GDT: NHL draft lottery

[kingsholygrail]

Year-to-Year

Break on through to the other side.

 

[Basilisk]

You can't be afraid to draft Russians just because of Prokhorkin.

There's also the Malkin situation, where he literally had to defect to play here. C'mon, peeps, it's not just Prokhorkin. Those Russian teams are owned/operated by the Russian mafia. If the Russian mafia doesn't want to lose one of their players, they'll go to very great (and by our country's standards, corrupt and illegal) measures to make sure their guys stay in Russia. And the higher the pick, the greater the likelihood that they'll be tied to Russia indefinitely. So, if we're talking about a 3rd overall pick, I'd be very, VERY hesitant to select a Russian.

 

[KopitarFAN]

There's also the Malkin situation, where he literally had to defect to play here. C'mon, peeps, it's not just Prokhorkin. Those Russian teams are owned/operated by the Russian mafia. If the Russian mafia doesn't want to lose one of their players, they'll go to very great (and by our country's standards, corrupt and illegal) measures to make sure their guys stay in Russia. And the higher the pick, the greater the likelihood that they'll be tied to Russia indefinitely. So, if we're talking about a 3rd overall pick, I'd be very, VERY hesitant to select a Russian.

There has been only one Russian drafted in the 1st round since 2000 that didn't come over, and he died tragically.