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Hockey News's Top Ten List For 2006 Draft


RobRock

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I agree with BEST AVAILABLE.

But I wonder if it's possible to add a word? BEST defenceman AVAILABLE?

If the best player available is not a defenceman and and we really want one one of the defence prospects then we should trade the pick and move down in the draft a few spots. Plenty of first round picks, especially around number 16, are busts. The draft is risky enough without skipping the best player available (in our scouts' opinion) in order to get a Dman.

Edited by Peter Puck
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For this year, I agree that we need to pick the best skater available, even if it's a forward instead of a defenseman. Although I would like us to pick Sanguinetti, Williams, or Wyshart, I don't want us to waste the 15th pick on a Mitera, Strait, or Weber if forwards like Chris Stewart, Okposo, Brassard, or Sheppard are still available.

Hopefully, Gainey could find a way to ship perhaps Ribeiro or Bonk's contract to move up in the draft so that we can make sure to get either Sanguinetti or Williams without hurting our roster for next season...

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I think that St-Louis will trade the 1st overall pick to Pittsburgh for their pick and a young project forward (e.g. Shane Endicott or Tomas Surovy, maybe the rights to a Euro like Morozov or Kraft).

Pittsburgh is desperate to select a top-flight defenseman, and Johnson fits the bill. Meanwhile, St-Louis gets the player they wanted all along, Phil Kessel.

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You've got a car that needs a new transmission, and you go to a mechanic to get it fixed. He tells you he doesn't have a transmission to sell you, but he's got a perfectly rebuilt engine he could sell you. Would you buy it, thinking, I could swap this engine for a new transmission at some other mechanic? There's a good possibility that the other mechanics in town don't need that engine right now. So now you have this engine you don't need, no way to get rid of it, and you still need a transmission.

If you've got obvious needs in a particular area, the smartest thing to do is to address those needs as soon as possible. If a trade package comes along that fills the need, if you have to develop from within, it really doesn't matter. I'm not suggesting drafting a guy with your first pick when you're pretty certain he's gonna be around in round three, but if you're picking 16th, and you're confident the guys picking behind you are looking at the same player with their picks, I don't think it's a bad move to pass him up because the guy who was 9th or 10th on the CSB or ISS list is still available. When you have holes in different areas, then of course the best player to take is the best player you can get. But it's pretty easy to see that the blueline needs an infusion of bodies, either vets or prospects.

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You've got a car that needs a new transmission, and you go to a mechanic to get it fixed. He tells you he doesn't have a transmission to sell you, but he's got a perfectly rebuilt engine he could sell you. Would you buy it, thinking, I could swap this engine for a new transmission at some other mechanic? There's a good possibility that the other mechanics in town don't need that engine right now. So now you have this engine you don't need, no way to get rid of it, and you still need a transmission.

If you've got obvious needs in a particular area, the smartest thing to do is to address those needs as soon as possible. If a trade package comes along that fills the need, if you have to develop from within, it really doesn't matter. I'm not suggesting drafting a guy with your first pick when you're pretty certain he's gonna be around in round three, but if you're picking 16th, and you're confident the guys picking behind you are looking at the same player with their picks, I don't think it's a bad move to pass him up because the guy who was 9th or 10th on the CSB or ISS list is still available. When you have holes in different areas, then of course the best player to take is the best player you can get. But it's pretty easy to see that the blueline needs an infusion of bodies, either vets or prospects.

The problem is we have a team, not a car. And, when you draft, the draftee doesn't usually play on your team for around 2-3 years, if ever. So it is more like you have a slightly used car, and you go to a swap-meet to pick up some cheap stuff you may need for the car in the future. You don't know when or if you will ever need them ... but you have some free purchases to use at this swap meet so you take a chance.

Because at the end of the day, you know that if you really need to, you have 29 buddies with all the parts you will ever need, and maybe you can trade them for what you do need with the stuff you got at the swap-meet later.

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You've got a car that needs a new transmission, and you go to a mechanic to get it fixed. He tells you he doesn't have a transmission to sell you, but he's got a perfectly rebuilt engine he could sell you. Would you buy it, thinking, I could swap this engine for a new transmission at some other mechanic? There's a good possibility that the other mechanics in town don't need that engine right now. So now you have this engine you don't need, no way to get rid of it, and you still need a transmission.

If you've got obvious needs in a particular area, the smartest thing to do is to address those needs as soon as possible. If a trade package comes along that fills the need, if you have to develop from within, it really doesn't matter. I'm not suggesting drafting a guy with your first pick when you're pretty certain he's gonna be around in round three, but if you're picking 16th, and you're confident the guys picking behind you are looking at the same player with their picks, I don't think it's a bad move to pass him up because the guy who was 9th or 10th on the CSB or ISS list is still available. When you have holes in different areas, then of course the best player to take is the best player you can get. But it's pretty easy to see that the blueline needs an infusion of bodies, either vets or prospects.

Just an interesting aside... Montreal picked a guy who was rated 8th overall at the 17th pick in 1991. He went absolutely nowhere. Quite a disappointment really considering the potential. BRENT BILODEAU was a kind of Scott Stevens player. The closest he came to playing for the Canadiens was to spend two years with Montreal's minor team at Sherbrooke (not too many miles from Montreal there).

:king: :hlogo: :king:

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Because at the end of the day, you know that if you really need to, you have 29 buddies with all the parts you will ever need, and maybe you can trade them for what you do need with the stuff you got at the swap-meet later.

I find it interesting that you appear to contradict yourself. You say that you know you have 29 potential "buddies" - not necessarily a term I would use, especially in March - and then you say "maybe you can trade them."

But what you don't know is what those parts are gonna cost you, especially if it's a seller's market. And you may end up paying more than what you could have paid for the exact same thing a year or two previous, which in this case is nothing.

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I heard Bilodeau was drafted primarily because of Serge Savard's association with the Seattle WHL franchise.

That's very possible but I still have the HOCKEY NEWS DRAFT PREVIEW issue for his draft year and he was rated 8th overall. To see him go 17th was both amazingly great for the Canadiens but also a source of concern - why did the 10 teams before the Canadiens not take him...? what did they know, suspect or 'fear'?

:king: :hlogo: :king:

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That's very possible but I still have the HOCKEY NEWS DRAFT PREVIEW issue for his draft year and he was rated 8th overall. To see him go 17th was both amazingly great for the Canadiens but also a source of concern - why did the 10 teams before the Canadiens not take him...? what did they know, suspect or 'fear'?

:king: :hlogo: :king:

what was the report on bilodeau ??

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Not sure what his strengths/weaknesses were..but I found some more info on the Savard/Seattle connection.

In '89 Savard selected Lindsay Vallis, from Seattle. In '90 he took Turner Stevenson. And of course he took Bilodeau. Interesting how they're all from that franchise and all never really lived up to expectations.

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Turner Stevenson was a first round guy?

:blink:

yup 12th in 1990 :?-

martin brodeur: 20th

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what was the report on bilodeau ??

I'm sorry... I can't find it. I've found them all back to 1992 but 1991 must be in a different box or something. I would NEVER throw these things away.

:king: :hlogo: :king:

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The Tampa Bay Lightning organization is proud to select Riku Heleniu with the 15th overall pick.

Oh woops, the draft hasn't started yet.

How embarassing.

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