I see A LOT of people in the hockey media and on social media giving Jarmo and Co. the benefit of the doubt “because is Jarmo”. I’m here asking myself why he’s held in such regard. Besides the decision to pick Pierre Luc Dubois over Puljujarvi, their work in the first round has been pretty bad.
- Complete and utter disaster in 2013 with Wenneberg, Reicel, and Damo
- Milano is a pretty big disappointment
- Gabriel Carlson is meh
I’m not so sure why he gets so much praise draft wise as recent history proves his results to be mediocre at best. Chinakhov could be good but let’s not act like Jarmo is some fantastic drafter.
Trust me, I've been working on this for years on the CBJ board.
However, you're also not giving enough praise within your criticsms.
In 2013, there isn't too many players in that first round drafted after Wennberg who are better. And I believe Wennberg will rebound well in Florida. He's not a bad pick.
Rychel was bad. Jarmo and co. wanted Lazar. But Rychel was in fact flipped at the height of his value for Scott Harrington, who while isn't special, is certainly an upgrade on Rychel.
Dano was again nothing special. But he did have a massive spark when he was with the CBJ and allowed them to trade for Saad because of it. So while he maybe didn't pan out, Jarmo sold high on him and got an amazing return.
He also got Oliver Bjorkstrand in the third round. Which is very good.
2014 was a complete whiff. Elvis is good, and the rest is awful. Milano could still spark elsewhere though.
2015 was pretty good. Werenski is a stud. Nutivaara is great value in the 7th, and Gavrikov is a solid player. Carlsson was a massive whiff though.
2016 is still TBD. But obviously the right move was made with PLD-Puljujarvi. Peeke looks like a good player. Abramov was moved for a massive win now piece. The rest is nothing special.
2017-20 also TBD. We'll see. Texier looks good. Bemstrom has potential. Foudy has potential. Tarasov is one of the best young prospect goalies in the world. Marchenko has high potential. Chinakhov is having a good year.