Prospect Info: World Junior Championships 2015-2016

[OmNomNom]

i want one of those 3

 

[Unknown Caller]

Rantanen didn't look that great from the handful of games I saw. Albeit, it's tough with Laine/Puljujarvi stealing the show.

WJC is a fun tournament, but it's too short to draw conclusions. The Czechs are starting to have a renaissance with prospects but they're still behind the Big 5 right now.

Yeah, Laine and Puljujarvi looked significantly better than Rantanen and they're younger.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Does it feel like we drafted the wrong player? Rantanen, Provorov?

Careful, 2nd guessing any Devils draft pick is like being a sex offender in prison.

 

[Brodeur]

Careful, 2nd guessing any Devils draft pick is like being a sex offender in prison.

Debating picks is one thing. Bringing up Simmonds/Hoeffel 1,493 times is another.

 

[The Devil In I]

Does it feel like we drafted the wrong player? Rantanen, Provorov?

I've thought that since the draft, but I still don't think that a short tournament like this is a good way to determine that.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Debating picks is one thing. Bringing up Simmonds/Hoeffel 1,493 times is another.

It was an egregious error by Conte that deserved scrutiny.

But I haven't brought it up in quite a while.
Nor Frazee over Quick

Debating Point vs Chatham is apparently off-limits here too.

 

[R8Devs]

Careful, 2nd guessing any Devils draft pick is like being a sex offender in prison.

wasn't it you that didn't want the Devils to draft the finnish Sebastian Aho? So you didn't rate him highly--it's not like he's a great player yet but now he looks pretty good for someone drafted just last year, so hindsight works either way. I liked some guys who are not doing so hot

I was hoping we could get both the Finnish and Swedish one(still could get the Swedish Aho) but I thought the Finnish Aho would be there for the Devils 2nd second round pick(this was before the Palmieri trade) but he went one before the Devils original 2nd round. I think it was EJ Hradek who speculated that Devils traded down because Aho was selected.


I agree with you about the Chatham pick that was annoying at the time, just like the Rehill and Baddock picks. Of course 99% of players picked around that area don't do anything but it just seems to be a waste in picking a guy who's upside is a third line player or Baddock who's upside is a fighter that actually makes the NHL.

Castron drafted Bjorkstrand in the third round who looks pretty good now for a 2013 3rd round pick and Columbus has some late picks who are contributing in their lineup so hopefully that carries on in NJ.

But point is everyone has guys that don't turn out to be that great and sometimes they get lucky. Everyone talks about Chicago getting Saad in the 2nd round but they drafted three guys before him @ 18, 26, and 36 and none of them are NHL regulars. So luck is a big part of it too.

 

[Brodeur]

It was an egregious error by Conte that deserved scrutiny.

Egregious in your mind with several years of hindsight. You make it seem like Simmonds was this known commodity at the time.

Here's a description from the Kings website recounting that draft:

Months of draft preparation had led the Kings to rank Moller behind a gangly, unheralded youngster named Wayne Simmonds, a prospect so marginal that some draft publications didn’t even bother ranking him.

The Kings had Simmonds ranked over Oscar Moller. But they decided to take Moller first because they figured Simmonds was that much of an unknown. The Kings also happened to hire Mike Futa as their head amateur scout. Futa was previously the GM of Owen Sound which was where Simmonds had just finished his first year in the OHL.

"With Moller, we were shocked that he was there," Lombardi said this week. "We thought we had no chance at him. The thing was, we wanted Simmonds. Then we went, 'Oh boy,' because we were worried about losing Simmonds, but there's Moller. So the strategy changed, and it was risky. I remember Jack (Ferreira) was really upset that we might pass on Simmonds if we got greedy. We weren't going to get Moller much later. He was a much higher-profile guy. So your list might not change, but you might bump a guy because you know he's got a low profile.

 

[Blender]

I've thought that since the draft, but I still don't think that a short tournament like this is a good way to determine that.

On top of it being a very small sample size, you can't even compare apples to apples as Zacha was injured for most or all of the tournament.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

It was an egregious error by Conte that deserved scrutiny.

But I haven't brought it up in quite a while.
Nor Frazee over Quick

Debating Point vs Chatham is apparently off-limits here too.

Some of us were banging the [any of the Devils' picks] over Point even before the draft was finished. But then, the fact that point went so low is just another testament to GMs having their wires crossed when it comes to projecting 16 year olds. I'm curious to see how low Debrincat's gonna go this year.

 

[AfroThunder396]

For draft picks, you have to just take the guy you want and question it. Don't worry about hindsight. It's very common that a team passes over what eventually becomes a good player, it's very rare that it was made due to a poor decision.

I mean, the Rangers passing on Cam Fowler to take Dylan McIlrath was an obvious slam-dunk bad pick. But that sort of thing rarely happens. Every player is drafted for a reason. Especially in the high rounds. I mean, we can all crap on Chatham being a bad pick, that's fine. But really, who KNEW anything about Point? Even Tampa passed on him twice before they took him.

Even Detroit passed on Nick Lidstrom once. This is why we have the draft.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

tale of the tape:

PIM
FIN: 4
RUS: 40

lol

 

[devilsblood]

Just a thought on Matthews, but is he lacking a top gear, or even low gear quickness? I know he's a big guy, he had a very nice tournament, but just in terms of #1 pick, or generational talent, I would have liked to have seen a little more giddy up.

 

[JimEIV]

It was an egregious error by Conte that deserved scrutiny.

But I haven't brought it up in quite a while.
Nor Frazee over Quick

Debating Point vs Chatham is apparently off-limits here too.

The thing that baffles me is you are take examples that are so wildly random.

Quick? For Real? There were 34 picks and another goalie in between those 2 players. That is just a bizarre comparison/complaint.

Would you have been happier with Kristofer Westblom?