Why didn’t Filatov/Brule pan out for the Jackets?

[Cowumbus]

I was a kid when these two were drafted so I wasn’t as into the CBJ as I am now. I watched the games but could not tell you who the top prospects were. I remember these two being referred to as players who could be top20 in the NHL, so why didn’t they develop? Inspired by a thread on the mains “Prospects you thought were sure fire NHLers but did not pan out” ... they were mentioned a bunch.

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[Doug19]

General consensus was that Brule didn't have the brains for the game, but had the physical tools in the juniors; however his physical tools didn't translate to the NHL because he was surrounded by guys that were all the same size or bigger. Because he couldn't use his physical attributes in the NHL to his advantage, there wasn't really much left in his game. Filatov was a cocky lazy player. Had the brains and skill for the game, but not the work ethic and felt he didn't need to work hard to earn a spot, there's a phrase used around here, you may have seen it, Filly don't do rebounds. There are other reasons, but these are the main reasons IMO.

 

[Monk]

General consensus was that Brule didn't have the brains for the game, but had the physical tools in the juniors; however his physical tools didn't translate to the NHL because he was surrounded by guys that were all the same size or bigger. Filatov was a cocky lazy player. Had the brains and skill for the game, but not the work ethic and felt he didn't need to work hard to earn a spot, there's a phrase used around here, you may have seen it, Filly don't do rebounds. There are other reasons, but these are the main reasons IMO.

/thread

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

For different and varied reasons, both failed to figure out how to maximize their positive attributes and mitigate/improve their weaknesses at the NHL level.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

I didn't follow the team then, but the thread piqued my interest. A couple of articles for those who might be interested:

https://thehockeywriters.com/wasted-potential-the-most-mishandled-prospects-part-i/

Ed Willes: Gilbert Brule has found a home on the other side of the world

Oilers’ Gilbert Brule picks up a hitchhiker named Bono | Toronto Star

 

[MoeBartoli]

I didn't follow the team then, but the thread piqued my interest. A couple of articles for those who might be interested:

https://thehockeywriters.com/wasted-potential-the-most-mishandled-prospects-part-i/

Ed Willes: Gilbert Brule has found a home on the other side of the world

Oilers’ Gilbert Brule picks up a hitchhiker named Bono | Toronto Star

Thanks for sharing. I was not enamored with Brûlé, never believing he was going to be a difference-maker. Filatov fooled as I had him pegged as a top 6 guy most certainly. Lots of talent, but no heart or mental strength.

 

[We Want Ten]

Thanks for sharing. I was not enamored with Brûlé, never believing he was going to be a difference-maker. Filatov fooled as I had him pegged as a top 6 guy most certainly. Lots of talent, but no heart or mental strength.

I was the complete opposite on Gilbert. I thought he would be a ppg player...
Wow that's embarrassing to admit lol.
Filatov came and went so fast he barely registers. But that hat trick game he had was exciting...

 

[stevo61]

Thanks for sharing. I was not enamored with Brûlé, never believing he was going to be a difference-maker. Filatov fooled as I had him pegged as a top 6 guy most certainly. Lots of talent, but no heart or mental strength.

Same, I thought maybe Filatov will figure things out better then Zherdev and become a top 6 highly skilled winger. Although I think Zherdev had much more potential if he could have worked everything out but Filatov was our 2nd chance and it ended up so much worse.
Was also the same feeling on Brule. A 185 lb kid physically dominating in junior obviously isnt going to be able to do the same thing against much bigger men but he didnt want to change so of course didnt stick around long

 

[Viqsi]

Couldn't comment on Brule as I started paying attention to hockey about the time that he was starting to fall apart, but I had really high hopes for Filatov. I still kind of think that one blindside hit he took in the Sharks game in Europe just kind of ended all hope - not that it was the total cause, but rather that it was the last straw.

 

[Hello Johnny]

General consensus was that Brule didn't have the brains for the game, but had the physical tools in the juniors; however his physical tools didn't translate to the NHL because he was surrounded by guys that were all the same size or bigger. Because he couldn't use his physical attributes in the NHL to his advantage, there wasn't really much left in his game. Filatov was a cocky lazy player. Had the brains and skill for the game, but not the work ethic and felt he didn't need to work hard to earn a spot, there's a phrase used around here, you may have seen it, Filly don't do rebounds. There are other reasons, but these are the main reasons IMO.

Pretty much nailed it.

I will add for Brule though. He looked impressive in his first stint here with 4 points in 7 games as an 18-year old, but he broke his sternum in his home debut and then broke his leg shortly after returning. He was just too small to play the way he did, that's really what did it for him.

 

[JacketsFanWest]

The challenge for many players making the transition from juniors to the NHL is learning what worked in juniors doesn't work in the NHL and adapting. That transition is made more difficult when they're playing for a losing NHL team and don't respect what the coaching staff is telling them.

For Filatov, things came pretty easily when he started his pro career. He was scoring nearly a point a game in the AHL - primarily on the power play and cherry picking. He wasn't doing all that much work in the defensive zone and everything worked out in the AHL.

Then he came up to the NHL and scored a hat trick against the Wild in a rout against a backup goalie battling the flu.

Both Filatov and Brule were penciled into the lineup as soon as they were drafted. They likely saw themselves as better than many of the Jackets' forwards. If they had been drafted by a team who typically always made the playoffs, then there would have been more motivation to change how they played. When what worked in juniors worked in the preseason and AHL, why change and listen to the coaching staff of a team who can't score or win?

Filatov did seem to be making the transition but the hit playing against the Sharks in Stockholm in 2010 made him a gun shy on going to the net. And you could see him thinking on the ice - especially in Ottawa. It wasn't natural - he was trying to figure out where the coaches wanted him to be which meant he was always 3 steps behind.

Great article about Nikita on Hitch and what lead him to go back to Russia - Nikita Filatov has kind words for coach he hated

 

[CharlotteJacket]

Both of these picks plus a couple more we can all name are the reason the Jackets are in the position they are today. I never understood the Filatov pick. Hitchcock loved those big, strapping forwards like Chris Pronger who could forecheck and dig pucks from the boards. Filatov was kind of this waifish, smallish forward who just wanted to float around looking for shots. I have no idea why the Jackets didn't do more homework on these players work ethic on the ice before they drafted them because Filatov and Zherdev didn't want to play defense or work on offense to get the puck. Wasted picks all around.

 

[Old Guy]

You know it's funny...... questions like the OP asked cause you to stop and reflect.

Filitov, for all his talent, didn't have the work ethic it took to become successful. The "Filly don't do rebounds" statement is etched into the lore of this team. It exemplified his unwillingness to put in the work to become successful over the long term. The Gilbert Brule case is a bit less straight forward. Like others, I thought Brule was on track to become a perennial All-Star. "How could this guy miss??", was my question.

What those two guys represent to me is a question that I have, which never is addressed. Were they drafted wrong or were they developed wrong?

We all hear GM's say, "We want to draft and develop our own players". But how to you discern the difference between a draft mistake, and a development mistake. Or ask the same question another way; "Can average draft decisions be masked by superior development programs?".

I think we all agree that the Columbus Blue Jackets between 2000 and 2012 failed miserably at developing players. Darn few guys came into the organization and were permitted to find their way.....let alone taught how to develop their game. I think guys like Cam Atkinson and Boone Jenner represent a turning of the page in CBJ Development. Now, this organization has the balls to draft PLD #3 overall and send him back to junior. They have the balls to send Vitaly Abramov back to the Q, when it is obvious he owned that league last year. He is still too young for the AHL, but was not ready for the NHL.

In my opinion, Brule and Filitov are casualties of the poor development program of Doug MacLean and the CBJ of that time. Those two players were not "draft mistakes". They were "development mistakes". He should have known that success would depend upon how players like that dealt with disappointment and losing. Simply put, the players failure to put in the work was compounded by the General Manager's failure to put in the work.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Can't really comment on Brule. I was 11 when he was picked and just starting to watch hockey. I didn't become a full time fan until 2007 when we had the draft. So, by the time I was really committed to the team he was traded for Raffi Torres.

Filatov was weird. I mean, others have put it best. He was a huge offensive talent with all the tools in the world. However, he really never developed those offensive tools. He was a cherry picker in the AHL and had it easy down there as management just wanted him to score. We should have made him go to the OHL or let him stay in Russia for a few years, however at the time Russia was able to keep/poach talent from NHL teams very easy so I can't fault them for signing him. Anyway, he had no defensive game at all and had no interest in it. He was a me first guy. But I think he was starting to learn the ways of Ken Hitchcock before he had his hat trick against Minnesota, from there on he thought he was the star and his way of hockey was what would get him to the top. It wasn't. I think the hat trick at the time was the best and worst thing to happen to his career. So he fell out of favor with Hitch and then eventually with Arniel. The hit in Sweden just sealed his fate, and made him even more gun shy.

Another move I still question was when we made the playoffs in 08-09 and we called up Filatov in the midst of the Syracuse Crunch playoff push. They needed like one or two wins in the final few games to clinch a spot, but we called up Filatov to "embrace the NHL playoff culture" or some dumb shit like that and Syracuse lost out and didn't get in. Also, obviously, we didn't play Filatov in any playoff games. IIRC this is also what really soured the relationship between Syracuse and Columbus, because Filatov was their best offensive player. I don't think it would have mattered to his future here, but I thought it was really stupid then and really stupid today looking back on it.

 

[TaketheCannoli]

I was a kid when these two were drafted so I wasn’t as into the CBJ as I am now. I watched the games but could not tell you who the top prospects were. I remember these two being referred to as players who could be top20 in the NHL, so why didn’t they develop? Inspired by a thread on the mains “Prospects you thought were sure fire NHLers but did not pan out” ... they were mentioned a bunch.

Both Brule and Filatov were in over their heads. Brule needed a year or two in juniors and maybe a year in the AHL to physically mature. His game was a lot like Matt Calvert's with much more skill. He was physical, threw his body around and was a combination of skill and pest. MacLean threw him to the wolves to sell tickets when he should have invested the time to develop him and allow time to build strength. Filatov was a bad pick. At the draft, Howson talked about how thoroughly they had checked him out because of the perceived "Russian factor" at that time. He went on and on about the effort Filatov made to learn English and his strong work ethic. Yes, he learned English then when the Jackets put him in Syracuse to develop, his mother came over and the family threatened to take him back to Russia if Columbus didn't call him up. They had him come to Columbus and watch games in the press box to soak up the atmosphere and he was never the same. He thought he had the upper hand and played it whenever it suited him- like the Filly don't do rebounds story. It didn't take that long before the front office gave up on him.

 

[Jovavic]

Both had major injuries within a few years of being drafted, Brule with a broken leg, and Filatov with that concussion. Brule hung around and played bottom six for a few other teams, and Filatov got a shot with Ottawa, but neither could overcome the lost critical development time, and as other's have pointed out, the CBJ development program was straight crap back then anyway.

It's always fun to think about what could of been, Montreal surprised everyone and picked Price over Brule, would Brule have flamed out in the that kind of spotlight, and who would've CBJ picked? The scouts wanted Kopitar but it was Dougie Fresh that picked Brule...if he was picked already then does Doug go with his scouts or pick the goalie himself?

 

[Daytonian]

Filatov? Just thought that you'd like the photo.

 

[Boomshakalaka]

I agree with the choir here these two were developed totally wrong, they needed time in juniors. Brule injuries, and from what I have read in the past our old front office rushed guys back onto the ice without fully healing. He didn’t have the body for what we rushed on him screwing his development. Not saying that he would have been a 1 center but he could have had a better career I think. Injured and brought back and then gave up on, mentally and physically he was screwed by us. Fily had off ice issues and a big Russian factor which was brought up when we drafted him. He was brought into a system that didn’t protect him. From what I have read spent a lot of time alone here. A gambling drunk by the time he was done in the nhl. He definitely thought he was better than he was but that s not to say he wasn t good at all. Mentally was trash through a mix of ego and maybe just pure homesickness.
Brule I think it is safe to say was on us, Filatov busted on himself but who knows different team different city early on, not the shamble we traded to Ottawa, who knows.

 

[squarelaces]

Filly don't do rebounds

 

[Monk]

Filatov came and went so fast he barely registers. But that hat trick game he had was exciting...

I was at that game with my dad. I just KNEW he was gonna be legit. Sigh.

 

[Ar-too]

As someone (perhaps the only one now?) who still has a warm place place in his heart for GMDM, I think the developmental decisions the org took with players like Brule and Filatov specifically, but with lots of other players over GMDM's tenure as well, are the greatest strikes against him. I think if correct decisions about some of these guys' development had been made, then the draft decisions themselves could've turned out to be correct. Likewise, some other orgs' successful draft picks from that time period might not have turned out well for our team.

 

[CharlotteJacket]

Brule and Filatov are just reflections of a dysfunctional organization. Going back to the first draft when we took Klesla, who was an offensive D man. We threw him into the fire at eighteen and he was so overwhelmed he completely lost the offensive side of his game and really never recovered. If you can believe GMDM, Zherdev was a pick forced on him by old man McConnell because he wanted a exciting, dashing player on his team, which Z was, but there were downsides with him. I never knew if GMDM was 100% in over his head or he was being pressured by McConnell to expedite our run to Stanley Cup glory and forget about the building of a franchise the right way.

 

[Jaxs]

I take the side of MacLean rushing Brule. He definitely needed seasoning. Filitov had the flash and that was about it.

A guy that I thought might be able to put up some numbers was Alex Picard. He couldn't translate his game to the NHL. Alexandre Picard Stats and News

 

[MoeBartoli]

The challenge for many players making the transition from juniors to the NHL is learning what worked in juniors doesn't work in the NHL and adapting. That transition is made more difficult when they're playing for a losing NHL team and don't respect what the coaching staff is telling them.

For Filatov, things came pretty easily when he started his pro career. He was scoring nearly a point a game in the AHL - primarily on the power play and cherry picking. He wasn't doing all that much work in the defensive zone and everything worked out in the AHL.

Then he came up to the NHL and scored a hat trick against the Wild in a rout against a backup goalie battling the flu.

Both Filatov and Brule were penciled into the lineup as soon as they were drafted. They likely saw themselves as better than many of the Jackets' forwards. If they had been drafted by a team who typically always made the playoffs, then there would have been more motivation to change how they played. When what worked in juniors worked in the preseason and AHL, why change and listen to the coaching staff of a team who can't score or win?

Filatov did seem to be making the transition but the hit playing against the Sharks in Stockholm in 2010 made him a gun shy on going to the net. And you could see him thinking on the ice - especially in Ottawa. It wasn't natural - he was trying to figure out where the coaches wanted him to be which meant he was always 3 steps behind.

Great article about Nikita on Hitch and what lead him to go back to Russia - Nikita Filatov has kind words for coach he hated

Thanks for sharing the article.....good insight as to why Filatov couldn't stick in the NHL. BTW, Loved the comments about the Hitch compromise.

 

[Viqsi]

Another move I still question was when we made the playoffs in 08-09 and we called up Filatov in the midst of the Syracuse Crunch playoff push. They needed like one or two wins in the final few games to clinch a spot, but we called up Filatov to "embrace the NHL playoff culture" or some dumb **** like that and Syracuse lost out and didn't get in. Also, obviously, we didn't play Filatov in any playoff games. IIRC this is also what really soured the relationship between Syracuse and Columbus, because Filatov was their best offensive player. I don't think it would have mattered to his future here, but I thought it was really stupid then and really stupid today looking back on it.

I think that was more of a symptom than a cause. Syracuse wasn't doing their job; Filatov wasn't developing. So we tried something desperate.