Easy Ryder Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 Someone know who's the scout(s) that covers us high schools programs and college for habs? Not just because of the drafts but for the pick ups like Trotter. He surely has influence. Who is "he" ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLassister Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 As for as Timmins loving Americans is concerned, he's really only drafted Americans for the last couple years. From 2003 and until 2007, Timmins had only selected 3 Americans out of 33 picks. Considering the amazing results of the US programs in the last few years, it's only normal to be giving Americans a very good look, and Timmins sure isn't the only one doing so. The NDTP is doing a great job while the NCAA has become just as good - if not better - than the CHL for developping young talents (not to mention that - at least in my opinion - they produce players that are more mature and far more educated). Even the USHL is becoming an increasingly good league for U18 players, and they're now not that far away from the CHL (or at least the Q since the OHL and the WHL are still producing a lot of great young talents). Where the USHL stops being competitive is following the draft since they lose almost all their best prospects to the NCAA/CHL (ex. Pacioretty, Stastny, Petricki ...). Otherwise, I'm very happy about Steve Quailer. I've been following him since the beginning of the season, and he's a pretty good overall player with practically no weaknesses, althought he doesn't do anything amazingly well either. Timmins is definitely changing the face of the Montreal Canadiens with guys like Pacioretty, Latendresse, Quailer, McDonagh, Chipchura, Conboy, O'Byrne, Valentenko ... True. People are freaking out for nothing here in Québec. I don't like all this mess about LHJMQ. This league SUCKS since a few years now. Do media attack the Nucks if they don't draft people from BC ? And for NCAA/NDTP thing, this is really the best program right now and i'm really happy Bob and Trevor go there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted June 23, 2008 Share Posted June 23, 2008 The common conception I heard from players in the QMJHL is that some of them wish they had signed to play in the NCAA instead of the Q since the league rep is really degrading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexstream Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 1. the Q has been in decline for the pas 10 years. this is hard cold dull fact. Why? a. Nordiques departure has affected the fan base (out of montreal) b. Habs dark years has REALLY affected the fan base (from 98-04, it wasn't that popular... Dads weren't watching as much hockey... Most glaring example is my younger brother -21 y.o.- who wasn't a hockey Fan before 05... Why? Because his friends weren't hockey fans in that span either. Why? Because Habs weren't winning!!! c. the government cut much of the financing in 90something, at the same time they cut the financing in every other area and forced to retirement thousands of health and education workers. In Qc city, for example, the Mayor would systematically reject any pro sports project. Another example being the habs -> they were systematically bashed for asking for tax breaks. I don't have examples for minor leagues, but I know that it has had impacts. 2. NCAA has always been hot. Hockey in young American is more popular than it was in the 80's and 90's. The fan base is not yet bigger, but IMO, with these kids coming to love hockey, we'll see the fan base in the states greatly increase in the upcoming years. With NHL being scared of european prospects for all the good reasons (transfer of rights, might never come in NA, might get signed to a 12.5M contract 2 years into his NHL career), NCAA is getting more spotlight. 3. The Q system/mentality is contrary to NHL's needs. Instead of being a development league for harvesting future NHL stars, they try to make it a "sell now" product. Resuts : a. Big, lanky players, who are by nature slower, particularly from 12-18, when they are still growing and lack coordination, are relegated to lower levels and are even forced out (for lack of motivation!) of hockey. That way, most of Quebec youth who would become of BIG athletic stature are not in hockey anymore by the age of 17-18. I don't have a scientific study to back me up, but just look at the size of players out of the Q. I also read 2 articles in lapresse in the past years documenting that fact. b. Small, high scoring players have more success in the Q and get the spotlight. They ARE getting more popular in NHL... but weren't popular by any mean before that. c. point a. and b. is also true for the defense position. The player is deemed too slow for defense and gets booted... result, Q's defense (and offense) stars are under 6'1", under 170 lbs when comes the time to draft them. Bigger player who produce in the Q are often overagers. Bigger-younger player just don't cut it. d. the Quebec hockey system mentality is often to put the best athletes at the goalie position. Result : Every "best prospect" is in goal. This wouldn't be bad... If there weren't that many. Backups goalies are wasted that way. The kid would be a super hockey player, but he has to be the 2nd goalie of a team and doesn't get the spotlight. Most backups in the Q could be starters in other leagues, even in NCAA, but they dont get the spotlight because their starter is in the NHL spotlight...and the market is saturated. What do you think? These are mostly reasons-theories-speculations of why the Q is not hot anymore and a bit of the reason why NCAA gets more attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CerebusClone Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 To add to alexstream's last message, we can't forget about the extremely high costs of developping and exposing a young player for the parents. When you account for league fees, tournaments, travelling expenses, high quality equipment ... it comes up to thousands of dollars every single year just for one kid. Football (or soccer) is becoming increasingly popular in this province, especially in Montreal, not because of the passion os the sport, but really because it is so much cheaper. Even the poorer kids can play football, but not everyone can afford even the lower-level leagues. However, in addition to this, I also agree that the current system in Quebec does a poor job for the kids that do make it. The draft results for the last 5-10 years indicate that there is a serious problem as even the USHL is starting to produce as many quality prospects the Q does... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexstream Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 To add to alexstream's last message, we can't forget about the extremely high costs of developping and exposing a young player for the parents. When you account for league fees, tournaments, travelling expenses, high quality equipment ... it comes up to thousands of dollars every single year just for one kid. Football (or soccer) is becoming increasingly popular in this province, especially in Montreal, not because of the passion os the sport, but really because it is so much cheaper. Even the poorer kids can play football, but not everyone can afford even the lower-level leagues. However, in addition to this, I also agree that the current system in Quebec does a poor job for the kids that do make it. The draft results for the last 5-10 years indicate that there is a serious problem as even the USHL is starting to produce as many quality prospects the Q does... totally true, the high costs comments ! I'd add to that : most universities and college will offer grants to the most promising players, while here, it's only players making the Q that can somewhat survive. Finally, a point that I totally disregarded but that is OH SO LOGICAL is that we are 6M in Quebec whereas they are 300M in the states... That we are toe to toe with them is already impressive... LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saskhab Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 (edited) Trunev was taken 3rd overall in the import draft today by the Portland Winter Hawks. He's going to the WHL. Before you get giddy, please realize... the Winter Hawks are a mess, and this might be a horrible situation to come into. Their owner is a meddling idiot and the WHL had to intervene in the organization, to tell him to get the hell out of the hockey operations and let the GM do his job. The GM had essentially been relegated to some kind of scout. So, if things are back to normal, their GM did make this pick, and not the owner. The Winter Hawks had a horrid record last year and things don't look much better for them coming up. It's like they wasted a year. BTW, Filatov went first overall... a lot of Russians have been picked early, which is interesting. EDIT: Looks like things might change in Portland if these guys buy the team: http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/stor...443172271261400 Edited June 26, 2008 by saskhab Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTH Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 not saying nothing http://forums.habsworld.net/index.php?show...c=15573&hl= I'm very excited for Trunev - a potential Kovalev replacement? (if there can be one) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLassister Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 1. the Q has been in decline for the pas 10 years. this is hard cold dull fact. Why? a. Nordiques departure has affected the fan base (out of montreal) b. Habs dark years has REALLY affected the fan base (from 98-04, it wasn't that popular... Dads weren't watching as much hockey... Most glaring example is my younger brother -21 y.o.- who wasn't a hockey Fan before 05... Why? Because his friends weren't hockey fans in that span either. Why? Because Habs weren't winning!!! c. the government cut much of the financing in 90something, at the same time they cut the financing in every other area and forced to retirement thousands of health and education workers. In Qc city, for example, the Mayor would systematically reject any pro sports project. Another example being the habs -> they were systematically bashed for asking for tax breaks. I don't have examples for minor leagues, but I know that it has had impacts. 2. NCAA has always been hot. Hockey in young American is more popular than it was in the 80's and 90's. The fan base is not yet bigger, but IMO, with these kids coming to love hockey, we'll see the fan base in the states greatly increase in the upcoming years. With NHL being scared of european prospects for all the good reasons (transfer of rights, might never come in NA, might get signed to a 12.5M contract 2 years into his NHL career), NCAA is getting more spotlight. 3. The Q system/mentality is contrary to NHL's needs. Instead of being a development league for harvesting future NHL stars, they try to make it a "sell now" product. Resuts : a. Big, lanky players, who are by nature slower, particularly from 12-18, when they are still growing and lack coordination, are relegated to lower levels and are even forced out (for lack of motivation!) of hockey. That way, most of Quebec youth who would become of BIG athletic stature are not in hockey anymore by the age of 17-18. I don't have a scientific study to back me up, but just look at the size of players out of the Q. I also read 2 articles in lapresse in the past years documenting that fact. b. Small, high scoring players have more success in the Q and get the spotlight. They ARE getting more popular in NHL... but weren't popular by any mean before that. c. point a. and b. is also true for the defense position. The player is deemed too slow for defense and gets booted... result, Q's defense (and offense) stars are under 6'1", under 170 lbs when comes the time to draft them. Bigger player who produce in the Q are often overagers. Bigger-younger player just don't cut it. d. the Quebec hockey system mentality is often to put the best athletes at the goalie position. Result : Every "best prospect" is in goal. This wouldn't be bad... If there weren't that many. Backups goalies are wasted that way. The kid would be a super hockey player, but he has to be the 2nd goalie of a team and doesn't get the spotlight. Most backups in the Q could be starters in other leagues, even in NCAA, but they dont get the spotlight because their starter is in the NHL spotlight...and the market is saturated. What do you think? These are mostly reasons-theories-speculations of why the Q is not hot anymore and a bit of the reason why NCAA gets more attention. A beginning of good news. The Fédération québécoise du sport étudiant will bring back college hockey in 2010-2011 after 8 years out. I think that this is the equivalent of your 6-7 high schools years. link in french : http://www.fqse.qc.ca/fre/nonAuthGenProg/r...;newsItemID=602 Now if the Universities could build a more serious hockey program, maybe it would give a big hit on LHJMQ ass ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habitforming Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Considering the prospect depth we have, as well as the draft in Montreal next summer, I think this is the best chance for Gainey to move the pick that he has ever had. Gainey can try to trade it for someone ready now as you said or take a flyer on another deal and add a second first rounder for next year somehow for the home crowd (Tavares and Hedman help as well). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Puck Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 has anybody ever made the transition from goalie to enforcer? Transition? Why can't he be both? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habitforming Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Transition? Why can't he be both? Worked for Hextall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CerebusClone Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Transition? Why can't he be both? We could take a flier on Patrick Roy' gutless kid, Jonathan. It's not like he's got that bright a future as a goaltender anyway. However, I wonder how he would do in a fight against someone who's at least trying to defend himself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Puck Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 We could take a flier on Patrick Roy' gutless kid, Jonathan. It's not like he's got that bright a future as a goaltender anyway. However, I wonder how he would do in a fight against someone who's at least trying to defend himself... The only problem I can see, is that there is a 2 minute penalty for a goalie leaving his crease during a fight. I am not sure how this applies if the goaltender is out of the crease when the fight starts. In any case he could stand in his crease and goad his opponents to coming into it for a beating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhfarber Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 The only problem I can see, is that there is a 2 minute penalty for a goalie leaving his crease during a fight. I am not sure how this applies if the goaltender is out of the crease when the fight starts. In any case he could stand in his crease and goad his opponents to coming into it for a beating. Wouldn't that player then receive a goaltender's interference penalty? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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