Probably only going to look at the first 15 to 20 picks since it's impossible to make any grades or conclusions whatsoever on guys later than that. 1 Taylor Hall Well he certainly looked like the obvious choice in his first year in Edmonton. I think there are two questions for him. How good is he? Is he Steve Stamkos, Sidney Crosby good? Or is he just Eric Staal, Joe Thornton good. Yeah poor Edmonton 2 Tyler Seguin Saw very little playing time in Boston this year so he never really had a chance to show if he was any good or not. Not that we could tell in one year anyway. 3 Erik Gudbranson Got send back to Junior apparently over a contract dispute and then apparently had a falling out with his junior team over something or other. Curse of the Panthers? 4 Ryan Johansen Looked real good in the World Juniors, maybe not the high end superstar skilled guy, but a solid centerman. Only problem? He was drafted by the Jackets so he probably isn't any good. JOKE! 5 Nino Niedereiter Had a mediocre World Junior. I heard a mediocre junior season as well. He seems like a keeper though. TBD 6 Brett Connoly The Lightning are still high on him, and they sure should be. Still shaking off some serious injuries apparently. But I bet Yzerman would still rather have.... 7 Jeff Skinner What can you say about Skinner's first year? Very few true rookies, 18 year old kids, let alone ones not picked in the top 5 can make an impact on their team the way Skinner did. If the draft was held today, does he go #2? Curious 8 Alexander Burmistrov Should some excellent hands and very savy defensive ability for a young center. Certainly looks like a keeper for Atlanta and god knows they need them. 10 Dylan Mcillrath Haven't really heard much about him recently. Can't judge for a few more years but I still bet the Rangers will wish they took someone else. 11 Jack Campbell Struggled in Windsor in the OHL but was excellent for team USA in the world Juniors. Still several years away from NHL duty. 12 So just like Jeff Skinner, how many 18 year old rookies top the depth chart of playoff bound teams? When they aren't #1 overall selections? When they are defensemen! Cam Fowler might be the most impressive kid from this draft. He dropped behind two defensemen who play very different styles from him, big aggressive guys as opposed to the puck moving Fowler. But he's been one of Anaheims key guys on their blueline, playing over 20 minutes a night. That is simply unheard of for 18 year old defenders. Interesting stat? Statistically Cam Fowler is having a better season this year than Drew Doughty did his rookie year. Scary. None of the rest of the guys have made the NHL yet. But I'd venture to say that Tarasenko and Kuzhnetsov might be there next year and be impact players immediately. So what do you guys think? If the draft were held today would it go Hall, Skinner, Fowler? I'm not 100% sure it would, but you can't really argue against what Skinner and Fowler have done this year.
Re: 2010 NHL Draft Review Tough to do any sort of draft review and analysis within a year as some players develop fast than others and players with higher ceilings make take little more time to find their game. Like in your analysis most of them didn't even play pro hockey this year.I believe after 5 year when you can give a proper analysis on how players turn out as they are at the age of 22-23 years old and most would have a chance to craft their game in the minors. If you are looking at this year than yeah Skinner is the real standout along with Fowler though I was shocked how Fowler fell in the draft last year to the Ducks. One thing I always wonder as a Leaf fan if we didn't make the Kessel trade and say ended up with Segin, he has had a tough go this year would Leafs be crucified for picking him instead of Skinner who had a great rookie season.
Re: 2010 NHL Draft Review Yeah I know. We're firing anybody or anything. Just yammering I bet the Leafs would have seen at least two dozen articles in the Toronto papers about Jeff Skinner and how they blew the pick. But that's more an indictment of the Toronto press than anything else.
Re: 2010 NHL Draft Review It is true, it would be the same media who rated Segin as second pick but it is easy to use hindsight to say they should of picked Skinner though about 10 other teams didn't pick him before. Gomley is another defenceman like Fowler who fell off the charts, saw him play a few time for Wildcats and thought he looked a very good stud and was hated very highly going into the draft. It was a shame he got hurt before the WJC as he along with Gudbrason would be major players on the team.
Re: 2010 NHL Draft Review Yep, Gormley went right after Fowler. Obviously can't judge him yet but I think the Coyotes are probably happy he feel to them at 13 or whatever it was.
Re: 2010 NHL Draft Review I realize we're speculating on a what-if here, but... maybe there's a correlation with the fact that the hockey media is made up of a lot of former hockey types, and fewer actual journalists. A guy like Steven Brunt is excellent, Kypreos and Maclean, not so much.
Re: 2010 NHL Draft Review Pete, can you change the name of this thread to NHL Draft Reviews? I'm in need of something to do so I'm going to start breaking down drafts.
Re: 2010 NHL Draft Review 2009 2009 was all about the top 3 picks. John Tavares was the relatively undisputed #1 overall pick. There was some rumblings of Hedman going #1, but I don't think they were ever really serious, like Seguin going above Hall last year. Matt Duchene was kind of quietly sitting there, but I know some serious people who thought he might be a better pick than Tavares. There first few seasons haven't given a final verdict, but certainly Duchene has proved he belonged in the discussion. Playing for a terrible NY Islanders team last year Tavares scored 54 pts (24-30) and was a respectable -15. Respectable for the Islanders. In his second season Tavares went 28-36-64 in 6 fewer games. There is nothing to indicate that Tavares won't be anything other than an elite level player for the Islanders. Whether he will be Eric Staal elite or Steven Stamkos elite is the only question. Victor Hedman hasn't been a big point producing d-man in his first two years, still having yet to top the 30 point mark. But considering that the hardest position to play in the NHL is probably a two way puck moving defender, and Hedman has been a rock for Tampa, he might be even more impressive than Tavares. Not to say that the Islanders made the wrong choice, but there is a good chance that the Lightning have a blueline bedrock and 2009 might look alot like 2008 with Stamkos and Doughty. Matt Duchene will probably always be compared to Tavares simply because they are both forwards and went in the same draft year at the top. Duchene simply put has been the best player on the Avalanche for two straight years now when he could still be suiting up in the OHL. His point totals are similar to Tavares, 24-31-55 and 27-36-63. If you are counting, that is exactly the same number of points over two years between the two. More impressive is that Duchene is a +1 on an absolutely miserable Avalanche team this year. Duchene and Tavares play different games, Duchene is more speed and agility while Tavares is more strength and power, but they look like cornerstones for their team for the next decade. Coming later: Evander Kane, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Nazem Kadri, Magnus Paajaarvi
Re: 2010 NHL Draft Review Evander Kane Evander Kane was the "other" rookie who played the entire season in the NHL at 18. He wasn't really hyped by the media to the extent that the big 3 where, and to be frank, that's probably because he wasn't as electric a prospect. That's not to say he is bad by any means, but while Duchene and Tavares were putting up 50 and 60 point seasons, Kane was more up and down, more streaky than the other two. He showed that he is a burgeoning power forward in the league however, and with a big jump in points from 26 to 46 this season, nearly doubling, he looks to be a solid player for Atlanta for the future. Oliver Ekman-Larsson Defenseman are hard to judge. Especially when they have only played 40 odd games in the NHL. From what I've seen from Ekman-Larsson he looks like the real deal. He's big, he's a good smooth skater and he has skill. He struggled a bit in his defensive zone and with his reads but that's pretty much typical for a guy who has only half a season under his belt. Coyotes have to feel good about this pick so far. Nazem Kadri I'm nervous to say too much about Kadri because being a prospect, and being a prospect in Toronto, he is a lightning rod regardless. He's only played 20 odd games so far in his career, but from what I've seen he is super skilled and super talented, but the only questions are between the ears. That will take time to work out for the guy, whether he will be a 60 to 70 point producing key forward, or Rob Schremp. Magnus Paajaarvi I liked what I saw from Paajaarvi in Edmonton this year. He wasn't on the top line, but when did play he showed that he can skate like the wind and has a solid frame to stop anybody from pushing him around. I can't tell where his defensive upside is and that will take a year or two to flush out, but he certainly looks like at the very least an Erik Cole style power forward with excellent speed. Jared Cowen He is still in junior and really, for a defenseman that's not all that unheard of. Still TBD Scott Glennie Glennie is still in junior and for a forward to miss the first two years of his NHL career after the draft isn't unheard of, it is a bit unusual for a top 10 pick. He's scored in Junior, but then Steve Downie scored in junior. He's also had a major injury so he could be a late bloomer.