan Quick later in the draft.
“But, how or what or where they would take things with a draft, nobody has an idea. From a scout’s point of view, if they cancel the season, we’d like to know by Feb. 1, so we can focus in on who you have to make a decision on.â€
The Kings got the 11th overall pick in the lottery and called out the Slovenian centre Kopitar. After Crosby, he might have been the best player out of that lottery group.
“Usually in the second half of a season, you can start to zero in on players if you know you’re going to be picking early or picking late. Last time was a mess because with no league and a lottery coming up, you had to continue to look at everybody,†said Murray.
“Last time, when the league was cancelled some teams cut back their budgets for scouting. I think that’s why we got Kopitar at No. 11. Dave Taylor (then the Kings GM) and the ownership allowed us to keep scouting full-bore. We had Anze at No. 3 on our list.
“He wasn’t a surprise to us, but some teams weren’t allowed to keep going to the events. He wasn’t at the world under-20 because Slovenia didn’t qualify. He wasn’t at the A pool for the under-18 worlds because Slovenia was in B pool. There weren’t a lot of people (scouts) at the B pool. He was in a junior league in Sweden, but only had a cup of coffee in the men’s (Elite) league there.
“You had to do your homework to know he was your guy and our European scouts did a great job with Anze,†said Murray.
Button said some NHL teams have already cut back on their scouting budgets this year.
“I wouldn’t say (they) eliminated it, but limited it. Same thing happened in 1994. Lots of teams didn’t get up and running until after the CBA was settled (on July 11, 1995),†said Button. “I was working in Dallas then, and we never cut back. Financially, our owner, Norm Green, was having some difficulties, but he told us not to stop (scouting). Same with our president Jim Lites. We drafted Jarome Iginla that year … we had lots of viewings, but other teams weren’t so sure (Iginla was subsequently dealt to the Calgary Flames for Joe Nieuwendyk — the league got up and running July 20 after the lockout).â€
In 2005, after the owners and the players ended their battle, every team started with three balls in the Crosby lottery, but lost one or two based on playoff appearances over the preceding four years and the number of times teams got the first overall draft pick. The Pittsburgh Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres had three balls. The Blue Jackets wound up with the sixth pick, the Rangers with No. 16 and Buffalo No. 13. The Oilers had two lottery balls and wound up with the No. 25 pick, taking Andrew Cogliano.
I've been away for a time. Sorry if this discussion is redundant, but does anyone know what the Oilers are doing in the scouting department? I would hope they would add people to cover more territory or have better depth. It sounds like ideal conditions for a couple of steals; see Kopitar and Quick.
