Dear ****ing god I forgot that. Jarmo just came. He'll probably nice an entire top line or a top unit defensively and a starter from the first round of this draft alone.
Ron Hextall Stays; Kekalainen to Become GM of the Columbus Blue Jackets
- Thread starter Telos
- Start date
Dear ****ing god I forgot that. Jarmo just came. He'll probably nice an entire top line or a top unit defensively and a starter from the first round of this draft alone.
kingsfan
President of the Todd McLellan fan club by default
Bingo. Hexy is a great option, but it's a lot of who you know in this game, and Davidson has a lot of respect for Keka. It should be his job to pass on. Besides, the one thing you know with Keka, as others have said, is that even if he doesn't do well as a GM, he'll likely still leave the BJ's with a likely successful draft legacy, meaning that team may have some success just due to that alone.
There will be a lot fewer Nikita Filatov's and Gilbert Brule's and Alexandre Picard's in Columbus' future I would presume.
Either that or this organization really is cursed.
Ziggy Stardust
Master Debater
Wondering if (or when) the time comes and another team hires Hextall as GM, if the Kings would receive a compensatory draft pick. If some of you may recall, the Kings gave up a 2nd round pick to the Flyers when they hired Dean Lombardi. Here's an article from Pierre LeBrun discussing the topic of compensatory picks for teams hiring staff from other clubs.
http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/15404/execs-call-for-revival-of-team-compensation
The Flyers received LA's 2nd pick (42nd overall, used to select Michael Ratchuk) in 2006 for hiring Lombardi.
http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/15404/execs-call-for-revival-of-team-compensation
The Flyers received LA's 2nd pick (42nd overall, used to select Michael Ratchuk) in 2006 for hiring Lombardi.
King'sPawn
Enjoy the chaos
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So to you, the Monarchs either need to have no veterans as they do, or they have a team full of veterans like the Bears? No grey area?
I think that the Kings can retain their youth, develop their youth, AND complement their roster with a little bit of additional top end experience (one or two players) to give them additional playoff success to boost their confidence and work on their timing.
That's just me though.
And the point is, we're talking about running a team at the NHL level, where teams obviously don't succeed with a team full of young players. What has Hextall done to show he would be a good fit running an NHL team?
Ziggy Stardust
Master Debater
Absolutely right move. Going to be a fun draft to me as I'm a BIG fan of Jarmo and look forward to see what he does.
damacles1156
Registered User
- Feb 5, 2010
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Moses Doughty
Registered User
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Holden Caulfield
He's guilty
The ability to evaluate talent, when to sign somebody to the big deal, when to deal somebody, which FA to sign, which to avoid, who to target in trades, who to draft, that all translate over very literally.
Yes you have to rely on your scouts, particularly in the Amateur Draft, but you cannot do everything even as Head of Amateur Scouting, so he was relying on other people already somewhat. This just gives him final say over the draft, although I had heard that he was granted that in St. Louis in his final years as well. So he should have no problem keeping that scouting and now his excellent eye for talent will be evaluating the whole organization instead of just the upcoming draft.
kingsfan
President of the Todd McLellan fan club by default
Well said Holden.
When you are Director of Amatuer Scouting for an organization, all you essentially are is the Chief Scout. You assemble a scouting staff (along with the GM, Asst. GM, etc.) and talk and meet with them regularly about the draft, but at the end of the day you are often relying on their information to formulate your draft list. For the higher end prospects, such as those from the top 2-3 rounds, I'm sure Keka would have watched them play, several times in some cases, but for some of the guys in the later rounds, there's a good chance Keka was drafting players he may have never seen before.
The real skill of a good Director of Amatuer Scouting is being able to build a solid scouting staff that can evaluate talent well and project it as accurately as possible towards a professional career (IE, can this guy play at the NHL level). That skill won't go away because he's a GM.
The successful GM's are usually backed by a skilled Director of Amatuer Scouting. Look at DL, he's backed by Futa.
Now this doesn't always work out. Craig Button for instance was well noted as a very good scouting eye in the 90's with Dallas, as was responsible for selections such as Jarome Iginla. He was Director of Scouting for the Stars from 1992-1998 (1992 being as the Minnesota Stars), and during that time 27 out of the 60 players selected reached the NHL, which is a phenomenal 45 per cent. Of that, 14 went on to have what I call legit careers (164 games as a forward, 82 games as a goalie, which is the equivalent of two full NHL seasons as a skater and two half-seasons as a goalie).
If you factor in 1988 to 1991, when Button was involved in the scouting department of the Minnesota Northstars, the Stars had 18 of 44 players drafted reach the NHL -9 of which had the above described legit careers-, which is a 41 per cent success rate, showing Button had a better success rate despite having largely lower picks than what the Northstars had from 1988 to 1991 (1988 for example they had the first overall pick, Mike Modano). Additionally, Button served as Director of Player Personnal for the Stars from 1998 until 200 when he left to become the Flames GM, meaning he was still involved in the draft process at that point as well. For those two seasons, the Stars had 8 of 21 drafted players reach the NHL, with four having legit careers. That is a 38 per cent success rate.
Overall, very impressive.
As we all know though, that didn't translate over to the GM chair, where Button produced a lot of ill advised trades (Marc Savard for Ruslan Zainullin anyone?), poor coaching choices, brutal contracts ($19 million for 4 years of Roman Turek) and just a general chaos around the organization.
His drafting prowess did somewhat translate over though. While Button was let go after the 2002-2003 season, his fingerprints were all over that draft year given it was scouted and done by his department. So looking at the 200-2003 draft history of the Flames, they had 17 of 41 drafted players reach the NHL, which is a 41 per cent rate, with eight being legit careers. However, if you remove the 2000 draft, which was largely scouted by the former Flames scouting staff, and the Dion Phanuef pick in 2003, which was largely viewed as a Darryl Sutter pick and not a Button selection, then that rate falls to 10 out of 31, or 32 per cent, with only four legit careers.
Btw, for those interested in Mike Futa's record with the Kings, it's usually not wise to assess a draft until at least five years afterward, so that leaves only the 2007 draft for Futa (Dave Taylor's old staff did the 2006 draft under Lombardi). From the 2007 draft, we had 10 picks, and five have reached the NHL so far, Thomas Hickey, Oscar Moller, Wayne Simmonds, Alec Martinez and Dwight King). Only Moller is no longer in the NHL from that group.
When you are Director of Amatuer Scouting for an organization, all you essentially are is the Chief Scout. You assemble a scouting staff (along with the GM, Asst. GM, etc.) and talk and meet with them regularly about the draft, but at the end of the day you are often relying on their information to formulate your draft list. For the higher end prospects, such as those from the top 2-3 rounds, I'm sure Keka would have watched them play, several times in some cases, but for some of the guys in the later rounds, there's a good chance Keka was drafting players he may have never seen before.
The real skill of a good Director of Amatuer Scouting is being able to build a solid scouting staff that can evaluate talent well and project it as accurately as possible towards a professional career (IE, can this guy play at the NHL level). That skill won't go away because he's a GM.
The successful GM's are usually backed by a skilled Director of Amatuer Scouting. Look at DL, he's backed by Futa.
Now this doesn't always work out. Craig Button for instance was well noted as a very good scouting eye in the 90's with Dallas, as was responsible for selections such as Jarome Iginla. He was Director of Scouting for the Stars from 1992-1998 (1992 being as the Minnesota Stars), and during that time 27 out of the 60 players selected reached the NHL, which is a phenomenal 45 per cent. Of that, 14 went on to have what I call legit careers (164 games as a forward, 82 games as a goalie, which is the equivalent of two full NHL seasons as a skater and two half-seasons as a goalie).
If you factor in 1988 to 1991, when Button was involved in the scouting department of the Minnesota Northstars, the Stars had 18 of 44 players drafted reach the NHL -9 of which had the above described legit careers-, which is a 41 per cent success rate, showing Button had a better success rate despite having largely lower picks than what the Northstars had from 1988 to 1991 (1988 for example they had the first overall pick, Mike Modano). Additionally, Button served as Director of Player Personnal for the Stars from 1998 until 200 when he left to become the Flames GM, meaning he was still involved in the draft process at that point as well. For those two seasons, the Stars had 8 of 21 drafted players reach the NHL, with four having legit careers. That is a 38 per cent success rate.
Overall, very impressive.
As we all know though, that didn't translate over to the GM chair, where Button produced a lot of ill advised trades (Marc Savard for Ruslan Zainullin anyone?), poor coaching choices, brutal contracts ($19 million for 4 years of Roman Turek) and just a general chaos around the organization.
His drafting prowess did somewhat translate over though. While Button was let go after the 2002-2003 season, his fingerprints were all over that draft year given it was scouted and done by his department. So looking at the 200-2003 draft history of the Flames, they had 17 of 41 drafted players reach the NHL, which is a 41 per cent rate, with eight being legit careers. However, if you remove the 2000 draft, which was largely scouted by the former Flames scouting staff, and the Dion Phanuef pick in 2003, which was largely viewed as a Darryl Sutter pick and not a Button selection, then that rate falls to 10 out of 31, or 32 per cent, with only four legit careers.
Btw, for those interested in Mike Futa's record with the Kings, it's usually not wise to assess a draft until at least five years afterward, so that leaves only the 2007 draft for Futa (Dave Taylor's old staff did the 2006 draft under Lombardi). From the 2007 draft, we had 10 picks, and five have reached the NHL so far, Thomas Hickey, Oscar Moller, Wayne Simmonds, Alec Martinez and Dwight King). Only Moller is no longer in the NHL from that group.
Whiskeypete
Registered User
done and over. hextall stays in LA
Pierre LeBrun @Real_ESPNLeBrun
John Davidson makes it official: Jarmo Kekalainen is the new Jackets GM
The Mayor John Hoven @mayorNHL
RT @Aportzline #CBJ make it official, name Jarmo Kekalainen GM; he becomes first European GM in NHL history
Pierre LeBrun @Real_ESPNLeBrun
John Davidson makes it official: Jarmo Kekalainen is the new Jackets GM
The Mayor John Hoven @mayorNHL
RT @Aportzline #CBJ make it official, name Jarmo Kekalainen GM; he becomes first European GM in NHL history
kingsfan
President of the Todd McLellan fan club by default
Either would have been a worthy choice. I'm glad for Keka though, hopefully he does well and removes any barriers Europeans have to getting into NHL management.
Whiskeypete
Registered User
great point. it's going to happen imo, it is just a matter of time. it wont surprise me if and when I Larionov gets a job also
etherialone
dialed in your mom
Excellent post.
I would only add that looking through the rest of MF's (and co) draft record I believe that we could end up seeing a 40+% track record (less than 50% but close) from the years 07 to 12. Having 40 percent of your picks make it to the NHL is truly impressive. Especially when you consider how many of them aren't necessarily "safe" picks.
We are seeing a truly great scouting staff at work.
kingsfan
President of the Todd McLellan fan club by default
We are 50% reaching the NHL from the 2007 draft, and if Campbell plays with the Kings in the coming days, that would be 5/9 from the 2008 draft already having played in the NHL. As for 2009, we already have 3 of 10 picks reaching the NHL, and of the other 7 players only one (Michael Pelech) is likely written off as having a possible NHL future.
If Kitsyn comes over and Weal can adjust to the pro rigors, we could easily go five for five in 2010 as well.
Still hard to say how things will play out for sure, but 2009 and 2010 could be really special drafts when all is said and done. maybe no star players (though that is possible as well with Toffoli, Schenn, etc.) but there could be a long list of regular NHLers coming from those two drafts.
Buddy The Elf
Kings!
Who knows what choice he would have made if all 30 teams offered him a job but I remember him mentioning a quote by Gretzky that gave him inspiration to take the job or maybe it came shortly after. It was something along the lines of "if you can win in LA, there is nothing like it". I think DL saw it as a challenge and a great opportunity given ownership bought his sales pitch hook, line and sinker.
Butch 19
Go cart Mozart
this ^^^^
and I'll always like Jack. I'd like to see his team do well (except when playing the Kings of course - and as long as the Kings can score after regulation time should have expired)
Buddy The Elf
Kings!
I remember the video from the draft a few years ago where they were detailing the Blue draft and they were showing this guy's methods. He seems to know his stuff but I remember him seeming a bit creepy staring at guy's legs and showing the "skating muscle". I was like "is that what you call it"? mmmm hmmmm!
KINGS17
Smartest in the Room
- Apr 6, 2006
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I think he understands what his #1 priority is in that job. Unfortunately for Monarchs' fans it probably will never translate into being a championship season.
I am hoping that the Kings can develop a Red Wing mentality. Now that the organization has an identity, I would like to see them promote from within. Hopefully, in 2-3 years Dean moves up a notch and Hextall becomes the GM of the Kings.
Well, it is not like he was disappointed or unhappy with the appointment. Like always, Dean began calling everyone and getting their opinions on the situation and called Gretzky. He's always been really good at researching experiences.
I am mostly refuting the notion that GM's pass on teams until they get one they like or their favorite opportunity comes a long. You take what you can get, there are only 30 jobs, and it may be years before another opportunity becomes available. If you luck out and get the perfect assignment, great, but in all likeliness, you will be joining a random, struggling, organization.
Yzerman lucked out a little in getting Tampa, given their potential, but I doubt very many people would have associated him with Tampa a year prior, nor even he himself if you had asked him, candidly, what his ideal job would be after retirement. In public, I am sure he'd say that he would like to manage an organization, and that no matter what, they are all good ones, or that he is 'highly selective or looking for a great opportunity', but in actuality he is just waiting around for the next available gig and then will say how lucky he is to join such an organization and other such PR.
Bottom line, you take what you can get.
etherialone
dialed in your mom
Absolutely true.
I was trying to be seem less "optimistic" but why bother. You are perfectly right, we could see much higher than 50% and anything over that is just astronomical. I was going to post the entire MF and co draft from 07 through 12 and give my opinion(s) on each player and which I think will make the nhl but I think I have done allot of posting lately and am better taken in small doses.
To me, it starts with drafting talented players and getting them to the NHL. If they make it to the NHL then that is a success in my opinion on one level.
Then it is about drafting players who can replace or improve existing positions and the need presents itself (or a combination of the two).
If you can do that 1/3 of the time you are considered good at your job as an NHL scout. If you can do that 40% of the time you are exceptional and anything over that makes you elite imo.
We are already exceptional and are about to become elite or at least we are the way I see things.
Luc Gretzky
Registered User
- Jun 24, 2012
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