News, views, and observations from day one of the NHL Draft

  OTTAWA – Well, for those of you who think the NHL Entry Draft is boring, guess what, this is one year when you were wrong. Even if nothing else happens on day two of the draft, this one will go down as the “take my pick, please” draft. You can bet no draft guru’s could have predicted this many trades.
Want proof? Just look at the draft board. What sticks out like a sore

thumb is the fact that on only 12 occasions did teams not move their original picks. For example, as expected, Tampa, did not trade out of the #1 slot and took the Sarnia Sting’s Steven Stamkos. Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Atlanta stayed the course also and took the top three defensive prospects in the draft. After those picks, the fun really began.
Toronto started the fun by moving up with the Islanders to take hard-hitting defenseman Luke Schenn. From there on the trade-fest was in full swing. In a draft that is considered extremely deep in prospects, especially defensive prospects, the thought going into the draft was, if you stay put you will be able to get a solid NHL prospect.
Well, someone must have forgotten to tell the rest of the NHL general managers because for some reason, trading hasn’t been this popular since slavery was in vouge, or at least since hockey cards only cost 10 cents per pack and you traded that no-name fourth liners hockey card for some unsuspecting soul’s Bobby Orr rookie card. Of course, at that age you were not too young and dumb to put Orr’s card into your bicycle’s spokes and are now crying all the way to the bank.
Still, let’s think about some of the things that went down on draft day shall we?
The New York Islanders traded down to pass on arguably the best offensive player, Nikita Filatov, to go from #5 and slid down twice to #9 and take Joshua Bailey. While Bailey is no slouch on offense (29 goals and 67 assists in 67 games), the Islanders passed on not only Filitov, but Colin Wilson of Boston University as well. The Isles might have stockpiled some draft picks on the way to selecting Bailey, but if Filatov becomes the next great Russian goal scorer in the mold of Alex Ovechkin or Ilya Kovalchuk, the Isles will once again get hammered for moving down, and it will be deserved, especially if Bailey doesn’t pan out.
Kyle Beach, arguably the most talked about prospect not named Steven Stamkos in this draft, was taken by Chicago at #11. No one argues his ability, but not since Steve Downie (Flyers) has an NHL prospect’s attitude come into question. With all of the good will that the Blackhawks have built up since last year’s draft, why take such a risk?
Teams like Chicago can’t afford risks, but teams like Anaheim who are only a year removed from a Stanley Cup can. If the Hawks wanted offense, why not take Zac Boychuk, or go for some defensive help such as Tyler Myers or Colten Teubert? Let’s all hope for Hawks fans’ sake this move pays off. Lord knows they deserve it.
The home town Ottawa Senators fans got a treat when Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson came to the podium to announce the Senators pick of Erik Karlsson. Nice touch. So was the part where the fans gave Wayne Gretzky another well deserved standing ovation from the Ottawa Senators fans. First class Sens fans, first class.
Challenging the Islanders for the “what the f–k are you thinking” award are the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers appeared at first as though they were going to win the “great fricken move” award by moving up in the draft by trading R.J. Umberger to the Columbus Blue Jackets for the #19 pick overall to take defenseman Luca Sbisa, a nice two-way defenseman who is exactly the type of player the Flyers need.
Then the Flyers traded their own pick at #27 to Washington for Steve Eminger, a bust of a former first round pick who had no goals in 20 games and was a negative four for the Caps. What’s worse is the Flyers passed up on the best two goaltenders in the draft (according to Central Scouting), the top North American goaltender Thomas McCollum and the top European goaltender Jacub Markstrom, who is arguably the best goalie in the entire draft.
There is a reason the Flyers haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1975, and the Detroit Red Wings have won four Cups in the past 11 years. Detroit is the best drafters in the entire NHL, and they did exactly what you should do. They stayed put, they were patient, and they let the draft come to them. They took McCollum at #30 without doing what everyone else was doing, falling all over themselves like a bunch of dominos.
I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here when I say the Wings will win another Cup within the next five years. Trust me folks, I am not a Wings fan, but sometimes you just have to bow to the masters.
Speaking of teams in need of a goalie, not to mention help on defense, unless the Devils think Marty Brodeur can play until he’s 50, and can sign Brian Campbell, why would the Devils, who are usually praised for how well they handle the draft, take another Brian Gionta clone in Mattias Tedenby, a 5 foot, 10 inch left winger? Beats me thats for sure. If you can figure that pick, I’m all ears.
So, what did we learn from this year’s draft so far? For one, don’t over-think the draft. Stick to your guns and take the best player available. Two, be patient, especially in a deep draft like this one.
Who were the winners and losers in day one?
Winners: Ottawa Senators fans for no other reason than the team waived problem child Ray Emery. Tampa Bay (big shock I know), and the Kings for taking two defensemen (Drew Doughty and Colten Teubert) who will help give the team one of the league’s best young bluelines within the next five years, especially when you add in Jack Johnson and Thomas Hickey into the mix. If the Kings can finally get a solid goaltender, Anaheim won’t be the only California-based team to win a Cup.
Losers: The Islanders for passing up on Filatov. The Flyers for blowing yet another golden opportunity to finally solve their future goaltending problems. The Devils for going for offense. Phoenix for taking Viktor Tikhonov who had only seven goals in 43 games last season in Russia. Why would a team in dire need of offense take someone that high in the draft when he most likely will be there in the second round when the Coyotes pick again at #38?
Whew, and this was only day one? And just think, at 9:30 am EST, it starts all over again. Thank God for the NHL Network so I can watch the madness all over again. This time it will be for rounds 2-7. Thank God teams are only allowed 5 minutes per pick this time or I won’t be able to go see the movie The Love Guru tomorrow.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com