Islanders get first overall pick
The Mad Ape
5th Pick - LA Kings
4th Pick - Atlanta Thrashers
3rd Pick - Colorado Avalanche
2nd Pick - Tampa Bay Lightning
1st Pick - NY Islanders
The Mad Ape
www.tatumba.com
yoyodog
"The Mad Ape" <chie...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:gs3991$een$1...@news.motzarella.org...
That means that Tampa Bay will get Tavares. The Isles will take Victor
Hedman. Their need for a huge game changing defenseman far outweighs their
need for Tavares.
Think Zdeno Chara in orange and blue.
With Tavares going to Tampa Bay, wtach the Vinnie to Montreal rumors go into
overdrive after the draft
The Mad Ape
At this stage I would go for Kovalchuk. I think he is a better player
and his contract can be designed more creatively than the one the Habs
would inherit with Lecalvier. I like Vinnny as a Hab, but the cap hit is
too high. Kovalchuk has similar size and grit but has more offensive skill.
The Mad Ape
www.tatumba.com
Mike
league with Komi signed.
Mike
Kiss Tavares good bye Burkey
BWHA HA HA HA HA HA HA
penco
>
> - Show quoted text -
Wow... anything but a french player eh???? You anglos are really
somethimg. Well you anglo fuck , watch as a bunch muckers kick gaineys
anglo's ass and price's drunk indian ass out in the first round.
penco
Whos Burkey and what does he have to do with the habs???
marty
news:49e53273$0$5467$9a56...@news.aliant.net:
> Think JayBo man - younger and would give the Habs THE best D in the
> league with Komi signed.
Think cap hit guys. Think about the fact we never sign a truly #1 profile
free agent. Think about the trade cost for Kovalchuk.
Not saying I wouldn't love to have these guys. I truly would, but these are
dream scenarios. The reality is likely to be much different. In fact, if
you really want a star, Vinney would remain the most liekly option, though
I believe it has to be for far less that the absurd trade scenarios floated
mid-season suggesting the Habs had to dismantle half their team and a large
part of their future to get him. As stated, his contract should lower his
trade value, not enhance it. IMO, Vinney's value should be a little similar
to Jaromir Jagr's value when he was dumped from a terrible Washington team
which could go nowhere with him.
Gerry
> Think Zdeno Chara in orange and blue.
Hedman has none of the intimidation factor of Chara.
Think Jay Bouwmeester in silver and navy.
Tavares gets the orange and blue... or blue and white. :)
l8r,
Gerry
Mike
about the same for a much older player. JayBo could be had for a similar
hit without the loss of anyone. Also think about the experience and
attitude he could show our up and coming D. Guys like McDonagh and
Fisher. JayBo would be an investment in their development and an
investment in the D of this team for years to come.
If I was Gainey I would have him on my radar and would offer him the moon.
yoyodog
"Gerry" <ger...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8f955000-30b3-4e3d...@a23g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
On Apr 14, 8:33 pm, "yoyodog" <NOS...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Think Zdeno Chara in orange and blue.
>> Hedman has none of the intimidation factor of Chara.
Give the kid a break will ya? He hasn't even been drafted yet! But he's a
pretty close match to Chara, size wise and dominating wise... The rest,
leadership skills, shot etc will have to "wait and see"
>> Think Jay Bouwmeester in silver and navy.
>>Tavares gets the orange and blue... or blue and white. :)
Not according to every single NY hockey analyst (all 3 teams), NY press, NY
area mock drafts. They all state the same thing. Islanders need to improve
on defense is 10X more important than drafting a guy of Tavares' skills.
Personally, I think they'd win either way.
Gerry
> "Gerry" <gerr...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:8f955000-30b3-4e3d...@a23g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
> On Apr 14, 8:33 pm, "yoyodog" <NOS...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > Think Zdeno Chara in orange and blue.
> >> Hedman has none of the intimidation factor of Chara.
>
> Give the kid a break will ya? He hasn't even been drafted yet! But he's a
> pretty close match to Chara, size wise and dominating wise... The rest,
> leadership skills, shot etc will have to "wait and see"
I don't think he's close to Chara size wise or dominating wise. I
admit that's based on limited international viewing. _For his age_ it
sounds like he plays quite well in the Elitserien. But you probably
can't say he's "dominating" there either... natural, and fair enough,
again given his age. But therefore any domination is still just a
projection.
I don't think he needs any breaks from me or anybody else. 1st or 2nd
overall and a comparison to Jay Bouwmeester should still be considered
massive compliments. I just don't see why his (sometimes exaggerated)
size should so frequently translate into automatic comparisons to
Pronger or Chara, given that I don't see (or read) any signs
whatsoever that he plays like those players.
> >> Think Jay Bouwmeester in silver and navy.
> >>Tavares gets the orange and blue... or blue and white. :)
>
> Not according to every single NY hockey analyst (all 3 teams), NY press, NY
> area mock drafts. They all state the same thing. Islanders need to improve
> on defense is 10X more important than drafting a guy of Tavares' skills.
>
> Personally, I think they'd win either way.
But they already have Streit... ?! (And I don't see any gamebreaking
forwards in their lineup either!!)
Anyway, I have confidence that if the Isles retain the pick they will
pick the best player available, and in this case, that is Tavares.
The best player available isn't always obvious at every point in the
draft, and in such cases picking based on the positional depth chart
is a fair option. However, at 1st overall, they shouldn't need to
resort to that. So they'll take Tavares. (Still subjectively stating
that Tavares *IS* the best player, but understanding that not
_everybody_ in the world agrees with that, and noting that the Isles
have traditionally (largely to their detriment in the last two decades
or so) shown a capacity for not always siding with the consensus).
l8r,
Gerry
yoyodog
l8r,
Gerry
All good points. I was just pointing out what people here in NY were
saying/predicting.
I guess we'll know on draft day.
marty
news:49e5d141$0$5465$9a56...@news.aliant.net:
> marty wrote:
>> Mike <mi...@gmail.com> wrote in
>> news:49e53273$0$5467$9a56...@news.aliant.net:
>>
>>> Think JayBo man - younger and would give the Habs THE best D in the
>>> league with Komi signed.
>>
>> Think cap hit guys. Think about the fact we never sign a truly #1
>> profile free agent. Think about the trade cost for Kovalchuk.
>>
>> Not saying I wouldn't love to have these guys. I truly would, but
>> these are dream scenarios. The reality is likely to be much
>> different. In fact, if you really want a star, Vinney would remain
>> the most liekly option, though I believe it has to be for far less
>> that the absurd trade scenarios floated mid-season suggesting the
>> Habs had to dismantle half their team and a large part of their
>> future to get him. As stated, his contract should lower his trade
>> value, not enhance it. IMO, Vinney's value should be a little similar
>> to Jaromir Jagr's value when he was dumped from a terrible Washington
>> team which could go nowhere with him.
> Actually Marty if you're talking about cap hit, Vinny's cap hit would
> be about the same for a much older player.
The second part of what I said was "think about the fact we never sign a
truly #1 profile free agent." At least with Vinney you'd have a situation
where his reservations of playing in Montreal might be overwhelmed by his
desire to get off a loser team like Tampa with its meddling owners. That,
and the fact he doesn't have a no-trade clause means Montreal could just
trade for him I suppose, he doesn't really have a choice.
Bowmeester, OTOH, would likely be like all free agents before him and
would likly shun Montreal's offers for whatever reason. Perference for a
sunny destination, fear of the big spotlight, the taxes, the cold
winters, the language issues...whatever it is that causes players to
entertain Habs offers, but typically go elsewhere in the end.
JayBo could be had for a
> similar hit without the loss of anyone. Also think about the
> experience and attitude he could show our up and coming D. Guys like
> McDonagh and Fisher. JayBo would be an investment in their development
> and an investment in the D of this team for years to come.
>
> If I was Gainey I would have him on my radar and would offer him the
> moon.
Sure, I'd throw some money at him, but $8 million per season? If that's
what it takes?
Maybe it's time to think waaay outside the box. Let all the UFA's walk
for a year, totally tank, get a great draft pick then rebuild quickly the
next season when a much lower cap number kicks in and no one has the
money to sign any free agents! We scoop up a bunch at reduced prices. You
see, there is no pending UFA's on this team for 2 years from now, so you
could totally tank for a season and no one is running for the exits. You
sign your RFA's and a new group of UFA's at reduced prices and pull of a
"Philly". Quick collapse, quick re-build, but better planned.
Of course, this really does mean letting almost all the UFA's go. Saku,
Alexi, Tanguay, Schneider, whomever. Only possibly go for Komisarek if
he's willing to take a big hit given his rough season. Otherwise, figure
the same principal applies. That is, next season a free agent of his
calibre could be signed for much less, and bidding wars for services will
be much smaller.
I think maybe I'll flush out these thoughts in another post. But if
there's no play-off miracle, I think there could be reasons to be more
cutthroat and bold. In the past I was never much for tanking, but the new
NHL offers the ability to rebuild quickly, and a big drop-off in the cap
(which is supposed to lag the economy by a year) may offer the
opportunity from a crisis.
Marty
marty
sort of terrible progression for a young player? How is he not being
seriously dinged by scouts for this? It's almost unhead of for a player to
have actually a little better PPG pace at 16 than at 17 or 18 in the same
league. I'm confused...?
Gerry
But his circumstances and overall play have changed rather
dramatically in each of those years.
When he was 16 was when he actually made his reputation as a one-
dimensional scorer with skating worries. I think that was the best
team he played on, however, and he had a perfect fit in his linemates
that year with Clutterbuck making tons of room for him.
Last year he started to modify his game, clearly got stronger and more
steady on his feet, started using his vision and his puckhandling
skills a lot more. He'd try to beat players 1-on-1, you could even
read articles from veteran OHL observers comparing his style of play
more to Gretzky than the traditional Bossy/Hull comparisons from the
year before. That was a weird team he was on, though. They had
pretty good firepower and picked up more during the season thinking it
would be a potential championship run for them, but the team really
fell apart down the stretch. There were changes in coaching and later
in the front office. Kind of like the way our Habs have fallen apart
to end this season. :)
Then this year, he started off on an Oshawa team that had really
basically packed it in, and he was playing big minutes, all
situations, really leaned on to do everything. His 2-way play was
good, his skating and strength clearly much better, but he couldn't
put up a 2-pt-per-game pace purely on his own. I'm not sure if he has
been burned out since the WJC and the trade to London or what,
though... to me, he hasn't been the same player (although
statistically 30 goals in 20 games after the trade is pretty
amazing).
The overall progression year-to-year has been good for him, IMHO, and
it transcends stats. But what kind of worries me is his playoffs,
last two years running really. The whole Oshawa team last year was in
a funk, so maybe it could be overlooked that Tavares was funking along
with them. This year, he still seems to be on the periphery most
games, though. Kadri and Carlson seem to be more consistent forces to
me. Although obviously he's getting a lot of attention from the
opposition. But still, it's not the superstar version of Tavares that
I was expecting or I think that scouts were hoping for in his playoff
swan song from the OHL.
To me, he actually does look bored in the OHL, and has for most of 2
years now. But it's a fine line and a subjective one to predict
whether that boredom will translate into a stagnation in his overall
development and contribute to limiting his ultimate potential... or...
if he'll just put it all together automatically once he's faced with a
real challenge in the NHL next season and never miss a beat.
End of the day, I think the weight of evidence (still subjective
evidence) is on his side... he has hands like nobody else. He can
score anywhere, any way, he not only gets in the spots to score but he
creates the spots to score. He's a marvelous stickhandler and
passer. Those elements get overlooked by most casual observers of his
game IMHO. But he is probably the best passer in the OHL right now.
He seems to be in his sniper mode again and isn't showing it as much,
but he can saucer passes and create plays with the best of them. For
a while last year and early this year, I think he was actually getting
too cute too often with his stickwork, though. That's probably part
of the boredom factor. I'm going to find it really interesting to see
how he develops as a pro, because he seems to be more effective as a
finisher, but at the same time with all the other tools he possesses I
think the upside is there for him to be a total-package offensive
superstar.
And then his character and maturity seem to be right where they need
to be for his development into an NHL star. I know people around the
OHL have a few observations on that, but to me, you just need to hear
him talk to realize he "gets it". He has had a lot of expectations
and pressure at a very young age, so obviously there will be bumps,
but he seems to be clearing them all extremely well.
End of the day, you get a guy who broke Wayne Gretzky's 16-year old
goal scoring record. You get a guy IN HIS DRAFT YEAR, who finishes as
the ALL-TIME leading goalscorer in the OHL. World Junior MVP. Some
people want to stick asterixes on some of those accomplishments, and I
know the reasons why, but again, end of the day, these are big-time
accomplishments, again especially so for a player in his draft year.
There are always little flaws in every player that get examined as the
draft approaches, and with the top picks, it tends to be microscopic
flaws examined in macroscopic detail. Tavares has been going through
that for more than just his draft year, though, where a lot of other
guys like Stamkos or Kane didn't have to endure the spotlight so
long. You had folks last year who said they'd take Stamkos over
Tavares, and I think that's fair. I might have said it at a certain
point too. Tavares does seem to lack flair and dynamicism at times,
and he might be limited at the higher tempo game. Maybe. But in
terms of pure maximum upside, I think he's in the Crosby class. *If*
he gets all his ducks in a row, he has the generational skills to
become a superstar. If he scored 40 goals in the NHL next season, it
would not amaze me. The potential is there. It would be really
intriguing to me if he did end up in the pressure cooker in Toronto,
though. What a way to test his determination that would be!
l8r,
Gerry