Why did the Panthers take Ed Jovanovski first overall in 1994?

[vadim sharifijanov]

... odd Clan, the Lindros's. Back when Eric was still a tadpole but causing a stir as "the next one" his parents went up to Parry Sound to meet with Bobby's mom & dad seeking advice on how they should nurture both of their boys. Doug Orr replied with "do nothing". Two word answer apparently & didnt bother to expound upon it. Do nothing at all. Let the kids have fun first of all & build character through play. I dont think Bonnie & Carl Lindros' ever quite grasped that concept demanding instead (and instilled in both boys) that the klieg lights be shone on their treasures exclusively, the rest of the cast of players on the stage to be entirely ignored. I can only assume that as Gretzky's light shone brighter, there could well have been some enmity, a certain kind of ugly & unhealthy avaricious jealousy that existed, something Gretzky & his family had been living with since he was about 8yrs old.

makes sense to me. let us not forget that mario was also not on the greatest terms with gretzky, even after the buddy moment of '87, until he wins two cups/smythes and no longer feels as much like he's chasing someone else's face of the game status.

i'm kind of glad this thread has somehow become a brett lindros thread because it's a really interesting family. and yet, it's interesting because it's so common among a certain kind of silver spoon suburban toronto hockey family with a certain kind of bay street dad (see: hodgson, chris). how many promising careers were hindered by that kind of dad? not from toronto, but mike comrie is another example. you only get so many years in the league, even if you're an all-star calibre talent; but these kids let their daddies (and agents, and sometimes these are the same guy) piss some of that away by micromanaging the conditions under which they start their careers.

but on the other hand, we have brett lindros. got every opportunity in life. it might just be sour grapes, or a distaste for that distasteful family, but my peewee coach, who told us he grew up playing with NHL guys around that age, told me brett lindros was always the least talented guy on the team. "he sucks now and he sucked then" is an exact quote. also, "but daddy made sure he got all the best icetime" (not an exact quote).

take that with a grain of salt, obviously; it's an almost 20 year old memory of what a guy who may or may not have been lying to try to impress a bunch of thirteen year-olds said. but to speculate: here's a guy who reportedly had little raw ability except for his hulking frame, but who spent his whole life going to the best camps, playing with the newest lightest equipment, working out with the best power skating instructors, playing on the best rep teams for the best coaches, getting the best icetime with the best linemates, (apparently) getting tips from paul coffey up in cottage country -- though i love the image of the lindros clan hanging out on their dock drinking beers with paul coffey and shooting the breeze about hockey and then out of nowhere carl going, "wait a minute, we're only an hour away from parry sound. screw you coffey, i'm going to orr." at a certain point, all of those advantages, but especially having a man's body before anybody else, adds up to make for a pretty dominant 16 year old junior B player (which the younger lindros was).

but what we do know is scouting reports projecting him as a sergio momesso (a guy who i loved, btw, but a guy you take in second round), we know that he looked vastly inferior to todd bertuzzi, who was a late first rounder the year before, we know that as a teenager he didn't look like he belonged either in the OHL or on the national team, and we know the results: 9th overall pick, $2.5 million starting salary with a three year term.

going through all the quotes above, it almost looks like *someone* has planted the idea that there was a demand for brett lindros, that he could have been a top five pick. because what we do see is GMs saying, "no no no, we're not trading up for that kid. are you kidding me?" but why was the question asked to them? what GMs even talked about lindros being a top ten, let alone a top five pick? it's like the lindros camp invented a demand for lindros, then tried to get desirable teams to trade up, and one sucker not only bit (don maloney, islanders) but then gave the kid a ridiculous contract-- as a point of comparison, daigle's lockout-causing rookie contract from the previous year's draft was $2.45 AAV (/5 years), pronger's was a million, i think. i can't remember for sure, but i think brett lindros had a significantly richer rookie contract than jovo, bonk, tverdovsky, or anyone else from that draft. for a project player who may or may not have had hands of stone.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Who was this Carl Lindros guy?

the kind of over-the-top living his dream through his kids hockey dad that the other parents at the rink stay away from. any of us who played sports competitively as kids know the kind...

how he got so well-connected, i don't know. but his influence apparently had real reach; i'd always heard he was a high powered bay street accountant, so perhaps he was tight with some of the city's real power brokers? or, you know, to get from bay street to mississauga you have to pass through etobicoke; maybe knew the fords? (joking joking)

 

[Dissonance]

going through all the quotes above, it almost looks like *someone* has planted the idea that there was a demand for brett lindros, that he could have been a top five pick.

Great post, although I'm not sure about this bit. Lindros really did seem to be in genuinely high demand on draft day. Apparently the Leafs made the Clark-Sundin deal and acquired Quebec's #10 pick in the specific hopes that they could snag Brett Lindros.

Then the Nordiques unexpectedly traded the #9 pick to the Islanders, who scooped up Lindros instead. Once that happened, Toronto flipped its #10 pick for Mike Ridley. The whole story is below:

The Associated Press
June 29, 1994, Wednesday, AM cycle

This time, the New York Islanders got a Lindros and the Toronto Maple Leafs got ambushed at the NHL draft.

"We were submarined," Maple Leafs general manager Cliff Fletcher said following a session of drafting and dizzy deal-making at the Hartford Civic Center.

The Maple Leafs actually wound up with some pretty good players, including Mats Sundin, in a trade with Quebec, and one of the top goaltenders available in this year's draft.

But another player they had hoped to land wasn't available when selection time came in the first round Tuesday.

That's because the Islanders had also made a deal with the Nordiques that included a trade of draft picks. In exchanging defenseman Uwe Krupp for Quebec center Ron Sutter, the Islanders gained the Nordiques' No. 9 pick - one ahead of the Maple Leafs - and wound up with Brett Lindros, younger brother of Philadelphia star Eric Lindros.

"We liked Brett Lindros," Fletcher said, "but I guess with 26 teams drafting, you can't get everyone."

The Maple Leafs had acquired the Nordiques' No. 10 pick by virtue of the trade that took some of the spotlight away from this year's draft.

Toronto sent left wing Wendel Clark, defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre and right wing Landon Wilson to Quebec for center Sundin, defenseman Garth Butcher and left wing Todd Warriner.

... Clark has been called the heart and soul of the Maple Leafs and Fletcher was reluctant to give him up.

"Unfortunately, you have to make tough decisions in my job," he said. "We felt in the long run we could help our club."

Fletcher said the Maple Leafs really wanted Quebec's No. 9 pick rather than No. 10, but "they weren't going to give us No. 9."

The Nordiques were apparently keeping that pick for the deal with the Islanders.
In retrospect, Fletcher found the situation somewhat amusing.

"If we had traded up to No. 9, probably someone would have traded for No. 8 and taken Lindros," he said. "Actually, I think we did OK. We picked up a center (Sundin) who is going to help us and picked up one of the best goaltenders in the draft."

...The loss of Lindros wasn't a total loss for the Maple Leafs. They traded their No. 10 pick and right wing Rob Pearson to Washington for center Mike Ridley and the Capitals' No. 16.

Apparently the Canucks were also high on Lindros--Mike Penney was raving about him and lamented the fact that Vancouver didn't have a "hope in hell" of taking him at No. 13. There were even rumors that Pat Quinn tried to move up to grab him. Thank god that didn't happen and we "settled" for Mattias Ohlund instead.

-----------

Also, on the original topic, there's a quote from Bill Torrey in the story above about why they went with Jovanovski over Bonk:

"The draft went pretty much as expected," Panthers general manager Bill Torrey said. "Both ourselves and Anaheim felt the skill and talent at the blue line was a primary asset. Radek Bonk is a fine forward and will step in a play right away. But our bigger need was for defense."

 

[DisgruntledGoat*]

Here's a rather odd New York Daily News story from 1997 on the supposed Lindros-Gretzky rift:

" Carl Lindros similarly downplayed the idea that any bad blood exists between the families. "It's just competitiveness," he said.


It's hard to say what's going on here. The NYDN reporter certainly seems to think there's some sort of coolness between the two camps (and quite a few news outlets in 1994 were under the impression that Brett Lindros refused to play for the Kings). But both Gretzky and Carl Lindros deny it, for whatever that's worth.

This is a really weird thing to say.

Competitiveness between families, Carl?

Just... Weird. Can't see Walter ever dropping a line like that.

 

[Boom Boom Bear]

Brett sounds like even more of an ******* than his brother. Refusing to play for the same team as Gretzky because your family doesn't like him? What the hell?

what young player wouldn't give their eyeteeth to skate alongside the greatest [& arguably hardest-working] player of all time? seriously, the entire Lindros family has concrete between their ears. with Brett's attitude, it's no wonder he couldn't cut it at the NHL level.

 

[Passchendaele]

Who was this Carl Lindros guy? Did he have a background in hockey himself?

Daddy Lindros made it to Jr. B

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=61650

 

[Killion]

how he got so well-connected, i don't know. but his influence apparently had real reach; i'd always heard he was a high powered bay street accountant, so perhaps he was tight with some of the city's real power brokers? or, you know, to get from bay street to mississauga you have to pass through etobicoke; maybe knew the fords? (joking joking)

I think you might be over-estimating Carl (first Ive ever heard about him being a high powered Bay Streeter and I know Toronto) Lindro's there vadim. I know theyd' hired Rick Curran as Eric's Agent and then had an acrimonious split after Rick there pretty much laid all of the groundwork & took it in teeth defending Lindros & his family throughout the Quebec City debacle. Id also hazard to guess that it was Rick who used his connections to peddle Brett around the league including dealing with that ones Junior career & former placements on GTHL AAA teams as a sort of favor to the family. Rick Currans no slouch. Knows everyone who's anyone and at that time was based in Toronto before relocating to Pennsylvania. He was with Bill Watters at Branada Sports for a good 10yrs, previously with Eagleson, and started early working his way up from the Orr Walton Sports Camp circa 1970. Since the mid-90's partners with Bobby Orr in Orr Sports.

 

[Hardyvan123]

turned out to be the best pick considering the careers bonk and o'neill had. some good seasons but nothing spectacular

jovo was big and he could score. no reason to pass up a kid like that. speaking of jovo, is he on long term IR or is there any chance he plays this season?

Jovo was seen as he complete package, size skating, offense and a mean streak, was the obvious choice for 1st pick in a weak year IMO.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I think you might be over-estimating Carl (first Ive ever heard about him being a high powered Bay Streeter and I know Toronto) Lindro's there vadim. I know theyd' hired Rick Curran as Eric's Agent and then had an acrimonious split after Rick there pretty much laid all of the groundwork & took it in teeth defending Lindros & his family throughout the Quebec City debacle. Id also hazard to guess that it was Rick who used his connections to peddle Brett around the league including dealing with that ones Junior career & former placements on GTHL AAA teams as a sort of favor to the family. Rick Currans no slouch. Knows everyone who's anyone and at that time was based in Toronto before relocating to Pennsylvania. He was with Bill Watters at Branada Sports for a good 10yrs, previously with Eagleson, and started early working his way up from the Orr Walton Sports Camp circa 1970. Since the mid-90's partners with Bobby Orr in Orr Sports.

you're probably right. i'm just going on things people say. no idea about the specifics of who carl worked for/with and whom he knew.

makes total sense though that curran was brought into the inner circle early on because eric was such a phenom, and was put to work for brett all those years too.

but you have any toronto insider dirt on cody hodgson's dad? the way some people in vancouver talk, the guy might as well be rob ford himself.

Great post, although I'm not sure about this bit. Lindros really did seem to be in genuinely high demand on draft day. Apparently the Leafs made the Clark-Sundin deal and acquired Quebec's #10 pick in the specific hopes that they could snag Brett Lindros.

Then the Nordiques unexpectedly traded the #9 pick to the Islanders, who scooped up Lindros instead. Once that happened, Toronto flipped its #10 pick for Mike Ridley. The whole story is below:




Apparently the Canucks were also high on Lindros--Mike Penney was raving about him and lamented the fact that Vancouver didn't have a "hope in hell" of taking him at No. 13. There were even rumors that Pat Quinn tried to move up to grab him. Thank god that didn't happen and we "settled" for Mattias Ohlund instead.

hmm, interesting. what could they all have seen in him other than his body and his last name? i get that there was a big size craze going on (wade belak went #12 that year), but brett lindros hadn't shown anything.

 

[Stephen]

Considering that Bill Torrey was the President of the Florida Panthers, I wouldn't be surprised if the braintrust envisioned Jovanovski in some kind of Denis Potvin role in the building of the Florida Panthers. It was also a year where Scott Stevens had come off a big year and Chris Pronger was drafted number 2 the year before when people in the East were in an arms race to defend against Eric Lindros...

 

[Killion]

...but you have any toronto insider dirt on cody hodgson's dad? the way some people in vancouver talk, the guy might as well be rob ford himself.

... totally Off Topic vadim, and no. No dirt on Hodgsons Old Man. Shame he was traded though. Skilled, smart hockey player.

 

[sr edler]

Daddy Lindros made it to Jr. B

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=61650

Wow, he looks exactly like Brett.

 

[Sticks and Pucks]

Considering that Bill Torrey was the President of the Florida Panthers, I wouldn't be surprised if the braintrust envisioned Jovanovski in some kind of Denis Potvin role in the building of the Florida Panthers. It was also a year where Scott Stevens had come off a big year and Chris Pronger was drafted number 2 the year before when people in the East were in an arms race to defend against Eric Lindros...

You bring up a very good point. I did not think of it that way.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

... totally Off Topic vadim, and no. No dirt on Hodgsons Old Man. Shame he was traded though. Skilled, smart hockey player.

killer, you trollin' me here?

 

[Boom Boom Bear]

Considering that Bill Torrey was the President of the Florida Panthers, I wouldn't be surprised if the braintrust envisioned Jovanovski in some kind of Denis Potvin role in the building of the Florida Panthers. It was also a year where Scott Stevens had come off a big year and Chris Pronger was drafted number 2 the year before when people in the East were in an arms race to defend against Eric Lindros...

Yeah, & in those early days, Jovo really did show flashes of Potvin-like potential. He was kinda off my radar 'til the 96 finals, but next to Vanbiesbrouck, he was by far the best Panther of that series, he was doing everything, I was very impressed to the extent that he instantly became a favorite player. To me at the time, he screamed future Norris winner.

It certainly looked like he was the franchise player the Panthers were going to build around a la Potvin...

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

1994 draft was in Hartford.

I was truly fortunate to actual be there to see my Bruins draft Evgeni Ryabchikov, worst 1st round pick in team history.

As I recall, Jovo was no surprise at number 1.

What I do remember was word going around at the draft about a draft eligible kid that crashed a hotel swimming pool at 3 A.M. the night before. Cops were called but no action taken. Of course, being in Hartford, the Whalers took the rumor kid (Jeff O'Neill) at number 5. Whalers fans were not surprised.

 

[Killion]

^^^ Ya. He was impressive with the Panthers & I think Vancouver got the best of the trade that saw a number of players moving between BC & Florida, including Bure who had 2 injury plagued seasons thereafter while JovoCop anchored the Canucks Defence for several seasons, absolutely All Star Caliber throughout.

 

[TouringReg]

Someone mentioned earlier about Jovo not being the smartest guy. I remember reading that prior to this draft scouts have him the flattering nickname "Special Ed." It had nothing to do with his on-ice talent being special.

Anyone else remember the NHLPA show Brett Lindros hosted on TSN? I think it was called "Be A Player."

 

[monster_bertuzzi]

^^^ Ya. He was impressive with the Panthers & I think Vancouver got the best of the trade that saw a number of players moving between BC & Florida, including Bure who had 2 injury plagued seasons thereafter while JovoCop anchored the Canucks Defence for several seasons, absolutely All Star Caliber throughout.

Florida still makes that trade even in hindsight, Bure brought unusual Panther popularity down there in Miami.

 

[Stephen]

going through all the quotes above, it almost looks like *someone* has planted the idea that there was a demand for brett lindros, that he could have been a top five pick. because what we do see is GMs saying, "no no no, we're not trading up for that kid. are you kidding me?" but why was the question asked to them? what GMs even talked about lindros being a top ten, let alone a top five pick? it's like the lindros camp invented a demand for lindros, then tried to get desirable teams to trade up, and one sucker not only bit (don maloney, islanders) but then gave the kid a ridiculous contract-- as a point of comparison, daigle's lockout-causing rookie contract from the previous year's draft was $2.45 AAV (/5 years), pronger's was a million, i think. i can't remember for sure, but i think brett lindros had a significantly richer rookie contract than jovo, bonk, tverdovsky, or anyone else from that draft. for a project player who may or may not have had hands of stone.

There were a lot of interesting storylines surrounding Brett Lindros back in the 1994 draft:

There was speculation that Cliff Fletcher and the Leafs were interested in drafting him. The Leafs moved up to 10th overall in the Sundin/Clark blockbuster with Quebec to bring him back to his hometown Toronto. The significance of this is that was the pick the Nordiques received from Philadelphia in the Eric Lindros trade.

However, Pierre Page then traded the 9th pick, which they also owned, to the New York Islanders, who were able to scoop the Leafs and grab Brett. I think some accused Page of doing this on purpose to spite the Lindros family. Having lost their guy, the Leafs flipped the 10th pick to Washington for the 16th pick.

 

[Mach85]

Friesen was in the discussion for #1 overall for most of the two seasons prior and was still a consensus top-5 pick heading into the draft. Was very surprising when he dropped to #11 amidst conditioning and work ethic concerns.

Easy to forget how dominant Bonk looked heading into that draft. Scored 42 goals, 87 points, and 208 PIM (!!!) playing in a league against men. Everyone thought he would be a franchise #1 center. But the concerns about his skating played out, and he's now etched into everyone's minds as a big, plodding defensive #2/3 center. And the mean streak he showed at that age just completely disappeared.

Jovanovski came from absolutely nowhere in the 2nd half of the 1993-94 season. OHL rookie who nobody had even heard of when the year started. His was the most meteoric rise to #1 overall in the history of the draft, and something like that will probably never happen again.

In hindsight, maybe there was some validity to this? IIRC, Friesen peaked very early as a player. He was solid from the get-go but could never seem to take it to that next level and become a star.

 

[Killion]

Florida still makes that trade even in hindsight, Bure brought unusual Panther popularity down there in Miami.

Ya, a very good point. Exciting & dynamic player like that a Godsend to a franchise struggling at the gate and on the ice. Too bad really that he was hindered by injury by the time he arrived, short tenure in Florida really. But temporarily at least, some reprieve for the Panthers and a short term boost at the box office.

 

[Gilles Meloche]

There were a lot of interesting storylines surrounding Brett Lindros back in the 1994 draft:

There was speculation that Cliff Fletcher and the Leafs were interested in drafting him. The Leafs moved up to 10th overall in the Sundin/Clark blockbuster with Quebec to bring him back to his hometown Toronto. The significance of this is that was the pick the Nordiques received from Philadelphia in the Eric Lindros trade.

However, Pierre Page then traded the 9th pick, which they also owned, to the New York Islanders, who were able to scoop the Leafs and grab Brett. I think some accused Page of doing this on purpose to spite the Lindros family. Having lost their guy, the Leafs flipped the 10th pick to Washington for the 16th pick.

I could have sworn there was some controversy with this trade. Didn't the Lindros clan think Brett was a shoo in to go to the Leafs with the 10th overall pick and it was widely speculated that the Nords traded the pick to the Islanders out of spite and Marcel Aubut was seen smirking up at the stands at the Lindros family when Brett was then selected by the Islanders one pick ahead of Toronto. I am old and my memory is "patchy" at best but there are too many details in this story for me too get it totally wrong. I am sure it was widely speculated at the draft though...

 

[gudzilla]

Ya, a very good point. Exciting & dynamic player like that a Godsend to a franchise struggling at the gate and on the ice. Too bad really that he was hindered by injury by the time he arrived, short tenure in Florida really. But temporarily at least, some reprieve for the Panthers and a short term boost at the box office.

bure is still the reason of many florida fans today

 

[Brooklanders*]

I was reading back on the 1994 draft previews and Bonk was the number 1 rated prospect and O'Neill was the top CHL prospect. There was also talk of Tverdovsky being the Russian Bobby Orr. People also compared Bonsignore to Mario Lemieux. So what exactly made the Panthers decide to take Jovo first overall?

JOVO was the consensus #1 on many lists especially the closer it got to draft time. JOVO was definetly ranked #1. Im not sure where you read Bonk ahead of him. This was a very weak class going in. A lot of people thought Florida would trade the pick due to the lack of dominant talent.
Neither Bonk nor Jovo had any special qualities. And Radek was a Euro player. This was my recollection and I am a draft nut.