Around the league part 2

[tny760]

it's just so crazy being at the place where one of a team's leading scorers gets laid out and 2 guys wearing letters just skate past him to passively forecheck like nothing ever happened

 

[Nasti]

I‘ll be shocked if he wakes up tomorrow feeling ok. That was Scott Stevens-esque.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Really like the way NJ is built. They hit on their big picks, slowly supplemented with a a mix of youth and character vets, and once the team broke out, they started spending assets in ancillary players.

 

[chris kontos]

man not even a whimper from NYR, yikes

I watched em all yr. Thought theyd win the cup. Late to loose pucks and a step behind all game.
Kane didnt fit in and panarin looked like he gave a shit about half the time

 

[Mats26]

4 years ago I thought with the drafts we had and some vision on what it takes to be a contender the Kings would develop into a team like the Devils; fast pace, well structured with a few kids developing. Instead we get this passive, thumb sucking squad with no heart, size or real emerging talent besides Vilardi.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Really like the way NJ is built. They hit on their big picks, slowly supplemented with a a mix of youth and character vets, and once the team broke out, they started spending assets in ancillary players.

They also struck gold in the 6th with Jesper Bratt, that's in insane pick, like Dallas getting Benn and Klingberg in 5ths.

 

[Brodeur]

Just like I said before the series, Akira Schmid would be the difference.........

Really like the way NJ is built. They hit on their big picks, slowly supplemented with a a mix of youth and character vets, and once the team broke out, they started spending assets in ancillary players.

We got lucky with the Expansion drafts as well. Our blue line was awful and we picked off a couple useful stay at home guys (Graves/Siegenthaler) who weren't going to be protected. If the Kings don't extend Gavrikov, Graves might not be the worst fallback option. Devils probably can't afford to bring him back and they need to open up a spot for Luke Hughes. Also got lucky that nobody else had cap space when Hamilton hit free agency.

 

[AbsentMojo]

If we ever need to console ourselves regarding the recent high draft picks there is this.. Laf, Kakko, Anderson (our AHL guy)

 

[ru4reals]

Goodness sakes that is one of the hardest hits I've ever seen. Ouch.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Goodness sakes that is one of the hardest hits I've ever seen. Ouch.

All the reviews said thats a clean hit.. it was head first contact

 

[ru4reals]

If we ever need to console ourselves regarding the recent high draft picks there is this.. Laf, Kakko, Anderson (our AHL guy)

I mean hey Byfield has more points than both Kakko and Lafreniere combined. lol. But Ranger fans are just shredding him to pieces. We all thought Byfield was atrocious. Yikes.

 

[Nasti]

Had the Kings not dropped to 5th in 2019, they would have picked Kakko instead of Turcotte most likely. At least it makes losing the lottery that year more tolerable.

 

[chris kontos]

If we ever need to console ourselves regarding the recent high draft picks there is this.. Laf, Kakko, Anderson (our AHL guy)

Both those guys( lafreniere and kakko) are busts. Thier centerman chytyl sure isnt that guy is $$$.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Can anyone think of another draft where the top two picks were disappointing but the third turned into an all star?

Edit: 2006 is probably the closest. Erik Johnson and Jordan Staal picked 1 and 2. Toews picked 3.

 

[Steve Zissou]

All the reviews said thats a clean hit.. it was head first contact

It's because Timo had his head down coming through the neutral zone.

Now, let's look at why it's 100% clean:

1) Trouba didn't leave his feet
2) For good measure had his arms perfectly at his side, and...
3) Trouba also hit 100% THROUGH THE BODY rather than a side swipe hit (ala Raffi Torres) that the NHL is really trying to get rid of.

It's a 100% textbook hit and a 100% what you learn in pee-wee hockey NOT to do when you have the puck : have your head down.

Now, to be fair to Timo he wasn't aware that Trouba had just jumped on the ice for a line change.

 

[johnjm22]

The Rangers board is fun right now.

 

[ru4reals]

Can anyone think of another draft where the top two picks were disappointing but the third turned into an all star?

Edit: 2006 is probably the closest. Erik Johnson and Jordan Staal picked 1 and 2. Toews picked 3.

Johnson and Staal are both decent players and not necessarily busts. But....

1983 - Brian Lawton, Sylvain Turgeon comes to mind. Picks 3 was Pat Lalalalafontaine. And then 4 was Stevie Y, 5 Barrasso. Two hall of famers and a fantastic cup winning goalie followed the first two picks. Yikes. Although Sylvain had some good years with Hartford.

 

[Nasti]

Dear lord the 90s had some god awful drafts.

 

[King'sPawn]

Can anyone think of another draft where the top two picks were disappointing but the third turned into an all star?

Edit: 2006 is probably the closest. Erik Johnson and Jordan Staal picked 1 and 2. Toews picked 3.

You can check out 2012 for a collection of disappointments by and large. Not your exact question, but that one's pretty brutal.

 

[johnjm22]

Johnson and Staal are both decent players and not necessarily busts. But....

That's probably what's going to happen with Laf and Byfield.

Both will probably be decent players, but not stars.

 

[ru4reals]

That's probably what's going to happen with Laf and Byfield.

Both will probably be decent players, but not stars.

Yeah hoping Byfield will not be just a decent player but totally agree really looks like it.

 

[Brodeur]

If we ever need to console ourselves regarding the recent high draft picks there is this.. Laf, Kakko, Anderson (our AHL guy)

The scary thing was that the Rangers apparently wanted Elias Pettersson at #7 but he got snatched by Vancouver at #5.

I forgot my other joke about "Let's see if the Rangers can win a playoff series when the other team has their starting goaltender" after they beat the Penguins with DeSmith/Domingue and Carolina with Raanta/Kochetkov last year. And then the Devils willingly put in their #3 to turn the series around.

Dear lord the 90s had some god awful drafts.

I blame myself since that's when I started collecting hockey cards. 1996 was so bad that the announcers didn't bother trying to put lipstick on a pig. 1999 had the usual optimism but turned out awful.

The USSR collapsing was definitely a part of it. After that huge influx of Russian talent in the early 90's, there was big void for most of the decade. I remember ESPN doing a show following some of the Russian NHLers going back. There was one segment with Darius Kasparaitis showing their rink/locker room and it was worse than my beer league rink. I also read once that Sweden started losing top athletes to soccer in the 90's and it was Sweden's gold medal win in 1994 that got hockey back on the tracks. So that's why there's been this renaissance of Swedes born in the late 90's.

Not sure why the American/Canadian crops were so bad in some of those years. Sometimes it's a bad sign when a D goes #1 and that happened four times (Hamrlik-Jovanovski-Berard-Phillips) in five years.

Edit: Here's the ESPN/Russia segment that burned a spot in my memory.

 

[johnjm22]

 

[kingsholygrail]

lol Those responses are great. Hockey is a contact sport. This is well within the rules. Great hit. Need more of it in the game. The hits we don't need are the flyby chin music hits. Through the body is how it's supposed to be done. Meier will remember to keep his head up next time when he tries to cut through defenders.

 

[ru4reals]

You can check out 2012 for a collection of disappointments by and large. Not your exact question, but that one's pretty brutal.

2012 was terrible no doubt but 1996 might just take the cake as the worst draft of all time.