So let me just make sure I've got this straight, then. The top North American in this draft is a guy who lit up a Tier II league and has kind of sucked in international play. The #2 weighs 160 pounds. The #3 is some potato-headed New Jersey dude who's committed to the NCAA and whose hugest fans admit he's probably three years from being NHL-ready. The top European, and the only European anybody's really talking about, has a busload of talent but may or may not have any interest in the NHL, or in anything else that we know of, with the possible exception of a steady supply of fermented mare's milk. If you're interested in a goalie you could take a flyer on the half-Ugandan guy who rapped on Swedish Idol or the 19-year-old who passed through the lower intestine of the entire draft in '06.
Am I feelin' the excitement? You bet!
Comments (2)
The hockey media tries to hype the NHL Entry Draft like it is the puck equivalent of the NFL's draft, but really it is more equivalent to that of Major League Baseball. Just as in baseball, almost none of the prospects are ready for immediate big league play, and just as in baseball the draft deteriorates into a total crapshoot after about the top five.
If you want to know how hard it is to draft 18 year olds, just look at college football. Each year, big time U.S. schools recruit all kinds of fuzzy cheeked 18 year olds. Inevitably, four years later, many of the most sought after recruits have crashed and burned, and some guy who was lucky to get a scholarship offer at all ends up being a top NFL pick.
Posted by Dennis Prouse | June 21, 2007 8:00 AM
Posted on June 21, 2007 08:00
You are forgetting the "huge upside." Hello?
Posted by Andy Grabia | June 21, 2007 12:49 PM
Posted on June 21, 2007 12:49