Oz said:
Of course, can't have any thread on any board about the CBJ without the two Preds MODS mucking it up.
So true. NMK and I are actually members of an anti-Blue Jackets league whose primary purpose is to steer any and all meaningful CBJ conversation in an unproductive direction. I've probably already said too much, but it seems like you've sniffed us out so the league will probably dissolve in the coming weeks. As an external auditor, I'm quite adept at the document shredding that will need to occur so that any litigation from the paranoid BJs masses hits a dead end.
shelley1142 said:
Ok first of all our, contrary to popular belief, our D isn't half bad. If they keep improving then they could turn out to be extremely good. Second, we have alot of really good young prospects that are pretty much a secret to the rest of the NHL. Hush don't tell anyone. Third, GMDM is no where near the one of the worst GM's. This guy was able to get Brule, the best player after Crosby in his draft, when 4 other Gm's passed him over. He also drafted Nash and Zherdev, two of the best young players and Fritsche along with alot of other players we have high hopes for.
There are alot of people who think GMDM is awful, heck alot of CBJ fans do, but that's what people think when your team isn't doing so hott. Gotta blame somebody right? These forwards that we draft "over and over again" are the future of our hockey club. I for one feel alot better having forwards, that know one end of the ice from the other, in reserve for a rainy day.
I have to admit that I don’t see the upside in this current crop of 'D' that you do. I see a top heavy group of two good defensemen who are very injury prone and then a hodge-podge of defensemen that are sometimes solid and sometimes shaky. I think they have the potential to be a pretty stout group, but 'extremely' good is pushing it. The only youngish player that you have with legit first pairing potential is Klesla. The rest of your young Dman are nowhere near that level in terms of realistic potential. Players like Hainsey and Johnson will be major successes (and a credit to the organization) if they turn into good 2nd pairing defensemen.
Though I don't see the upside, I don't think they are currently too bad. I think they just aren't good enough to stand on their own which is what they are currently asked to do. That's not a big deal though as a good system with a defensive orientation can protect them. It's much easier to have a weaker defensive crop and protect them with solid forwards than to have a weak offensive core and expect the defense to push up and generate offense. A player like Brule, who will come into the NHL with a mind for defense (though a greater mind for offense), is a start. Next year might be the first year where Columbus doesn't start out the season with defensive liabilities strewn throughout the forward ranks. Sure Zherdev and Nash don't always try their hardest in their own zone, but what hyper-talented youngster usually does? But they are better than earlier in their career, and there are some defensive-minded forwards like Fedorov to help them out.
Personally, I'm not a huge GMDM fan. He's not shown the ability to draft outside of the first two rounds, and that's something that I think separates the really good ones from the rest. The jury is still out on this though as there are several nice CBJ prospects (Pohl, Dupuis, etc) that are outside of the first two rounds. Another aspect of his tenure that I don't like was his initial willingness to build through free agency. Hopefully, he's learned his lesson somewhat because it does seem that they are now content to build from within. And lastly, I think his choices in coaching have been questionable, to say the least, and they have stunted the organization's growth. Is he the worst GM? No, but much like Waddell in Atlanta, outside of a few incredible first round successes brought on by poor results in the previous year, he's done little else to warrant being called successful.
KallioWeHardlyKnewYe said:
This draft is shaping up for the Jackets like so many other drafts have for them in that they're going to be picking in a range that is too low to get the prime dman and too high to grab a guy from the next tier. I don't think you can blame MacLean too much for that. Again, best player available.
It is more circumstance than a willful disregard for their defense.
Also, they did pick up Wharton, McQuaid and Russell in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the last two drafts. It isn't like they don't know they need some defense.
I agree with the notion that they've just missed some of the premium defensemen in past drafts, and I don't think they should draft a defenseman if they don't have him as highly rated as a forward. The Predators are the epitome of drafting BPA and ignoring need. Heading into the '05 draft, the Predators had a stable of defensive prospects as good as any in the league. They needed centers desperately. What did they do? They drafted defenseman with their first 3 picks. It's hard to argue with the results.
What I'm curious about is if GMDM has often considered moving from his spot in the draft into a spot where a defenseman makes sense? Can any fan shed light on this? It's not always possible/probable because the move has to create value for Columbus, but I'd be quite impressed if they jumped up and addressed their needs in dramatic fashion by selecting EJ. I don't see it happening because I think a few teams around CBJ's draft spot have similar desires, and I'm not sure St. Louis wants to hand over a guy like EJ to a rival without serious assets heading the other way.
CBJ's problems don't stem from a failure to draft defenseman in the first round. They stem from an inability to develop them in the latter rounds. There aren't a lot of players like Weber, Klein, Laakso, Franson, etc. in CBJ's prospect pool. It's difficult to completely condemn a staff for this because there's still plenty of time for many of their prospects to develop into studs, and it's not like it's easy. As much success as the Predators have had with defenseman, they've still had plenty of duds like Tomas Slovak, Ed Hill, and Brett Angel. In fact, you could argue that it took the Predators until their fourth draft to figured out how to draft a defenseman. They took 12 defenseman in their first three drafts. Only Skrastins is a full-time NHLer with Hutchinson and Helbling having seen spot duty on other NHL teams. Since then, they've drafted 20 defenseman. Hamhuis, Weber, and Suter are already NHLers with Klein, Parent, Laakso, Kulyash, Sulzer, Franson, etc. all showing great signs of becoming future top 4 NHL defensemen. If GMDM is experiencing the same learning curve as Poile and Co. did, we'll be seeing the fruits of his labor shortly.