Everyone swings for the fences with late round picks.
NO not everyone swings for the fences with late round picks. Lots of teams use later round picks to select pugs, or players that have one thing that is nhl worthy but have everything else negatives and the risks heavily outweigh the rewards. Detroit uses pure smarts and superior european scouting to pick players overlooked or not noticed, that have serious skill, or good skills but have one or two negatives that could hold them back, but if the player overcomes these one or two things they can have a significant impact.
Picking Zetterberg and Datsyuk both were super skinny and unnoticed for the most part, but the skill was there, scouts missed out, and there was significant doubt if they would have the size to make it. They rolled the dice, both players dedicated themselves to the gym, they bulked out, and the superior talent that detroit spotted was able to flourish.
Tverdon, injured, but could have been a first round pick in terms of talent, roll the dice on with a fourth on the injury factor and if the injury and lack of exposure should never have been a factor in his draft positioning, then you get a first for the price of a fourth.
Teemu Pulkkinen: see Tverdon above in regards to injuries, with the additional lack of foot speed as a concern. A potential top 5 pick the year before the draft gets picked near the bottom of the 4th. If the injury bug was just a fluke then this is a serious steal is the rational of the wings when they made this pick. They also rolled the dice a bit on the speed and size a bit. Speed can be worked on and he already filled out to over 190 pounds a year after the draft. Its being smart and knowing
when to roll the dice and at what position to maximize your return. Look where other teams are not scouting, and find the keepers. Detroit scouts the Swedish leagues, find some keepers, everyone catches on and start scouting the Swedish league, then detroit switches their attention to scout for Slovaks. Now, teams put too much emphasis on avoiding players with real skill that have injury concerns and these teams over do it in terms of dropping these players too far. Ok, Detroit sees this and takes advantage. Teemu Pulkkinen was basically 100% healthy this year and looked dominant. Tverdon could be the same as well. The wings are smarter, and are a step ahead of the others.
Looking at the draft history since 2000, both teams have traded away lots of their picks, but its quite obvious which team selects earlier in the draft sometimes quite considerably.
Look at the team success compared to one another the last 20 years, it has a lot to do with the players
drafted.
Lets look from 1989 and onwards shall we in terms of elite players or star players.
Detroit: Lidstrom federov, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Kronwall (borderline star player).
Toronto: Potvin, Kaberle (like Kronwall, borderline star player).
You have six star players vs 2 being drafted, and detroits first four listed are mega talents. Franzen and kronwall cancel out more or less potvin and kaberle, so your left comparing Lids, feds, Z, and dats vs absolutely nothing.
There is no comparison especially considering the leafs consistently picked ahead of the wings in terms of position, and usually by a significant amount as well. What others have not mentioned is, because Detroit is drafting lower, all these picks in the later part of the 2000’s that haven’t made the nhl, well they will be soon, and its due to the longer development curve as a result of low draft position. They cant say the 2000’s have been mediocre for the wings until a couple more years come to pass, since Toronto and other teams with higher positions in the first are able to pick players that will reach the nhl sooner.
Shawn Matthias(traded), Dick Axelsson, Daniel Larsson , Jan Mursak
smith,
nyquist,
tatar,
Pulkkinen, jarnkrok, sheehan,
Those are our picks from 2006-2010, and even if half those make it, those players have such skill its going to be dramatic how much Detroit will benefit, and what talent they
will have (here is half):
Axellson (power forward 2nd line), Mursac (2nd/3rd line scorer with speed), smith(#2 defensemen with lots of scoring upside a lot like kronwall), tatar(25g-35a guy at worst), jarnkrok(zetterberg clone), nyquist(2nd line center with tonnes of playmaking ability).
Now these late round late bloomers added to detroits current 2000 year and on list already mentioned in the thread:
Howard, Kronwall, Filppula, Hudler, Helm, Franzen
The 2000-2010 draft results would look like this when its done if you count half the guys just mentioned directly above:
Howard, Kronwall, Filppula, Hudler, Helm, Franzen, + Axellson, Mursac, Smith, tatar, jarnkrok, nyquist.
That’s with detroit trading three of its first rounders away (no I'm not counting trading them down for more picks),as in gone via trade, and not traded down 1st rounder’s.
Look at toronto's prospects:
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/teams/toronto_maple_leafs
they didn’t even draft 5 out of their top 7 prospects, that’s right they drafted two of their top 7 prospects.
Looking at what Toronto has drafted in the last ten years, and not counting people traded for one could say Toronto might have the better prospect pool, but have not drafted as well as Detroit.