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

[Kranix]

i had to look up when crawford and tverdovsky even crossed paths. a few games at the end of his career in LA on that dan cloutier kings team, ouch.


it's true though, crawford was stubborn, pigheaded, and generally did more harm than good. he held the sedins back and delayed their development for no good reason, and in colorado if he doesn't have it out for chris simon what do those epic brawls with detroit look like? he won one cup, again probably doing more harm than good, but did he cost them a few more?

He won a cup coaching a team that I could have coached to the cup.

 

[Langdon Alger]

I remember hearing Bonk was walking around wearing a Panthers hat prior to the draft since he thought he was going first.

jovo ended up being a fine pick for them. That first round wasn’t that great anyway. Dingman, Belak (rip), Boterill, Weimer, Wayne Primeau were all first rounders.

Bonsignore was a huge bust.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

old news but just found this and made me chuckle







https://www.tsn.ca/mckenzie-o-neill-joke-about-draft-report-1.784411

 

[VanIslander]

Taken that year...

6th round Daniel Alfredsson
9th round Tim Thomas
2nd round (51st) Patrik Elias

The best trio of the draft. Also, arguably top 5:

4th round Milan Hejduk
9th round Tomas Vokoun

Note: None of them are Canadians. Not an insignificant factor.

There are so many missed opportunities littering the top-50 picks, in that also-ran of a first round and most of second round.

That was not a great year for vaulted Canadians. (I of course am a Canuck. We are biased against ourselves in our humility, eh, though the Don Cherry folks dissent).

 

[Voight]

In 94 the Iron Curtain had firmlly fallen for 4 years so I think that was a factor as well. Teams knew at that point they could bring over a player 100% no questions asked.

He won a cup coaching a team that I could have coached to the cup.

Shout out Bob Hartley!

 

[JianYang]

Jovo was big, and strong, a good skater, and he played with a sense of reckless abandon.

He started hockey late, so the thought may have been that he could have even more untapped potential than the typical nhl prospect at that age.

I dont think it was any sort of reach.

 

[MS]

old news but just found this and made me chuckle







https://www.tsn.ca/mckenzie-o-neill-joke-about-draft-report-1.784411

What an odd scouting report on O'Neill. Doug Gilmour as a comparable?

A small, skinny playmaker with a massive motor being compared to a shoot-first, sturdily built sniper who could never play defense?

 

[Voight]

I completely forgot he was on the 2002 Olympic team

Always thought Eric Brewer was the only random dude on that team.

(I don't mean he was a bad pick or anything, just that he and Brewer stand out from the rest of the d-men)

 

[FerrisRox]

1994

they were calling tverdovsky the "russian bobby orr" so i'd assume he was the #1 ranked defenseman in the draft with jovo at #2

I don't think Tverdovsky was ever ranked ahead of Jovo in my recollection.

 

[Claude The Fraud]

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

I don’t remember the show, but I remember the magazine, I had a copy of it. Probably the only time he ever did the cover of a frontpage.

 

[sonic92]

Exactly how did the Panthers get the number one pick that year? Was it part of their expansion deal (which also had Anaheim with the #2 pick)?

 

[Brodeur]

Exactly how did the Panthers get the number one pick that year? Was it part of their expansion deal (which also had Anaheim with the #2 pick)?

Yup, Florida and Anaheim did a coin flip at the 1993 Draft (to my surprise, just minutes before the draft started). Florida won and got the choice of either 5th overall in 1993 + 1st overall in 1994 or 4th overall in 1993 and 2nd overall in 1994. Panthers GM Bobby Clarke opted for 5th+1st; Unintentional comedy as the interviewer asked Clarke if he was eyeing Jason Bonsignore as the #1 pick in 1994 and Clarke had a smirk and said no comment.

---------------------

It was mentioned on the first page of this thread that Bonk fell because of salary concerns. Somebody uploaded the draft to YouTube and it was an interesting retroactive watch. The rookie salary cap would be introduced with the 1995 CBA six months after this draft, so things could get goofy with salary demands. 1993 top pick Alex Daigle had gotten a 5 year, 12.25 million dollar deal which put him among the highest paid players before he even played an NHL game.

The draft broadcast mentioned that Bonk's agent floated a contract demand of 4 years, 20 million. So you could understand Florida and Anaheim having a bit of sticker shock. I think vadim mentioned earlier in the thread how Anaheim was having issues signing Paul Kariya as it stood. On pure talent, Bob McKenzie said 20/26 teams had Bonk ranked #1 but signing him could be an issue.

There was a thing called Group IV free agency in those days where an unsigned (European trained?) prospect could sign an offer sheet after a certain amount of time. If the original team didn't match, they received no compensation. Calgary signed Teemu Selanne in 1992 and Winnipeg begrudgingly matched. Toronto signed 1994 pick Mattias Ohlund to a Group IV offer sheet in 1997 and Vancouver matched.

I'm not sure if Bonk would have qualified since he played in North America. But perhaps there were worried that you could draft Bonk and then lose him to an offer sheet you couldn't afford to match. Apparently that caused the Sharks to turn down an offer of Peter Forsberg for the #2 pick in the 1993 Draft.

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned (re; Tverdovsky) that the Russian mafia held his family ransom back in Russia at one point during the mid to late 90's trying to extort some of that NHL money.

On a separate note, I take issue with people saying "that coach won a cup with a team I could have coached to the cup". It's not like the coach was airlifted in on the day of game 7 of the finals. He had to set a system, manage egos, etc etc, for a full year. Often longer.

The one exception might be Bylsma who came into an incredibly talented team with a strong system, and replaced a coach that everyone was tired of. It seems like he may have been able to ride the residuals of Therrien's system, while allowing all of his players to exhale and feel like people again.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

I loved Jovo back in the day. He had all the tools although his decision making, especially as a young player, tended towards reckless. In those days he would often put himself out of position to make a big hit. IIRC, maybe it was in the Olympics, or some other International game, when he went way out of his way to absolutely destroy an opposing player... leading immediately to a goal against. Don't think he got a lot of icetime after that.

 

[Hobnobs]

While I think Jovanovski was the best player of them I dont think its as clear cut between him and Bonk as the posters in this thread would suggest. I mean there is a reason that Jovo spent half his career being called Jovoflop and half being called Jovocop. Bonk started slow but became a clear 1st line 2-way center on a good Sens team.

 

[Hobnobs]

tverdovsky was an interesting guy. so much skill, great at running a PP, but so many whispers surrounded him.

Tivo is underrated. When it comes to Phoenix he was disgruntled with them already in Winnipeg because of dump and chase. He said something like "I can make plays why aquire me just to dump the puck and fall back. Youre just giving the puck to the other team. You could get someone else to do that." Paraphrased.

 

[Rorschach]

The irony is for all of the (alleged) denials of places to play by B Lindros, he accepted going to the Islanders. The same Islanders whose coach who promptly ruined both his career and life very early in his career.

 

[JianYang]

I loved Jovo back in the day. He had all the tools although his decision making, especially as a young player, tended towards reckless. In those days he would often put himself out of position to make a big hit. IIRC, maybe it was in the Olympics, or some other International game, when he went way out of his way to absolutely destroy an opposing player... leading immediately to a goal against. Don't think he got a lot of icetime after that.

That was jovo in a nutshell.

His emotion was his wildcard. He was at his best and worst when he was emotionally engaged (which was often). You just had to live with that risk from him.

As a fan of the game, he was very fun to watch.

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

I completely forgot he was on the 2002 Olympic team

Always thought Eric Brewer was the only random dude on that team.

(I don't mean he was a bad pick or anything, just that he and Brewer stand out from the rest of the d-men)

Brewer was a great teammate and professional. Also was with the 2004 world cup team that won gold.

A very talented player who was often put in a position to fail. But when with other good players held his own.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned (re; Tverdovsky) that the Russian mafia held his family ransom back in Russia at one point during the mid to late 90's trying to extort some of that NHL money.

On a separate note, I take issue with people saying "that coach won a cup with a team I could have coached to the cup". It's not like the coach was airlifted in on the day of game 7 of the finals. He had to set a system, manage egos, etc etc, for a full year. Often longer.

The one exception might be Bylsma who came into an incredibly talented team with a strong system, and replaced a coach that everyone was tired of. It seems like he may have been able to ride the residuals of Therrien's system, while allowing all of his players to exhale and feel like people again.

Jeez, never knew that about Tver. He was really one of my favorite Ducks in the early years.

Although, not to derail the thread, it seemed like Anaheim and Tverdovsky and a hot/cold relationship. First gets traded, gets re-acquired, then traded again.

I swear there were newspaper clips on google that I read where Tverdovsky (or Jeff Friesen) trashed Anaheim after being traded.

 

[YippieKaey]

Yeah, but Roenick wants to beat everybody up for not being intense enough, Marleau included

And still his intensity was not enough to carry him or any of his teams to the Cup. Maybe he is just an idiot?

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

And still his intensity was not enough to carry him or any of his teams to the Cup. Maybe he is just an idiot?

heart in the right place, brain still checked into the hotel

 

[Brodeur]

Jeez, never knew that about Tver. He was really one of my favorite Ducks in the early years.

Although, not to derail the thread, it seemed like Anaheim and Tverdovsky and a hot/cold relationship. First gets traded, gets re-acquired, then traded again.

I swear there were newspaper clips on google that I read where Tverdovsky (or Jeff Friesen) trashed Anaheim after being traded.

Friesen in particular didn't have a great time during his season+ in Anaheim. I think he later admitted that he was blindsided being traded by San Jose and wasn't in a good frame of mind going from a dark horse contender to the last place club in the division. Here's a clip from the Devils 2003 DVD:



Both kinda allude to the 2001-02 Ducks being a bit rough knowing they weren't a playoff squad. Recently found an amusing tidbit how Tverdovsky was traded to Winnipeg for Selanne in early 1996 but he didn't sell his house in Anaheim until early 1999. Then Tverdovsky gets reacquired by Anaheim a few months later at the 1999 Draft. I can only imagine how frustrating that might have been just from a home owner's point of view.

 

[EdJovanovski]

Why the hell not?