I wanted to draft MPS in 09.
I wanted to keep Redden over Chara as well, was I ever wrong with that.
Man, that '09 draft is looking more and more average with every passing year.
It's still too early to really make a final, over-arching decision about that draft, but you look at the 1st round picks after Cowen, and there's a whole lot of uncertainty and meh there, even though we're coming up on the 5-year anniversary of that draft.
We talk about how much Cowen is struggling, but you look at that draft, and there's maybe only a handful of guys in the 1st round you might take over Cowen right now.
- MPS is a 3rd liner.
- Ellis, jury is still out as to whether he'll be a real good blueliner or just an average one who is offence-heavy, but he's a 3rd pairing guy right now.
- de Haan has been injured a ton since his draft year, playing 2nd pair with NYI, but could be a 3rd pairing guy on a playoff team. Probably has "two-way" average 2nd pairing upside.
- Z. Kassian is all over the place. Could put it all together and become a great power forward, but is still maddening a lot of the time. One of the league leaders in brainfarts.
- Kulikov had the most promise 2 years ago, but seems to have regressed BIG time over the past few years. he's -17 for the Panthers (team worst), and in over his head playing the minutes he's getting at the moment. Needs a change of scenery in the worst way.
- Peter Holland. Meh. Still has horrible hockey IQ. He'll never be as good as scouts thought he might be.
- Nick Leddy is awesome. The 1st legit guy I'd trade Cowen for without having to think twice about it. How the hell did Chicago get this kid for Cam effing Barker?
- David Rundblad, kid has the skill, but it has not translated well at ALL from the SEL to the NHL. At a certain point, we're going to have to start questioning whether he'll ever properly transition.
- Louis Leblanc, 1214 Awful St., Bust City, PQ, H4B 5G0
- Kris Kreider, probably ends up being a decent 2nd liner. Not bad. Lots to like there.
- Jacob Josefson, looks like he won't come close to hitting his "scouts projection". Might be a career bottom-6 guy who can dish the puck a bit.
- John Moore
... won't be great, but won't be bad, either. Has 2nd pairing upside still.
- Jordan Schroeder, I haven't really watched the Canucks a ton this year, but from what I've heard from Canucks fans, he's not super-impressive.
- and on, and on...
So yeah... looks like a very average draft, which was very top-heavy (Tavares, Duchesne, OEL, Hedman is finally coming around), with some guys with star-potential but who still have huge question marks around them (Kane, Kadri, Schenn, potentially Cowen), and a whole lot of "who knows", even after 5 years.
It looked like a super-strong draft class at the time, and even a few years after, but the luster is starting to fade, IMO. The caveat here OBVIOUSLY is that it's still to early to judge a LOT of these kids, but to be honest, I had higher hopes for this draft class; thought it would be great, but it's turning into just average (or even slightly below average). A lot of ceilings won't be reached for a lot of these kids, IMO. Not really even a lot of busts here (except Leblanc), just guys who will go on to have OK careers, but people projected much bigger things for.
after lol I would have clung on to the SCFs team too long.
