Sunday, June 10, 2007
Friday, June 8, 2007
Redoing the first round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft
1) N.Y. Islanders
Who they picked: Rick Dipietro
Who they should have picked: Dany Heatley.
Comments: The Islanders already had a good goalie prospect in Roberto Luongo, there was no need for them to go out and get Rick Dipietro. Though Dipietro showed a bit of brilliance this season, he still is not the goalie Luongo has become. Picking Dany Heatley would have made sense for the Islanders as their leading scorer in 1999-2000 had 70 points which was a respectable total but next to that their next leading scorer had 42 points.
2)Atlanta
Who they picked: Dany Heatley
Who they should have picked: Marian Gaborik
Comments: With Heatley off the board, the Thrashers would go for the next best player which turned out to be Marian Gaborik, while Gaborik hasn't put up the same numbers as Heatley he still has been a good player for the Minnesota Wild.
3) Minnesota Wild
Who they picked: Marian Gaborik
Who they should have picked: Justin Williams
Comments: Justin Williams was a late-round selection by the Philadelphia Flyers, he has gone on to have a solid NHL career, with Gaborik off the board, I think Justin Williams would be a logical choice to go to Minnesota.
4) Columbus Blue Jackets
Who they picked: Rotislav Klelsa
Who they should have picked: Lubomir Vishnovsky
Comments: As a first year expansion team that coming fall, the Blue Jackets would be looking for a good defenseman, they thought they where going to get in Klelsa but thus far he has been disappointing, the best defenseman to come out of the 2000 draft was Lubomir Vishnovsky, despite the fact he was 24 in 2000, he has been a steady defenseman for the team that eventually drafted him which was Los Angeles.
5) New York Islanders
Who they picked: Raffi Torres
Who they should have picked: Scott Hartnell
Comments: I debated between Scott Hartnell and Alexander Frolov as a logical should-have been fifth pick here for the Islanders but I decided on Hartnell as he would have gave the Isles a centre to play alongside Dany Heatley.
6) Nashville Preadotrs
Who they picked: Scott Hartnell
Who they should have picked: John-Michael Liles
Comments: While Liles may not have been the 6th best player to come out of this draft, he would have fit a need for the Predators, which was a good puck-moving defenseman.
7) Boston Bruins
Who they picked: Lars Jonsson
Who they should have picked: Rick Dipietro
Comments: A common need for the Bruins, it always seems to be, is the need for a good #1 goalie, in the 1999-2000 season their number 1 goalie was Byron Dafoe, not the guy you want carrying your team, so Rick Dipietro would have been a good choice here for the Bruins.
8) Tampa Bay Lightning
Who they picked: Nikita Alexeev
Who they should have picked: Alexander Frolov
Comments: Alexeev has been a bust thus far in his NHL career, Frolov hasn't been, he is coming off a good season in Los Angeles and he could have done alright in Tampa Bay.
9) Calgary Flames
Who they picked: Brent Krahn
Who they should have picked: Jarrett Stoll
Comments: 7 years after this draft, Krahn has not started a game for the Flames, while Jarrett Stoll has had a solid career.
10) Chicago Blackhawks
Who they picked: Mikhail Yakubhov
Who they should have picked: Brad Boyes
Comments: Boyes took awhile to develop into a first round type player but he has and he's done that over the past couple seasons, Yakubhov is now property of the Florida Panthers and has 12 points in his NHL career, while Boyes has played for 4 teams in his NHL career (Toronto, San Jose, Boston, and now St.Louis), I think that had Chicago drafted him they would have kept him.
11) Chicago Blackhawks
Who they picked: Pavel Vorobiev
Who they should have picked: Lubomir Sekeras
Comments: With 2 1st round picks in the draft, the Blackhawks could allow themselves to gamble on a 2nd choice in the 1st round, and what better way to gamble than with a 31 year old defenseman. Sekeras had a good career in Europe and played 4 seasons in the NHL before going back to Europe, you can call this a gamble but the player they took in this spot has only had 25 career points.
12) Anaheim Mighty Ducks
Who they picked: Alexei Smirnov
Who they should have picked: Raffi Torres
Comments: Smirnov has not played in the NHL since before the lockout, Torres is carving out a solid career with the Edmonton Oilers.
13) Montreal Canadiens
Who they picked: Ron Hainsey
Who they should have picked: Rotislav Klelsa
Comments: Klelsa was picked in the real 2000 entry draft 9 spots earlier by Columbus; While he has not played to the level of a top 5 pick, he has still had a better career than the defenseman that Montreal picked here in Ron Hainsey.
14) Colorado Avalanche
Who they picked: Vaclav Nedorost.
Who they should have picked: Matt Pettinger
Comments: Pettinger is turning into a good player for Washington, Nedorost hasn't played in the NHL since before the lockout.
15) Buffalo Sabres
Who they picked: Artem Kryukov
Who they should have picked: Paul Martin
Comments: No not the former Canadian prime minister but rather the hockey player. Alright all jokes aside, Buffalo could have done alot worse with their 15th pick, wait they did, they picked a guy who has never played a NHL game.
16) Montreal Canadiens
Who they picked: Marcel Hossa
Who they should have picked: Matthew Lombardi
Comments: Marian's younger brother has not had the type of career his brother has and shouldn't have been the 16th pick overall. Lombardi, however, has been a good player for the team that drafted him which was Calgary.
17) Edmonton Oilers
Who they picked: Alexei Mikhnov
Who they should have picked: Ilya Brysgalov
Comments: Brysgalov may not be the #1 goalie yet for the Anaheim Ducks but he may be this coming season if Gigure does not resign with them; I think had Edmonton drafted him he would be their #1 right now.
18) Pittsburgh Penguins
Who they picked: Brooks Orpik
Who they should have picked: Nick Schultz
Comments: Pittsburgh used this pick on a defenseman who right now may be best known for his dirty hit on Erik Cole in the 2005-2006 season, Schultz has been a good defensive defenseman for the team that drafted him, I'd say he would have been the same for Pittsburgh.
19) Phoenix Coyotes
Who they picked: Krys Kolanos
Who they should have picked: Antoine Vermette
Comments: Until I looked at his stats on hockeydb.com I always thought Kolanos had suffered a career-ending injury, irregardless he hasn't played like a 19th overall pick should play, Vermette is coming into his own with Ottawa, right now.
20) Los Angeles Kings
Who they picked: Alexander Frolov
Who they should have picked: Brian Sutherby
Comments: Sutherby has developed into a checking line centre for the Washington Capitals, Frolov has been a great player for the Kings, but he is off the board at this point, so they draft Brian Sutherby here.
21) Ottawa Senators
Who they picked: Anton Volchenkov
Who they should have picked: Anton Volchenkov
Comments: So far looks like the Senators are the only team that lived up to the old draft analogy if taking the best player available, Volchenkov has been a solid defenseman for the Senators.
22) New Jersey Devils
Who they picked: David Hale
Who they should have picked: Andy Hilbert
Comments: New Jersey has always been a defensive team but if they knew in 2000 what they know now in 2007 they would have went for Andy Hilbert instead of David Hale.
23) Vancouver Canucks
Who they picked: Nathan Smith
Who they should have picked: Andreas Lilja
Comments: While Lilja has not been a 1st round type talent, he would have been a better pick here than Nathan Smith.
24) Toronto Maple Leafs
Who they picked: Brad Boyes
Who they should have picked: Steve Ott
Comments: Boyes will be a good NHL player, unfortunately it won't be in Toronto as they traded him to San Jose for Owen Nolan in the 2002-2003 season, would they have done the same had they traded Steve Ott? I guess we will never know.
25) Dallas Stars
Who they picked: Steve Ott
Who they should have picked: Marcel Hossa
Comments: While Marian's younger brother has not had the career his brother has, I'd say Dallas would have gotten more out of him than Montreal.
26) Washington Capitals
Who they picked: Brian Sutherby
Who they should have picked: Niclas Wallin
Comments: Sutherby hasn't been a bad player for the Caps, but he is off the board now, so the Caps go for Niclas Wallin, who has turned into a solid puck-moving defenseman for the Hurricanes.
27) Boston Bruins
Who they picked: Martin Samuelsson
Who they should have picked: Michel Oulette
Comments: They picked Rick Dipietro with their other 1st round pick so they go ahead and pick Michel Oulette; You know Boston's picks in the 1st round in the real 2000 draft turned out to be busts, but in the re-done version that I have wrote up their picks are turning into solid NHL players.
28) Philadelphia Flyers
Who they picked: Justin Williams
Who they should have picked: Antii Miettenen
Comments: The Flyers did well in drafting Williams here, but he is off the board here, so they draft someone that is turning into a solid NHLer in Antii Miettenen.
29) Detroit Red Wings
Who they picked: Steffan Kronwall
Who they should have picked: Krys Kolanos
Comments: Kronwall is no longer playing with Detroit or in their system, while Kolanos did suffer an injury, he is still a good choice for the 29th pick overall here.
30) St.Louis Blues
Who they picked: Jeff Taffe
Who they should have picked: Kurtis Foster
Comments: The Blues had 2 of the top defenseman in Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis at this time but it never hurts to have to many good defenseman especially with Macinnis at 37, so Kurtis Foster would have been a good pick here.
Conclusion: Well my first blog is done, I hope that people enjoyed reading it, any comments are welcome at tducey1@gmail.com, one thing I will say is that the site I used for information, hockeydb.com, which is a terrific site and one that everyone should check out, they don't have the 2006-2007 stats added into a player's career stats on their draft review pages, so in the future when I re-do drafts I'll look at the player's page as well as the draft page. I'll have the 1999 one up either Sunday Night or Monday, I want to have all 20 drafts from 1981-2000 done by the end of this month. Anyway hope you like my analysis.
Tony Ducey
June 10 2007
