Feel the same.
It's funny, I can't remember which of our scouts said it but they were asked about whether there was a focus on size and they said no, it just sort of happened that the next guy on their list happened to be big. I think it was in the post draft video that talked to a bunch of our scouts.
Yes at least a couple scouts said that it just worked out that way but looking in from the outside it sure seems like that is a valued trait
They all said the same thing, It was all the area scouts talking about their picks.
I think they clearly value size, and that might show up in us really devaluing the really small guys to the point that especially lower ranked ones might fall right off our lists, but I suspect us drafting 6'4 guys rather than 6'1 guys, I suspect that was just chance.
may be a generality but I think all NHL teams value size and there is nothing wrong with that imo. I am certainly not disappointed with anything concerning the size of the players we selected. I also like physical , high motor players that compete hard,,, and I am sure most NHL teams like that as well.
I just watched the video. My takeaway from watching it is that we desperately need to replace our scouting staff lol.
Exactly, well put.
If you're really good, you can get away with being average size or smaller. But how many average sized guys have played on the third pairing of teams with recent success?
Adding yakemchuk makes such a big difference.
Exactly, I don't remember people being this upset when they drafted Phillips & Volchenkov & they weren't exactly perfect. From the combine we found out that a number of WHL prospects named Yakemchuk as the toughest or hardest player to play against, (that's good defensive hockey) isn't that what we want to be harder to play against? Brannstrom couldn't clear the front of the net, but this guy can. Clearing the front of the net is good defensive hockey. Leaning on guys making their life miserable around our crease, is good defensive hockey.
Comparing Roger and Eliasson is way off the mark. One was based on a glorified 1 week showcase, the other was scouted fully.
Our #1 center was drafted out of Europe.
His skating is fine, people always try & talk like they are experts on skating, when I watch him he gets up & down the ice pretty quickly, he's not Formenton, but he's not Mark Stone either. He's not graceful, he's more likely to run through you than around you although he does have some dangle to his game. Funny when little guys dangle, people get giddy, when a big guy does it they say he won't be able to do that in the NHL & yet we see NHL guys get beat all the time.
They were in a position where there were four defenceman left & while most picked the other guys as better players, I didn't see that & thought they were much closer in talent level than people would give credit for. Yakemchuk had a 30 goal season tying a 10 yr old record in the WHL for defencemen, is that not elite talent? He had a 71 pt season again not bad offensive talent for a defenceman on a terrible offensively challenged team where he had to be the offensive catalyst. And he's not a one trick pony, he hits, he fights, he clears the front of the net & leans on players a lot defensively which is good defensive play wearing out your opponent something smaller players can't do.
Do you think 20 yr olds should be drafting players, guys there own age? Poulin is highly regarded in the NHL or should we be listening to the advise of all the teenaged internet podcasters out there? Is that how we should be running this team by the internet? What are their qualifications for deciding who is an elite skater & who is not?
That’s my fault, I wasn’t counting Stutzle as that was an automatic pick, my fault for not clarifying.
