LD Derrick Pouliot (2012, 8th overall, Pittsburgh)

[Analyzer*]

yeah of course this is really early to be discussing this

Pouliot might become a fine pro and thats fine - I'll eat my words if that happens

But it just makes you think especially when Forsberg has now signed an entry level deal with Washington of all teams

Radek Faksa signed with Dallas already. I guess Montreal should have drafted him instead of Alex "Unsigned" Galchenyuk.

Saying a team should have drafted someone else because they're signed is a weak argument.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Sure, but that doesn't erase the starkness of his problems, or the fact his biggest weakness is something that cant be taught...size. His struggles were blatent out there.

Certainly looks to be a bigger project than was necessary for an 8th pick, esp considering the impact it has on the outcome of the staal deal.

Aren't you the same poster who claimed Strait was small? Right...

There is a big difference between the physical maturity of a 17 year old and a 21 year old. DP isn't 5'9 he is 6 feet and has the frame to add plenty of bulk.

Beau Bennett just added 30 lbs in the last two years and many were concerned about his size when he was drafted at 174.

DP is several years away from the NHL, so it is beyond silly to worry about his size now.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Considering our glut of NHL-ready defense prospects (Strait, Bortuzzo, Dumoulin, Despres), it's probably good to have a couple longer-term guys anyway.

 

[ottawah]

Certainly looks to be a bigger project than was necessary for an 8th pick, esp considering the impact it has on the outcome of the staal deal.

Maybe, but many of those D men are projects anyways. Trouba and Koekkoek are for sure, picked right after him. Both are at least 3 years from NHL, much the same as Pouliott.

 

[ottawah]

Pouliot's close to 6'0" and he's 195 lbs. He can easily be 200+ lbs. by the time he's ready for the NHL.

Unfortunately thats still small by NHL d man standards. I think he clocked in a 5'11 195 at the combine. And with such an early b day his growth potential is no better than any of the others (other than probably Murray, 4 months older), and is some cases less (i.e. Dumba is 7 months younger).

You do not have to be 6'5 to make the NHL, but with the average size about 6'2. If you want to come in at 6 foot, you have to make up for it in other areas. Two inches sounds small, but thats generally 4 inches on your reach with a stick, which while not sounding like much, gives a huge defensive advantage.

To me its simple, with his size and lack of defensive instincts (yes he can work on it, but he'll never be a shut down dman). He'll make the NHL based on his ability to qb a PP and garner 40 points.

 

[sina220*]

Aren't you the same poster who claimed Strait was small? Right...

There is a big difference between the physical maturity of a 17 year old and a 21 year old. DP isn't 5'9 he is 6 feet and has the frame to add plenty of bulk.

Beau Bennett just added 30 lbs in the last two years and many were concerned about his size when he was drafted at 174.

DP is several years away from the NHL, so it is beyond silly to worry about his size now.

Yep, and considering how strait was manhandled in his callups Its a correct call. Hes one of the smallest on the ice each shift. And If you look at his advanced stats he was terrible, even for a small sample. Worst relative corsi on the team, by far. Worst relative plus minus, and one of the best percentage of offensive zone starts, 63%. That basically means many of his shifts started in our opponents end and finished in our goal.

Hes just not a very good or valuable nhl prospect. He doesn't have the size or quickness to handle nhl forwards. His brains get him by in the ahl, but hell need more up here and I dont think he has it.

Regarding dps size, he was measured at 5"11 195 at camp, n that could be generous. If thats true, there isn't much room to add bulk. Im 6' even, and he looks much shorter than me. But it wasn't just how small he was, he just looked nervous anytime he was in traffic. His skills weren't overly apparent either. Read the article in that link about pouliot, tiops guy saw the same things on day 1 I saw on day 5.

http://insidepittsburghsports.com/s...amp-scouting-reports-observations-buzz/50791/

And conversely im also the guy who likes samuelsson, and hes greatly improved his skating and looked really solid out there. I think you guys can start preparing to eat my shorts on strait and samuelsson in the next year or so.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Yep, and considering how strait was manhandled in his callups Its a correct call. Hes one of the smallest on the ice each shift. And If you look at his advanced stats he was terrible, even for a small sample. Worst relative corsi on the team, by far. Worst relative plus minus, and one of the best percentage of offensive zone starts, 63%. That basically means many of his shifts started in our opponents end and finished in our goal.

Hes just not a very good or valuable nhl prospect. He doesn't have the size or quickness to handle nhl forwards. His brains get him by in the ahl, but hell need more up here and I dont think he has it.

Regarding dps size, he was measured at 5"11 195 at camp, n that could be generous. If thats true, there isn't much room to add bulk. Im 6' even, and he looks much shorter than me. But it wasn't just how small he was, he just looked nervous anytime he was in traffic. His skills weren't overly apparent either. Read the article in that link about pouliot, tiops guy saw the same things on day 1 I saw on day 5.

http://insidepittsburghsports.com/s...amp-scouting-reports-observations-buzz/50791/

And conversely im also the guy who likes samuelsson, and hes greatly improved his skating and looked really solid out there. I think you guys can start preparing to eat my shorts on strait and samuelsson in the next year or so.

Strait was manhandled? Ok... You and I watched a completely different player.

Like I said before we have a complete 180 view on prospects.

 

[DekeLikeYouMeanIt]

In my limited-decent viewings, I saw his offensive talents but he makes the oddest decisions. Not sure if it will come with maturation. 2nd biggest mistake of the draft imo. Good thing the trade made up for it.

 

[Rolen]

Having watched Portland quite a bit, Puoliot is incredible offensively, but he is quite soft and needs to work on his defensive side. If you let him develop a few years, he could turn into a very good defensemen for Pittsburgh.

 

[Bennett Brauer]

In my limited-decent viewings, I saw his offensive talents but he makes the oddest decisions. Not sure if it will come with maturation. 2nd biggest mistake of the draft imo. Good thing the trade made up for it.

This is what I don't understand. How was it a mistake? The Penguins taking a player they watched and liked all year and showed enough confidence in to take him #8 is a mistake?

Ray Shero, Mario Lemeiux, and their scouting staff knows what they're doing, I think they know more about Pouliot than anyone here and I believe they know what to expect from him in the future.

Trust me, they're smart hockey guys, they know a few things about the sport and know what type of player Pouliot is.

 

[eXile59]

Yep, and considering how strait was manhandled in his callups Its a correct call. Hes one of the smallest on the ice each shift. And If you look at his advanced stats he was terrible, even for a small sample. Worst relative corsi on the team, by far. Worst relative plus minus, and one of the best percentage of offensive zone starts, 63%. That basically means many of his shifts started in our opponents end and finished in our goal.

Hes just not a very good or valuable nhl prospect. He doesn't have the size or quickness to handle nhl forwards. His brains get him by in the ahl, but hell need more up here and I dont think he has it.

Regarding dps size, he was measured at 5"11 195 at camp, n that could be generous. If thats true, there isn't much room to add bulk. Im 6' even, and he looks much shorter than me. But it wasn't just how small he was, he just looked nervous anytime he was in traffic. His skills weren't overly apparent either. Read the article in that link about pouliot, tiops guy saw the same things on day 1 I saw on day 5.

http://insidepittsburghsports.com/s...amp-scouting-reports-observations-buzz/50791/

And conversely im also the guy who likes samuelsson, and hes greatly improved his skating and looked really solid out there. I think you guys can start preparing to eat my shorts on strait and samuelsson in the next year or so.

What are you talking about? None of what you wrote is even remotely right. Strait is 6'1'' 200 lbs & he is small? He was never man handled. It sounds like he kicked your dog or something.

 

[spfan]

Thats why I said near elite. 50 points is a major achievement for a D man, a,d I do not see how you get that as a second pairing D man, not even close. That implies you are not one of the top 60 d men in the league, and generally speaking thats a 25 point player.

To me, Poulliot has to be a top pairing d man, and likely a 40 point guy to make the NHL. He's not exactly suited to a shutdown role or defensive pairing, he needs to be your top PP quarterback, or at worst pair with him.

As I said, with Letang,Martin,Orpik and Morrow,Maatta and Despres coming they will all be ahead of Pouliot in my opinion.

Lots of offensive d-men are on the 2nd pair. His style is too much like Letang's also, so they likely won't be paired together other than the PP. Pouliot is quite below average defensively so he's most likely not going to be a top pairing guy.

This is why I have no idea why Pouliot was their pick. Depth is good, but sometimes it becomes too much and other areas just become weak. Hopefully some get traded for top wingers which is a big need and they could have addressed it with Filip Forsberg! Also, it's not like Forsberg wasn't the BPA. I guess on their list he wasn't, but I will bet that Forsberg will be the better NHLer.

 

[ottawah]

What are you talking about? None of what you wrote is even remotely right. Strait is 6'1'' 200 lbs & he is small? He was never man handled. It sounds like he kicked your dog or something.

6'1 200 is under average sized for an NHL dman by an inch and 12 pounds. Depends on your definition of small of course, but below average size, absolutely.

 

[PensBeerGeek]

6'1 200 is under average sized for an NHL dman by an inch and 12 pounds. Depends on your definition of small of course, but below average size, absolutely.

Well, yes, but it's not like it's a -3 standard deviation outlier either.

 

[Cam98]

i can guarantee pouliot down the road will be a better dman in nhl then morrow. that's based off me watching bunch portland games this season. Kid is purely offensively gifted.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Yeah, but apparently he looked tentative in a scrimmage in July, so he's clearly a borederline bust already.

 

[R S]

i can guarantee pouliot down the road will be a better dman in nhl then morrow. that's based off me watching bunch portland games this season. Kid is purely offensively gifted.

No, you can't.

 

[nbducksfan19]

In my limited-decent viewings, I saw his offensive talents but he makes the oddest decisions. Not sure if it will come with maturation. 2nd biggest mistake of the draft imo. Good thing the trade made up for it.

Just out of curiosity, what did you consider the biggest mistake?

 

[Jesus Vitale]

I gotta say, this pick puzzled me. He's pretty small and seems to be much better at offense than defense. doesn't really seem like the kind of player to take at #8. but i'm not a GM or anything and hopefully it'll look a lot better a couple years from now.

 

[sina220*]

What are you talking about? None of what you wrote is even remotely right. Strait is 6'1'' 200 lbs & he is small? He was never man handled. It sounds like he kicked your dog or something.

he was on the ice for 5 goals against in 9 games at es, playing 12.5 mins a night. That's a goal every 22.4 mins. To compare the whipping boy, Paul martin was on the ice for 59 es goals in 1355 es minutes, or a goal against every 22.9 minutes. The only player worse is Michalek who was on for 51 against in 1102 es mins. Or a goal against ever 21.6 mins.

Strait was the 2nd easiest defender to score on while on the ice. And he has the lowest goals for while on ice average of any of our dmen, and the 3rd highest percent of offensive zone starts.

Basically a lot of his shifts started in their end and more negative came from them than positive. There's a much better chance were scored on while hes on the ice than there is of us scoring. That's the bottom line. Every single call-up performed better than him, and every regular besides Michalek did too.

 

[sina220*]

On straits size, I doubt hes 6'1", I've seen him up close and hes no taller than me at 6' even. Either way, sid is pretty small comparatively and strait has basically an inch on sid in height, and gives 5 lbs in weight. Would you consider Sidney Crosby a big defender if he played d? No, you wouldn't. And strait is barely bigger, if at all.

 

[R S]

I gotta say, this pick puzzled me. He's pretty small and seems to be much better at offense than defense. doesn't really seem like the kind of player to take at #8. but i'm not a GM or anything and hopefully it'll look a lot better a couple years from now.

Yes, that's true, but what does that matter exactly?

 

[wej20]

If anything you want to take guys with high offensive upside with your top half 1st rounders and like I said earlier defence is much easier to teach than offence.

 

[Dylonus]

Forsberg has now signed an entry level deal with Washington of all teams

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's because he's coming from overseas.

That means they can bring him here to America, let him play in the AHL (since he's an international player) and he can learn the NHL-style game in the AHL. It doesn't mean he'll make the Capitals roster.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

No, you can't.

Sure he can! He just might be wrong.