vadim sharifijanov
Registered User
- Oct 10, 2007
- 28,844
- 16,330
okay can anybody tell me about this guy? high pick (7th overall, 1989) but in a not so great draft, big guy (6'2, 220 lbs) and presumably a physical stay at home guy though i have no actual memory of ever watching him on the ice.
but man, why was this guy so highly rated?
i understand why he was drafted high. he was a big strong defenseman, which minnesota was on the lookout for. in the next two drafts, they took derian hatcher and richard matvichuk with top ten picks. and he was a native minnesotan, which was always a thing for that franchise (and also now is for the wild). and like everyone else who makes the NHL, he was great offensively as a teenager, scoring two points a game in high school.
but after san jose takes him in the expansion draft, dallas (no longer minnesota, so the nativist thing doesn't really make sense as a factor) trades to get him back. they sent ulf dahlen away. objectively, ulf dahlen seems like an extremely valuable player. in 1990, he was traded for mike gartner. in '97, he was traded for belfour. his other trade... doug zmolek?
then dallas trades him to LA for darryl sydor. sydor was also a 7th overall pick, but from the much better 1990 draft. he'd had a highly decorated junior career on the memorial cup blazers, was WHL defenseman of the year over his teammate scott niedermayer, played a regular shift on the '93 cup finalist kings, was on the '94 gold medal world championships team, and obviously became a borderline mid-season all-star/fringe norris-vote getting player who won two cups and made five finals over an eighteen year 1,300 game career.
so what don't i know about doug zmolek? as far as i can tell his only discernible career accomplishment is being a second team all-star in his NCAA division in his draft+3. he played a respectable eight seasons in the league but seems to have been a career #5-7 on the depth charts.
but man, why was this guy so highly rated?
i understand why he was drafted high. he was a big strong defenseman, which minnesota was on the lookout for. in the next two drafts, they took derian hatcher and richard matvichuk with top ten picks. and he was a native minnesotan, which was always a thing for that franchise (and also now is for the wild). and like everyone else who makes the NHL, he was great offensively as a teenager, scoring two points a game in high school.
but after san jose takes him in the expansion draft, dallas (no longer minnesota, so the nativist thing doesn't really make sense as a factor) trades to get him back. they sent ulf dahlen away. objectively, ulf dahlen seems like an extremely valuable player. in 1990, he was traded for mike gartner. in '97, he was traded for belfour. his other trade... doug zmolek?
then dallas trades him to LA for darryl sydor. sydor was also a 7th overall pick, but from the much better 1990 draft. he'd had a highly decorated junior career on the memorial cup blazers, was WHL defenseman of the year over his teammate scott niedermayer, played a regular shift on the '93 cup finalist kings, was on the '94 gold medal world championships team, and obviously became a borderline mid-season all-star/fringe norris-vote getting player who won two cups and made five finals over an eighteen year 1,300 game career.
so what don't i know about doug zmolek? as far as i can tell his only discernible career accomplishment is being a second team all-star in his NCAA division in his draft+3. he played a respectable eight seasons in the league but seems to have been a career #5-7 on the depth charts.