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2015-16 NHL Season Thread


dlbalr

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I feel like Timmins would have chosen someone other than Leblanc if politics weren't in the way.

If I remember correctly, that was the draft that was in Montreal, during the centennial celebration season...

The only way Leblanc wasn't going to be picked in that spot was if someone else with skill was named Guy Beliveau-Roy Richard.

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He was next in the draft order if I remember correctly. I think bob Mckenzie was big on kreider and he was ranked in there as well. No big deal. I'm certainly not going to complain about a bad first rounder. We've had tons of those.

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The bigger issue was that he looked like he could be Mike Richards at a time when that meant something. Louis was a product of his time.

Well he kind of is about as effective as Richards is now. I just didn't get drafting a first rounder who was reportedly a weak skater and undersized in weight- regardless what his name was, or where he came from.

Kreider, represented something they wanted for a long time. I had never seen him play, but had seen the scouting reports at the time, and didn't understand how we could pass on him

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Well he kind of is about as effective as Richards is now. I just didn't get drafting a first rounder who was reportedly a weak skater and undersized in weight- regardless what his name was, or where he came from.

Kreider, represented something they wanted for a long time. I had never seen him play, but had seen the scouting reports at the time, and didn't understand how we could pass on him

Leblanc was ranked higher by a lot of scouting services. Here's a Devils website quoting several scouting services about him: http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2009/6/25/925402/devils-at-the-2009-nhl-draft-a

Not only does he play a high-speed, up-tempo game, he also comes back deep to help out in his own end and gets highly involved in the physical altercations. Passionate and has a world of skill. Great first step burst and is up to full speed in a single stride.

"Weak skater" wasn't the talk.

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As I recall, the consensus opinion was that Leblanc was a legitimate hockey pick.

Except in egregious cases, I don't think it pays too much to wring our hands over any specific pick that doesn't work out. You know, fans say things like, 'why didn't we pick Zetterberg??' when in fact every team passed on him about six times. It's not an exact science...and let's face it, a lot of us thought Leblanc would amount to something when he first came up.

So true. Gallgher went 5th round the same year Chucky went 3rd over all.

Subban was 43rd pick

Lucic went 50th.

Jamie Benn went in the what 6th round?

Dallas has several gems everybody passed on.

Two that still sting for me was that we passed on Giroux and Getzlaf,

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The report I had read at the time, as well as the evaluation right after he was drafted was that he needs to work on his skating and add weight to his frame. The positives were his vision and playmaking. I also remember reading that going to college should help him to add strength - and than the Habs pushed him to go the junior route.

His college coach even said he thought that was a mistake, albeit he had a vested interest.

On the other hand Kreiders ratings raved about his speed and size.

Leblanc was ranked higher by a lot of scouting services. Here's a Devils website quoting several scouting services about him: http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2009/6/25/925402/devils-at-the-2009-nhl-draft-a

"Weak skater" wasn't the talk.

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The report(s) I heard about on Leblanc were that he needed to work on his skating. A fact that was mentioned while he was playing at the WJC. Obvious while he played in Hamilton too.

But the reports on Tavares said that too.

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So true. Gallgher went 5th round the same year Chucky went 3rd over all.

Subban was 43rd pick

Lucic went 50th.

Jamie Benn went in the what 6th round?

Dallas has several gems everybody passed on.

Two that still sting for me was that we passed on Giroux and Getzlaf,

These examples are why I don't, ultimately, believe in the 'tanking' model. PK Subban is a franchise player - quite possibly better anyone drafted in the top-3 in Galchenyuk's draft year. Subban could easily have been a #1 overall pick based on his NHL career. Yet was drafted in the 2nd round, passed on by every team.

More than a tank job, what you really need is superb scouting. If you have that, you don't need to tank.

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These examples are why I don't, ultimately, believe in the 'tanking' model. PK Subban is a franchise player - quite possibly better anyone drafted in the top-3 in Galchenyuk's draft year. Subban could easily have been a #1 overall pick based on his NHL career. Yet was drafted in the 2nd round, passed on by every team.

More than a tank job, what you really need is superb scouting. If you have that, you don't need to tank.

and player development. Draft Subban in Edmonton and he never learns how to play defence.

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The report I had read at the time, as well as the evaluation right after he was drafted was that he needs to work on his skating and add weight to his frame. The positives were his vision and playmaking. I also remember reading that going to college should help him to add strength - and than the Habs pushed him to go the junior route.

His college coach even said he thought that was a mistake, albeit he had a vested interest.

On the other hand Kreiders ratings raved about his speed and size.

I remember reading that article before the draft.

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and player development. Draft Subban in Edmonton and he never learns how to play defence.

Good point! Given that my basic argument about the Gainey years is that we drafted well but had horrible player development, I can hardly disagree.

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Even the best superb scouts of all time will tell..."at 18 its still a crap shoot"

Jamie Benn being a great example. There was superb scouting going on at the time.............and ever team passed on him again and again and again and again.

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Players like Kreider are HARD to scout.

He was playing Massachusetts High School Hockey.

Now personally I didn't see a game of Kreiders, cause they just weren't available, but i have seen players like this in similar leagues. I remember seeing Joe Colbourne when he was playing Junior A hockey.

Guys like that are light years ahead of their competition in those leagues. So its hard to figure out just how good they are when all the other guys on the ice with them are being dominated.

Sure they are good... but how good... without other good players to play against, it can be deceiving.

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For what it's worth, our mock that year had Leblanc 17, Holland 18 (to MTL), and Kreider 19 (which actually is where he was picked). We had Kassian 15th that year as well.

So that's why I kept thinking we had drafted someone named Holland! I remembered both the real pick and the projected pick, haha.

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So that's why I kept thinking we had drafted someone named Holland! I remembered both the real pick and the projected pick, haha.

It probably didn't help matters that the Habs had a Holland in their system until early last season. (Patrick Holland, acquired as part of the Cammalleri trade.)

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There were 8 OT games tonight. 5 won in OT and 3 won in shootout. the loser point annoys me when I look at these numbers. Teams are still happy to hold on and play it safe in the third period for the guaranteed point. I know I rant about this a lot but it just bugs me. I guarantee if there was no loser point, less games would go to OT in the first place. I don't love the gimmicks, but I can accept them. I do like having a winner. Getting rid of ties was a good idea, but leaving the loser point in the game once there was a guaranteed winner, was a mistake.

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Yes I agree loser point dumbs down end of games.

But seems there isn't a consensus opinion among HabFans on which of the half dozen or more options to go with.

I simply don't like shootout (would prefer simply a tie after OT is over), but dosent seem to be going away and if made outcome worth full two points, seems would be a good start.

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There were 8 OT games tonight. 5 won in OT and 3 won in shootout.

That tied a league record which surprises me - I'd have thought that 8 extra time games would have been a league record.

In the FLA-NYI game yesterday, the first nine shooters all scored. I wonder if that's a league record as well.

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Has anyone seen the twitter war between Jim Kyte and Gallagher? Not really a war, but Kyte made the idiotic assumption that BG and Brad f'n Marchant are players that are of the same ilk..dirty, cheapshot players that are protected by the league rules, and that he would've loved to play against them and seek retribution. He said that it's players like these that are the reason he doesn't watch nhl anymore. I told him that he ought to start watching more closely because BG and the prick Marchant are not even close to being similar players.

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