BlueKross Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 There's a plus to "blowing picks" on US guys - you get a lot more time to evaluate them. Junior players must be signed within 2 years or you lose their rights; for college, that could be as high as 5 years (assuming 1 year of USHL and 4 of NCAA). In the later rounds, I'm a big fan of going US prospects, one or two may very well turn into diamonds in the rough by the end of their college career, negating the need to go sign the Hunter Bishop's of the world later on. I don't think the guy that said "blowing picks" on US guys was refering to using picks on US guys but rather making bad picks at that particular spot in the draft. Evaluating time after the pick is really moot. I am dead against blowing early picks when the player is five to six years away from NHL ready. If you do pick a US high schooler for example, you better be damn sure you got a hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 I don't think the guy that said "blowing picks" on US guys was refering to using picks on US guys but rather making bad picks at that particular spot in the draft. Evaluating time after the pick is really moot. I am dead against blowing early picks when the player is five to six years away from NHL ready. If you do pick a US high schooler for example, you better be damn sure you got a hit. A lot of Montreal's US picks are in the later rounds anyways though which negates that point. Don't take them early on, don't take them later...when can we take them? Personally, I'd rather take more US players late than local Q guys, even if you have had a better shot at scouting them more frequently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoZed Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 "big" or "small" is, to some degree, not only a matter of height but also of weight (if you consider it to be mostly muscle) and of built. You got some shorter but thicker guys who "plays bigger" than some tall but gangly guys. Some of the game's best powerforwards werent very tall, but were thick and strong. Tkachuk is just 6-2 but weights over 230 lbs. Owen Nolan was only 6-1 but played at around 220 lbs. Same with Shane Doan. Dustin Brown is 6-0, Brendan Morrow 5-11. Jonathan Toews is considered to be a prototypical big center and he's "just" 6-2 205. On the other end, you've got mammoths like Hal Gill at 6-7 and 250 lbs that never overpower anyone and only go by on their long reach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueKross Posted March 20, 2010 Share Posted March 20, 2010 A lot of Montreal's US picks are in the later rounds anyways though which negates that point. Don't take them early on, don't take them later...when can we take them? Personally, I'd rather take more US players late than local Q guys, even if you have had a better shot at scouting them more frequently. I am agreeing with you dlbair. Use later picks for US college/high school. My peeve has always been with the early picks. I just went back and looked at the draft that we got Fischer in, and intresting enough, we also got White and Maxwell in that draft. If Fischer were to end up in Montreal some day, we could truthfully say we did as well as anyone considering our draft position. However, right now, we don't even know if Fischer is going to make into Hamilton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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