Anze Kopitar Archive: Scouting Reports Circa 2005

[Ziggy Stardust]

where is that thread about people laughing at us for saying we would never trade Kopitar for Ovechkin?

There was a recent poll between those two and it doesn't look like that many people are laughing about taking Kopitar over Ovechkin anymore. Kopitar leads the poll with more people preferring him over Ovechkin, and rightfully so.

 

[saintsnsoldiers]

Still cant believe this guy fell in the draft. So glad we got him..

 

[Reclamation Project]

where is that thread about people laughing at us for saying we would never trade Kopitar for Ovechkin?

Mostly fans of teams that are currently golfing.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Still cant believe this guy fell in the draft. So glad we got him..

It's unreal how many guys picked ahead of him ended up becoming busts:

1 Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby
2 Anaheim Bobby Ryan
3 Carolina Jack Johnson
4 Minnesota Benoit Pouliot
5 Montreal Carey Price
6 Columbus Gilbert Brule
7 Chicago Jack Skille
8 San Jose Devin Setoguchi
9 Ottawa Brian Lee
10 Vancouver Luc Bourdon
11 Los Angeles Anze Kopitar

If you had a do over, Kopitar should be #2. I won't forget that the Sharks' Director of Scouting, Tim Burke, said that Kopitar was overrated.

 

[Reclamation Project]

That overrated player just smoked his team, scoring 10 points in 7 games and dominating the entire rink.

 

[saintsnsoldiers]

It's unreal how many guys picked ahead of him ended up becoming busts:

1 Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby
2 Anaheim Bobby Ryan
3 Carolina Jack Johnson
4 Minnesota Benoit Pouliot
5 Montreal Carey Price
6 Columbus Gilbert Brule
7 Chicago Jack Skille
8 San Jose Devin Setoguchi
9 Ottawa Brian Lee
10 Vancouver Luc Bourdon
11 Los Angeles Anze Kopitar

If you had a do over, Kopitar should be #2. I won't forget that the Sharks' Director of Scouting, Tim Burke, said that Kopitar was overrated.

Crazy when ya look at it that way, I can see why some of those were picked.. but man there are some serious flame outs on that list.

I think I was wanting Brandon Lee to drop down to us.... PHEW

 

[likid]

Columbus is the team that was probably closest to draft Kopitar before Kings.

Kopitar said in few interviews in the past for our Slovenian media that before draft Columbus scout team promised him that they will pick him for sure, if he'll be avaliable at spot no. 6. And he still don't know why they changed their minds but it was a shock for him at that moment that he wasn't drafted by them.

But at the end he always said that he is happy how it turned out and that he can't imagine to play for any other NHL team, although he is aware that everything can always change with trades...

 

[Butch 19]

He's the most important pick in Kings history.

hard to argue with that ^^^^

and to pick a career-gem at 11? just AWESOME!!

there was SOOOooo much credit to go around from the 2012 win, but there's no way they even sniff the Cup without Kopi taking charge when he needed to.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

There's actually video footage of then Blue Jackets GM Doug MacLean openly talking about who to pick at #6. In part 1, we find out his sons favorite player is Gilbert Brule.

Part 1 (Draft Lottery selection determined):


Part 2 (Prospect Interviews, mentions that the two players CBJ want are Jack Johnson or Gilbert Brule):


Part 3 (Gilbert Brule or Anze Kopitar):

 

[Arrhizal]

I'm quite sure it's not only fans of LA that are happy to have Kopi but that Kopi himself is very happy to have fallen to #11 in the end and being drafted by the Kings. He's an important piece for sure but it's a team sport and it takes a great organization to put together a whole team capable of winning a Stanley Cup and winning historic game 7's.

 

[ru4reals]

It's unreal how many guys picked ahead of him ended up becoming busts:

1 Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby
2 Anaheim Bobby Ryan
3 Carolina Jack Johnson
4 Minnesota Benoit Pouliot
5 Montreal Carey Price
6 Columbus Gilbert Brule
7 Chicago Jack Skille
8 San Jose Devin Setoguchi
9 Ottawa Brian Lee
10 Vancouver Luc Bourdon
11 Los Angeles Anze Kopitar

If you had a do over, Kopitar should be #2. I won't forget that the Sharks' Director of Scouting, Tim Burke, said that Kopitar was overrated.

Great read Ziggy! LOL was just gonna come in and post the teams that past him up. Where would we be without Kopi!

 

[Reclamation Project]

LOL Blue Jackets.

 

[Yammer]

Good post about a player who actually lived up to his pre-draft hype as a large center who can help a team in different ways.

I sometimes think that not drafting Kopitar was the trigger for firing Dave Nonis in Vancouver. At least, as a Canuck watcher, I hope it was - an anguished howl went up from the city when Kopitar miraculously fell to #10 and...was passed over.

 

[ru4reals]

I also can't imagine if the freakin Ducks got the first overall that year and picked Sidney Crosby or picked Anze second instead of Bobby Ryan. Getzlaf/Crosby or Getzlaf/Kopitar. Kings would not be where they are today if history was different.

 

[kingsfan]

It's unreal how many guys picked ahead of him ended up becoming busts:

1 Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby
2 Anaheim Bobby Ryan
3 Carolina Jack Johnson
4 Minnesota Benoit Pouliot
5 Montreal Carey Price
6 Columbus Gilbert Brule
7 Chicago Jack Skille
8 San Jose Devin Setoguchi
9 Ottawa Brian Lee
10 Vancouver Luc Bourdon
11 Los Angeles Anze Kopitar

If you had a do over, Kopitar should be #2. I won't forget that the Sharks' Director of Scouting, Tim Burke, said that Kopitar was overrated.

I'd take him 2nd too, but I can also understand some thinking he should go 3rd, behind Sid and Price. Would also have been interesting to see how Bourdon made out if not for tragedy.

Other than that, a few solid picks (Johnson and even Setoguchi to a degree) and a lot of flops. I never got the excitement over Jack Skille. Seemed like a Marty Reasoner/Rico Fata type to me all along. Good skater, no toolbox, no hands.

 

[TheSlovenian]

If he is even close to Heatley then wow we got a top 15 player in league....

Thank God, he didn't become close to Heatley. ****ing All-star

 

[YP44]

There's actually video footage of then Blue Jackets GM Doug MacLean openly talking about who to pick at #6. In part 1, we find out his sons favorite player is Gilbert Brule.

Part 1 (Draft Lottery selection determined):


Part 2 (Prospect Interviews, mentions that the two players CBJ want are Jack Johnson or Gilbert Brule):


Part 3 (Gilbert Brule or Anze Kopitar):

And this is why he hasn't had a sniff of a hockey ops job since CBJ cannedhim

 

[ukyo]

It's unreal how many guys picked ahead of him ended up becoming busts:

1 Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby
2 Anaheim Bobby Ryan
3 Carolina Jack Johnson
4 Minnesota Benoit Pouliot
5 Montreal Carey Price
6 Columbus Gilbert Brule
7 Chicago Jack Skille
8 San Jose Devin Setoguchi
9 Ottawa Brian Lee
10 Vancouver Luc Bourdon
11 Los Angeles Anze Kopitar

If you had a do over, Kopitar should be #2. I won't forget that the Sharks' Director of Scouting, Tim Burke, said that Kopitar was overrated.

Where have you heard this? I believe all Burke said was that the Sharks weren't interested in Kopitar over Setoguchi, even though Kopitar had a great story. But I don't remember him ever using the word overrated.

 

[YP44]

Good post about a player who actually lived up to his pre-draft hype as a large center who can help a team in different ways.

I sometimes think that not drafting Kopitar was the trigger for firing Dave Nonis in Vancouver. At least, as a Canuck watcher, I hope it was - an anguished howl went up from the city when Kopitar miraculously fell to #10 and...was passed over.

hard to argue against Luc though...too bad.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Where have you heard this? I believe all Burke said was that the Sharks weren't interested in Kopitar over Setoguchi, even though Kopitar had a great story. But I don't remember him ever using the word overrated.

Found this post on HF from 2007:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?p=7647248

At the 2005 "State of the Sharks," a Q-and-A session with Greg Jamison (President), Doug Wilson, Ron Wilson, and Tim Burke (head scout), someone asked if they considered taking Kopitar instead of Setoguchi, Burke answered, "Big Slovenian kid? No thanks." No reason was given, but clearly the Sharks didn't like what they saw. Hopefully Setoguchi will be worth it.

Thank you Tim Burke and other scouts for being concerned with Kopitar's birthplace.

 

[BigBrown]

See, this is why I don't get bent out of shape for the occasional first round bust. They tend to even out, and you can't really argue that the Kings hit BIG with Kopitar. Yes the Kings could have had Voracek instead of Hickey, Myers instead of Teubert or Tarasenko instead of Forbort but Kopitar is a bigger deal than them all combined.

 

[Chain]

Wow! Thanks for all the articles. Kopi is my favorite player, let alone King. Hopefully they keep him for the rest of his career. He's one of the smartest players on the ice and has a great temperament so he should be a good mentor even as an older player and will probably even make a good coach someday if he chooses to go that route.

 

[TonySCV]

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Haha, great image.

Trying to think of the last player who was as complete of a center in shutting down opponents while also being a threat to score every time he hit the ice, and the player I keep thinking of is Sergei Fedorov, but with a better work ethic.

Kopitar should be a Kings lifer.

 

[TonySCV]

That's a Cruel11 worthy image. It came from this article on Kopi that I linked in the Kings/Ducks series thread but it's worth preserving here as well. A breakdown of Kopitar's current 12 game points streak.

He's the only player in the playoffs to have scored in every game so far.

http://www.jewelsfromthecrown.com/2...-twelve-game-point-streak-highlights-playoffs