Why did Michael Dal Colle Bust?

[Mike C]

I can't believe the Islander's picked Dal Colle over Draisaitl,,,

He went after him but before Nylander, Ehlers, Fiala, Larkin, Tuch and other real NHL players

 

[abo9]

Because his last name has a ‘space’ in it. No decent NHL player has ever had that.

Michael Del Zotto played over 700 games on the back of a hot career start and a cool name with a space

 

[zar]

Michael Del Zotto played over 700 games on the back of a hot career start and a cool name with a space

I said ‘decent’.

 

[Jumptheshark]

There is a massive difference between jr and the nhl and until a player gets to the nhl, we have no idea how things will turn out

 

[SI90]

He was my favorite prospect in the draft and I was ecstatic at the time my isles drafted him. Thought he was going to be a premier goal scorer. His shot was lethal in junior. He didn’t carry the play or create so much on his own but when he was open in space he was close to can’t miss.

I don’t know if it was development or a mental thing but he was a good kid with the right attitude. Put up good numbers in the AHL too but just never got going in the NHL.
I spoke to his father Gus at the isles prospect camp after he was drafted and I was really pulling for him.

But the real reason he might have been a bust is because he was traded to Kingston from Oshawa. The Kingston curse is real! Ask @Sidney the Kidney


That was a tough first round for the isles in 2014. Dal Colle when we could
Have had Nylander. Also Pasternak went a few picks before Ho-Sang.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

He was my favorite prospect in the draft and I was ecstatic at the time my isles drafted him. Thought he was going to be a premier goal scorer. His shot was lethal in junior. He didn’t carry the play or create so much on his own but when he was open in space he was close to can’t miss.

I don’t know if it was development or a mental thing but he was a good kid with the right attitude. Put up good numbers in the AHL too but just never got going in the NHL.
I spoke to his father Gus at the isles prospect camp after he was drafted and I was really pulling for him.

But the real reason he might have been a bust is because he was traded to Kingston from Oshawa. The Kingston curse is real! Ask @Sidney the Kidney


That was a tough first round for the isles in 2014. Dal Colle when we could
Have had Nylander. Also Pasternak went a few picks before Ho-Sang.

*Shane Wright likes this

 

[isles55]

The real question is how he was universally considered a top prospect. 8 goals in 30 games at 19 for a goal scoring top prospect in juniors is embarrassing.

 

[JJ18Sniper]

A lot of it came down to skating, he couldn't create space for himself. He had a nice shot, which is why he put up numbers in junior... but it never felt like it came off the stick quick... there was a lag to getting it off and he couldn't create the time/space to do so.

He did become a 3rd line type of serviceable defensive player for Trotz for a short period of time (no offense, just responsible play), then he got injured and lost the spot.

 

[mm11]

Ehlers was my guy from a NYI standpoint. MDC, kid had the right attitude, just go swallowed up I guess as he progressed through the ranks.

 

[Figgy44]

Dal Colle looked like a can't miss in his highlights in his draft year. He easily looked like he could be on par with Bennett. I think a part of it was mental and off ice. From most reports, he doesn't play the same way he did prior to being drafted. I thought he lost a family member soon after being drafted... maybe I am mixing him up with someone. I always thought that might have affected his game.

There's plenty of accounts of the fact he had a great attitude, but if that's the case, I really don't get how he busted without injury or other major factors.

 

[Canovin]

Islanders held onto him too long. Maybe another team could have recover his career?

 

[HugeInTheShire]

He went after him but before Nylander, Ehlers, Fiala, Larkin, Tuch and other real NHL players

Pasta was also in this draft.

 

[Reality Czech]

Former Islander first rounder

So you're saying the Isles got Dal Colle in their stockings that year?

 

[Breakfast of Champs]

He's just not dynamic or fast enough , tbh I never liked him, I remember getting some MDC vs ehlers debates and I though it was ehlers by a landslide because his skating alone was going to take him to places MDC would never reach , but others saw the "polished, high IQ but less flashy" MDC as someone who would become a Scheifele or Monahan type player.

To be fair, I didn't think he would bust like he did, just that I didn't see him being anything more than a 2nd liner at best, which is a pretty bad ceiling as a top 5 pick. Hindsight is 20/20 but even at the time he was being massively overrated, he never once showed me anything where I thought to myself "wow that's going to work really well in the NHL" - he just never had it to me.

 

[Mike C]

Pasta was also in this draft.

Very true but he went late enough that I'll give the NYI a pass on missing him since many teams flubbed that one

 

[Nocashstyle]

Dal Colle was rated as a top 5 pick. 2014 was an insanely poor draft in hindsight. It’s funny because at the time, it wasn’t considered to be weak at all.

It’s also funny because they called the 2017 draft the weakest draft since 99 yet it produced Heiskanen, Pettersson, Makar, Robertson, Oettinger, Hischier, Suzuki and 10+ more good players.

Robert Thomas, Martin Necas, Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, Filip Chytil, Middlestadt, Owen Tipper, Gabe Vilardi…tons of productive NHLers.

The mass hysteria around the “weak draft” narrative that year is crazy to think about now. It turned out to be one of the deepest drafts of the decade.

 

[Mr Positive]

It shows that analyzing NHL potential out of performance in junior is not a perfect science, and probably never will be

It's like those players who don't look that great in lower leagues but look great in the NHL. It happens

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

MDC lacked the necessary foot speed, which only got worse as the league transitioned to faster and faster.

 

[rahad]

Dal Colle was rated as a top 5 pick. 2014 was an insanely poor draft in hindsight. It’s funny because at the time, it wasn’t considered to be weak at all.

It’s also funny because they called the 2017 draft the weakest draft since 99 yet it produced Heiskanen, Pettersson, Makar, Robertson, Oettinger, Hischier, Suzuki and 10+ more good players.

What do you mean by weak draft?

2014: Ekblad, Leon , Pastrnak, B Point, Nylander Larkin.

It has a good draft, if you ignore some of the bust in the top 10.

 

[WADEugottaBELAKthat]

Good player. Bad luck. Maybe Getting cut twice from WJC (Esposito treatment) ended up being the confidence guillotine.

 

[Pure Slaughter Value]

Eric Cairns wearing sneakers was a faster skater than Dal Colle.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

the Islanders bricked a lot of high draft picks from 2010 to 2020. They had a decent prior run of getting impact players like Tavares, Bailey, Okposo with top ten picks, but their next few years include Dal Colle at 5, Griffin Reinhart at 4, Ryan Strome at 5 (not a bust, but certainly a disappointment), Neiderreiter at 5 (ditto), and you might even throw in Wahlstrom at 11 if he doesn't step it up soon. I know you can do this for every team, but imagine those back-to-back ECFs against the Lightning if the Islanders had one or more of Tarasenko, Zibenejad, Reilly, Nylander on their roster instead.

 

[LemonSauceD]

What do you mean by weak draft?

2014: Ekblad, Leon , Pastrnak, B Point, Nylander Larkin.

It has a good draft, if you ignore some of the bust in the top 10.

It was worse than originally projected is what. I meant .

What do you mean by weak draft?

2014: Ekblad, Leon , Pastrnak, B Point, Nylander Larkin.

It has a good draft, if you ignore some of the bust in the top 10.

It was worse than originally projected is what I meant.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

A lot of it came down to skating, he couldn't create space for himself. He had a nice shot, which is why he put up numbers in junior... but it never felt like it came off the stick quick... there was a lag to getting it off and he couldn't create the time/space to do so.

He did become a 3rd line type of serviceable defensive player for Trotz for a short period of time (no offense, just responsible play), then he got injured and lost the spot.

I think the bolded was the issue with his shooting. He had a hard wrist shot/snap shot, but a slow release. In junior that gets masked because you often times have all day to line up your shot and aim for those corners. At the NHL level you have a fraction of that time and space, so often it's a quick release rather than a hard shot that beats goalies regularly.

Perfect example of this is a guy like Crosby. Velocity-wise he's got a pretty mediocre shot. Not much of a wrister and his snap shot isn't on par with the "elite" shooters. But where he makes up for it is in how quick his release is. He can snap off a shot before the goalie even has a chance to move. So even if it's going 5-10 mph slower than someone like Dal Colle's shot, the fact he gets it off quicker allows him to shoot before the defense can block it or the goalie can react.

And aside from his shot, Dal Colle didn't really have any other "elite" offensive ability. He wasn't fast, he wasn't even quick/evasive (like a Kane or Gaudreau). He's not a great playmaker or stickhandler, so he's not creating a lot for his linemates. And despite having a good wrister/snapper, his slapper and one-timers weren't anything special. So he didn't even have a Mike Hoffman-esque toolbox when it came to shooting.

 

[Panda Bear]

It was worse than originally projected is what. I meant.

I don't think you will find many people agreeing with you given that 2014 have us Draisaitl, Pastrnak, Point, Sorokin and Shesterkin.

The top ten picks were worse than originally projected, but the top five players in that draft and overall draft depth is similar to later years.