What ever happened to ... thread?

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Smith had terrible hockey IQ but wonderful hockey instincts. When you put him in the playoffs and it was just go time? He was really good, because he didn't have time to think, he just acted. Babcock completely destroyed what made him good in trying to sand off the rough edges to his game.

Smith overthought all of his moves and secondguessed himself into oblivion.

 

[GMR]

This thread reminds me how awful Ken Holland was at drafting for most of his tenure.

 

[PelagicJoe]

Man this thread is depressing. All it says is that Holland and our scouts at the time couldn't draft for shit and that Babcock and the rest of the coaching staff couldn't develop talent for shit.

 

[Perfect Human]

Matias Ritola
Axel Holmstrom

 

[jaster]

Surprised it took this long to say Mr. Silver Lining.

Jan Mursak, has been very good in Europe, I still think he was a NHL player that just never caught a break injury wise while over here. He did make the NHL though, so maybe a little off in terms of theme we are going for, though other NHL guys have been listed too.

I met Jan Mursak after a Griffins game outside Van Andel back in the day. I was like, "dude, I'm half Slovenian, my grandparents were born there, really pulling for ya!" And he was like, "Oh ok, well, see ya later."

Very anti-climactic. Not even really worth sharing, but I was feeling cute, might delete later.

 

[jaster]

Bryan Rufenach died in Switzerland in a freak accident

Man, I totally forgot about that one. Didn't he get electrocuted or something?

 

[Frk It]

I met Jan Mursak after a Griffins game outside Van Andel back in the day. I was like, "dude, I'm half Slovenian, my grandparents were born there, really pulling for ya!" And he was like, "Oh ok, well, see ya later."

Very anti-climactic. Not even really worth sharing, but I was feeling cute, might delete later.

Met Pulkkinen and Frk after a game. Frk signed a ticket stub for me, but no clue where that ended up lol.

Pulkkinen listed at 5’11 is like dudes that lie on their dating profiles.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Man this thread is depressing. All it says is that Holland and our scouts at the time couldn't draft for shit and that Babcock and the rest of the coaching staff couldn't develop talent for shit.

Most NHL teams can't draft for shit nor develop talent for shit. When you really look at it, the top teams landed in the course of a decade or more like three guys who were truly great. Drafting is hard AF.

 

[Perfect Human]

Bootland

 

[Bench]

Met Pulkkinen and Frk after a game. Frk signed a ticket stub for me, but no clue where that ended up lol.

Pulkkinen listed at 5’11 is like dudes that lie on their dating profiles.

You didn't see him in his Timberlands. Not a fair judgement, bro.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Man, I totally forgot about that one. Didn't he get electrocuted or something?

Yep, from a streetcar or something along those lines.

 

[Oddbob]

UH OH, I feel this is going to turn into a Jan Mursak, Teemu Pulkkinen, Calle Jarnkrok thread!

 

[Pavels Dog]

Surprised it took this long to say Mr. Silver Lining.

Jan Mursak, has been very good in Europe, I still think he was a NHL player that just never caught a break injury wise while over here. He did make the NHL though, so maybe a little off in terms of theme we are going for, though other NHL guys have been listed too.

Even in the SHL, Mursak’s lack of talent is apparent. He can skate.. that’s about it.

 

[SoupGuru]

I really appreciated what Joakim Andersson brought to the team back in the day.

 

[waltdetroit]

Man, I totally forgot about that one. Didn't he get electrocuted or something?

Official Site of the National Hockey League | NHL.com

The official National Hockey League website including news, rosters, stats, schedules, teams, and video.

www.nhl.com

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Here's a total blast from the past.

Jari Tolsa at eliteprospects.com

I always thought that Tolsa could have made it in a 3rd/4th line role and been something like Magnus Arvidsson or PJ Axelsson. He was a pretty decent skater and a good worker. I think it was just a numbers game with the 00's wings wanting their roster stockpiled.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Yuri Butsayev is another oldy but a goodie.

Yuri Butsayev at eliteprospects.com

I remember watching him with Detroit and wondered what the hell they were thinking by picking this guy.

 

[Voodoo Glow Skulls]

Grigorenko
Nedomlel

 

[RabidBadger]

What rock did Stephen Weiss crawl under after his Wings tenure?

 

[Electric Eric]

What rock did Stephen Weiss crawl under after his Wings tenure?

I've always thought it was odd that he never played again after his injury filled time with the Wings. Was he that broken?

 

[SuperScript29]

Interesting thread, so since the blooming of the Datsyuk/Zetterberg picks, I always looked for similar potential picks. Surely enough, we had some more successful later picks with the likes of Hudler, Filppula, Franzen, etc, which are not Dats/Z level, but respectable. So here's my list:

2001: Igor Grigorenko
2004: Evan McGrath and Gennady Stolyarov
2005: Christofer Lofberg and Johan Ryno
2006: Dick Axelsson
2009: Andrej Nestrasil and Adam Almquist
2010: Teemu Pulkkinen
2011: Tomas Jurco, Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, Marek Tvrdon, Mattias Backman, and Alexey Marchenko (Yes, I really thought we killed it in this draft lol).
2012: Martin Frk

Needless to say, I started to see that the likes of Datsyuk/Zetterberg are once in a lifetime thing, so I stopped believing in the late Hakan picks in the recent years and was hoping we start moving up in the first round.

 

[USMarine]

Hampus Melen hasnt even begun to peak yet

 

[Henkka]

2011: Tomas Jurco, Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, Marek Tvrdon, Mattias Backman, and Alexey Marchenko (Yes, I really thought we killed it in this draft lol).

They should have called Yzerman who to draft....

2011:

#35 Tomas Jurco
#48 Xavier Ouellet
#55 Ryan Sproul
#58 Nikita Kucherov
#104 Marek Tvrdon (0 NHL games)
#145 Mattias Backman (0 NHL games)
#148 Nikita Nesterov (170 NHL games)
#205 Alexey Marchenko
#208 Ondrej Palat

 

[chances14]

Smith had terrible hockey IQ but wonderful hockey instincts. When you put him in the playoffs and it was just go time? He was really good, because he didn't have time to think, he just acted. Babcock completely destroyed what made him good in trying to sand off the rough edges to his game.

Smith overthought all of his moves and secondguessed himself into oblivion.

smith was a classic "had all the tools in the toolbox just couldn't figure out how to use them" guy. With proper development and good coaching, he could have been a really good player

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Interesting thread, so since the blooming of the Datsyuk/Zetterberg picks, I always looked for similar potential picks. Surely enough, we had some more successful later picks with the likes of Hudler, Filppula, Franzen, etc, which are not Dats/Z level, but respectable. So here's my list:

2001: Igor Grigorenko
2004: Evan McGrath and Gennady Stolyarov
2005: Christofer Lofberg and Johan Ryno
2006: Dick Axelsson
2009: Andrej Nestrasil and Adam Almquist
2010: Teemu Pulkkinen
2011: Tomas Jurco, Xavier Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, Marek Tvrdon, Mattias Backman, and Alexey Marchenko (Yes, I really thought we killed it in this draft lol).
2012: Martin Frk

Needless to say, I started to see that the likes of Datsyuk/Zetterberg are once in a lifetime thing, so I stopped believing in the late Hakan picks in the recent years and was hoping we start moving up in the first round.

Grigorenko is a couldabeen that became a neverwas because of a terrible car crash. The dude is practically part cyborg with how much metal he has in his hip and leg. If it weren't for that injury Grigorenko would have been the type of player to score 35+ per year after the 2005 lockout. Amazing shot, hands and agility.

Johan Ryno and Dick Axelsson are two guys I had really high hopes for. Both went on to have pretty solid SHL careers but neither guy wanted to work their way up from Grand Rapids to the bigs. I don't know what the hell was going on with GR and the team's developmental staff from 2007 to 2013. It seems like it was a gong show when you look at the near misses we had.