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Looking ahead to 2007 draft


bobby

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You could be right, i only get youth info be reading it here. I did like what i saw the last time Kosty was called up. I think he was a point per game when playing wit Pleks and Higgins.

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That "attitude" stuff comes from Goodgrief the Mullett. Which makes it essentially useless information. I haven't seen any other credible evidence of Cherepanov having any problems in that regard. He is a really bright kid who came from a small town in Siberia, I believe, and worked his way onto one of the best teams in the RSL. He already speaks pretty good English. You just don't manage to accomplish those things by the age of 18 if you have an "attitude problem". Maybe Goodgrief is being paid by some NHL team to dispense the slander because they want to draft Cherepanov at a lower position than his talent warrants. Or maybe some scout slipped him disinformation for the same reason and he ran with it.

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Ellerby seems much more likely to be questionable due to attitude. His coach in Kamloops recently kicked him off the team for selfish ("I want to be a high first round draft pick") play. He also ran afoul of the WHL by making a throat slashing gesture at a Vancouver Giant player not long ago. There are a series of similarly immature incidents in Ellerby's past. He is one of the older player available but probably one of the least mature. I would be leery of Ellerby and Colton Gillies who have terrific tools but aren't very smart. Those are the players who flop, usually.

Logan Couture is another, but the scouts seem to be onto Gillies and Couture now and they are down the draft rankings. I's surprised they have Ellerby so high still.

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Kane and Gagner benefit from the same unique situation that S. Kostitsyn does. Rob Schremp, David Bolland, and Dylan Hunter put up the same sort on numbers in London a year ago, and they have just been average in the AHL. None of them is among the top rookie scorers, and as I mentioned, WHL grads who could hardly manage a point per game in their final junior season are ahead of them offensively.

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Not to say that Kane and Gagner aren't very good young players, but the London situation, plus the fact that they are both right handed, smallish, offensive players which Montreal has an excess of, makes them less attractive.

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Interesting detail from NHL.com article on the ranking process. The final candidates for top N.A. pick were the top ranked prospect in each league. Turris (Tier II), Kane (OHL), Voracek (Q), Ellerby (WHL), Sweatt (NCAA), Pacioretty (USHL), McDonagh (HSW), Cross (HSE) and a couple of others who don't count. SOOOO much depends on rating the leagues against each other, since it is relatively easier to rank players within a league. That is where the steals and bust come in, I think, when mistakes are made in comparing leagues (especially when you have to factor in the Euros to the final equation). Personally I think that the USHL is probably on par with the Q, at least, and possibly the OHL as of now. There were actually MORE USHL prospects on a per team basis in the final rankings than any of the Canadian junior leagues. The other wild card is the NCAA, where there are only a handful of prospects. In my eyes they aren't giving the top NCAA prospect Bill Sweatt his due. He should be much closer to the top prospects from the CHL circuits.

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Myeeh....there are a handful of former WHL "grinders" like Troy Brouwer, Clarke MacArthur, Dustin Boyd, Kris Versteeg, Dane Byers, etc. who are producing as well or better than A. Kostitsyn and Grabovski in the AHL. Juniors who barely averaged a point per game, if that. S. Kostitsyn's big numbers come from playing 40 minutes per game with Pat Kane and Sam Gagner. 7th round pick David Meckler is outscoring him in the playoffs with less playing time. The Belarussians are seriously overrated by the fans, but not so much so by Guy Carbonneau or Bob Gainey, I don't think.

Segei doesn't play 40 minutes per game with Kane and Gagner. About half his ice time is with them. He also plays basically the entire PK time and in other important defensive situations. Also you have to remember that when he does play with them they play against the opponents checking lines.

SK is a lot more than his numbers indicate. I agree that he won't be an offensive superstar in the NHL. The reason he will have a successful NHL career is his skating ability and his willingness to dig in the corners and not shy away from the physical game.

There is a better chance of Sergei or Andrei or Grabovski turning out to be a star than any single player in this year's draft.

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