That’s it for me…Kevin Lowe’s two weeks of redemption are not off to a good start.
9:47 EST: Patrick White goes to Vancouver. Apparently you can’t get a haircut in Tri-Cities.
9:46 EST: Does Sutter even speak English? Jesus. Duthie gets in a nice jab about the Keenan/Healy relationship which I think is best described as “poisonous.” This guy that Calgary picked seems to have said that Vinny Prospal is the best player in the NHL, although I suspect I may have misheard that.
9:44 EST: Calgary takes Mikael Backlund. Keenan doesn’t seem to be on the podium, probably because they don’t want him to scare the prospect.
9:39 EST: David Poile is getting hammered on TSN. He just acknowledged that his owner doesn’t really want to be the owner but says that he’s confident that the Predators will be a competitive team next year. Poile is pretty open about this - he seems clear that if they don’t get 14,000 paid attendance, they’ll be out of Nashville.
9:34 EST: Bob McKenzie is reading an email off of his BlackBerry about the Balsillie thing from Craig Leipold. Apparently the deal isn’t dead. I’m surprised that Nashville isn’t taking the Ralston Purina approach to drafting here. Nashville grabs John Blum. Interesting - he’s a defeceman who came out of California.
9:32 EST: Max Pacioretty goes to Montreal. Never heard of him.
9:25 EST: And it’s Riley Nash, from Salmon Arm of the BCJHL. He looks like he weighs about 115, which is promising. This is part of the return for Pronger - and the Oilers went and got a guy who was outside the top 100 with CSB. I don’t know nearly enough to weigh in now on what they’ve done but jesus…they didn’t get Cherepanov, who was available and they end up with this guy?
According to Lowe, all of these guys were in the Oilers’ top 13.
9:24 EST: The Oilers get Phoenix’ pick at 21 for 30 and 36. Strange deal - Edmonton must really like someone, because it’s tough to turn down two shots after that in the next 15.
9:22 EST: Hmm. Shot of Lowe talking biz with somebody. One suspects that there might be a move coming from the Oilers.
9:19 EST: Angelo Esposito goes to Pittsburgh. That’s a pretty sweet place for a guy like Esposito to go. Nice shirt that he’s wearing.
If any man other than Bob McKenzie knew as much about the likes and dislikes of teenaged boys, he’d get dirty looks as he walked down the street. McKenzie is a king.
9:16 EST: There must be something that I don’t know about Russians but the casual bigotry that seems to be pretty broadly about them as opposed to narrowly about Cherepanov is amazing.
9:12 EST: Brian Burke to the podium…and he takes Logan MacMillan from PEI. Doug MacLean can’t stop raving about him and the fact that he’s from PEI. MacLean is putting on a clinic of why he shouldn’t be an NHL GM tonight.
9:08 EST: St. Louis takes Ian Cole. He reminds me of Ron Howard. Maybe he’ll have a so-so career and become an extremely successful coach or GM.
9:05 EST: The Flames trade their pick to the Blues. There are rumours that Calgary is looking to deal a pick for the rights to negotiate with Ryan Smyth - my heart was in my throat when I heard that.
9:04 EST: Hey, Gord Miller is now into MacLean for his Zherdev based shots at Cherepanov. Good on him. Now if one of them gets the guts to challenge Mike Keenan when he talks about Roberto Luongo, we’d really be getting somewhere.
9:02 EST: And Cherepanov is now a Ranger. An underrated reason Edmonton should have taken him: that haircut makes him Smyth’s natural heir. Wow. Plus, he breaks out the form fitting tshirt instead of, say, a shirt and tie.
8:55 EST: Lowe sounds like he’s trying to move up in the draft. Minny has pulled a deal for Anaheim’s pick and they take…Colton Gillies. The Cherepanov thing continues to be ridiculous. It reminds me of Patrick O’Sullivan in a way.
8:49 EST: TSN seems to think that there’s not a shot in hell that Cherepanov goes to the Oilers. And they’re right…they take Alex Plante, a guy TSN had as a late first or early second round pick. If the EIG is so enamoured of the Lowe/Prendergast braintrust, there are surely hundreds of Oilers fans who know their messed up ways well enough by now to provide a decent emulation at a fraction of the price.
Dennis will no doubt note that he’s a Good Alberta Boy. Apparently he’s a crappy skater with OK offensive abilities and mobility problems. Hey - did you enjoy the early days of the Matt Greene era? This sounds strangely familiar.
8:44 EST: Well, Edmonton gets their shot. I’ll go on the record and say that the Oilers don’t have the balls to take a run at Cherepanov. My guess - some defenceman from somewhere.
8:42 EST: So the Oilers will get a shot at both Cherepanov and Esposito. I’d like to see them grab one of these players, preferably Cherepanov.
8:40 EST: McGuire enters what we all know as “…the Parise Zone.” He’s losing his shit.
8:38 EST: Let the speculation begin: was John Davidson dying his hair when he worked in TV or was last season in St. Louis that bad? The Blues select Lars Eller, a Dane. I think he’s twelve years old. Two other points of interest: his dad has the same haircut as Melody Davidson and he somehow managed to injure himself screwing around in the HHOF.
8:37 EST: Boy, Doug MacLean really seems to think that Nikolai Zherdev is the reason that he lost his job and he also seems unable to evaluate Cherepanov because of it. I can’t think that he’s doing himself any favours if he’s ever applying for a future GM position.
8:35 EST: Ryan McDonough goes to Montreal. I’ve never heard of him. Angelo Esposito looks depressed.
8:32 EST: Edmonton’s pick creeping up again, the fifteenth - if Cherepanov is on the board, they simply need to take him. This is one of those moments where you’ve got a chance to add someone who’s fallen for reasons unrelated to talent. Winning organizations that are intent are competing don’t let opportunities like this, where you can get something worth more than it’s cost, pass them by. $10 says that the Oilers don’t grab him. Unless it’s haircut related, it’s a mistake.
8:29 EST: Brandon Sutter goes to Carolina. Just another reason to hate the Hurricanes. Also, there is apparently a “Fabian Sutter” out there playing hockey. I’m willing to bet that he’s not related to the Viking Sutters.
8:25 EST: And I agree with Pierre McGuire about Cherepanov. McGuire thinks that it’s insane that Cherepanov has fallen this far and I can’t disagree. I’d be more worried about his haircut than anything else. At what point is the risk associated with Cherepanov insufficient to warrant taking someone who’s undoubtedly less talented over him?
8:23 EST: Keaton Ellerby to Florida. It’s interesting to see that the NHL apparently has a guy in charge of taking off jackets as newly drafted prospects approach the podium.
Also, Bob McKenzie should never again talk about “Sending a shout out.”
8:17 EST: Huh. So John Ferguson Sr. DIDN’T die. I was actually a bit confused - I read the other day that he was too ill to go to the draft and then someone dropped a tribute to him recently that kind of sounded like he’d passed away. Oh, and the Sharks take Logan Couture. It sounds like Couture might be one of those guys who played a ton of minutes.
8:14 EST: St. Louis deals their pick to the Sharks for Toronto’s first rounder.
8:13 EST: Thinking back to Lowe’s comments following the Gagner pick, Duthie asked him if he was going to be back on the podium. Lowe said he was going to be picking at 15 but was kind of vague about 30 and just made reference to getting some help for Gagner and the guys in Edmonton. To be frank, his answer didn’t make a hell of a lot of sense but I wonder if he is going to move that pick for negotiating rights and, presumably, a contract with some player.
8:09 EST: Cam Neely! Teach him a lesson, Sea Bass! And Boston takes Zach Hamill. Embittered Bruins fans everywhere can already start referring to him as Dorothy.
8:06 EST: Columbus’ problem according to Rick Nash: “We’re just inconsistent. We win five games and then lose ten.” No, that’s pretty much exactly consistent.
8:04 EST: Jakub Voracek to Columbus. It’ll be interesting if he turns out better than Gagner, given that Howson was in the Oilers room for much of their draft preparation.
7:54 EST: Kevin Lowe selects…Sam Gagner. I like Gagner’s tie.
7:53 EST: To summarize Pierre McGuire’s views so far: everything has been awesome so far. Every GM is a genius.
7:50 EST: Washington takes Karl Alzner. Maybe that’s who Lowe was after - I seem to recall reading that Prendergast was all over the guy.
7:48 EST: Heh. Bob McKenzie seems to think that “Russian” is a type of hockey player.
7:45 EST: As TSN goes to commercial, we see Lowe talking to George McPhee. Strange - I can’t figure out why Edmonton would be looking to move up a single spot at this point.
7:44 EST: Duthie talks to Lombardi. It sounds like the Oilers might have been kicking the tires with Los Angeles and Philly in some sort of a deal that fell through. No doubt Jim Matheson is now set to point to whoever pans out from this draft and claim that that’s who the Oilers wanted.
7:41 EST: Los Angeles goes Niinimaki and takes someone named Thomas Hickey who Bob McKenzie describes as a “smallish defenceman.” That said, Doug MacLean is shocked by the pick, so one suspects it might be wise. Good news for the Oilers here - they’re either going to get Voracek or Karl Alzner.
7:40 EST: Sweet Jesus. Kyle Turris is a “Batman fan.” James Duthie wraps up a profoundly awkward interview with Turris and Gretz in which he asks whether Gretzky is trying to “Canadianize” the Coyotes. I think that they should just focus on getting players who don’t suck, whether they’re Canadian or not.
7:37 EST: Hmm. Phoenix takes Turris. Interesting, as Bob and Co. are talking about him being a 3 or 4 year project. MacLean thinks two but then he’s the guy responsible for Rick Nash getting paid like he gets paid to not be particularly useful.
7:31 EST: Phoenix up next. Man, I’d want no part of getting picked by that team. Kyle Turris seems to be the consensus selection; we’ll see if they’ve found some high schooler in the woods of Nebraska who they prefer - Gretzky learned how to draft the Niinimakis of the world at the feet of the best.
7:26 EST: Philly takes James van Riemsdyk. Pretty shitty highlight video, which is what I’m basing my entire evaluation of on him. He’s a bust - book it. Heh. The fans in Columbus are chanting “USA! USA!”
7:23 EST: Doug MacLean just acknowledged that he was wrong about who would go first but that he’d been wrong before. No shit.
7:22 EST: Kane seems to have not one but two hot young women who have accompanied him to the draft.
7:19 EST: Blah blah blah. Shut up Bettman. Chicago picking and they take…Patrick Kane. This is the first time I’ve really felt that the draftees looked significantly younger than me. I see some of these guys who play junior and think that they look older than me - for whatever reason, the top end of this year’s draft class looks incredibly young and small.
7:16 EST: Columbus boos Bettman. I take back everything I’ve ever said about Columbus fans.
7:09 EST: Craig Leipold has told the NHL that he won’t sell the team to Jim Balsillie. It’s inexplicable. His reasons are that there isn’t a signed agreement yet and that he thinks Balsillie will move the team to Hamilton. I wonder what the real story is because I seriously doubt that that’s it.
7:08 EST: Some quick comment on the trades. James Duthie just referred to Tomas Vokoun going to Florida as a firesale. If they believe in Chris Mason, I have a hard time seeing that it’s a firesale. Mason has put together two good years; Vokoun starts a contract with a $5.7MM price tag next season. Nashville really needs to get value for the money and if they’ve got an option that’s nearly as good and $4MM cheaper, it’s easy to understand why they’d do it.
7:01 EST: This is some delightfully overwrought stuff that TSN is putting out. The intro is just a bunch of shots of families of the expected high draft picks, repeating lines that TSN gave them. It’s the Pierre McGuire formula, but with emotional pull.
6:35 EST: I’m going to blog this thing live. I don’t really know a whole hell of a lot about the prospects, so it’s going to be more of a stream of consciousness thing. If you want to read someone who actually knows what the hell he’s talking about, take a look at YKOil’s site. I’ll be in once things start rolling.
Yes, K-Lowe did a stunning job of missing out on Voracek, Cherepanov and Esposito.
How has the EIG not canned this guy yet? There’s just no excuse.
Voracek is described as ‘Hemsky-like’ and Oiler fans are already running Ales out of town for his ‘pass-first offense’. The Oilers need a shooter.
Cherepanov. His work ethic is suspect, although he is what most pundits are calling a ‘high-risk, high-reward’ player. Not really the Oilers style, they prefer ’so-risky-as-to-be-insane, mediocre-at-best’ draft choices (Bonsignoire, Niniimaki, and The Swiss Miss, Michel Reisen).
Still, with three first round picks I definitely would have taken a flyer on either Esposito or Cherepanov.
Maybe the strategy is to tank again next year and enter the Tavares sweepstakes.
Anyone else have a evil thoughts about a draft pick falling down on his way to the podium and breaking his legs off right at the ankle, forcing him to retire?
very nice mc
I had trouble with mine (that blogging thing) as I was trying to cook, and then eat, during the first half of the draft.
By the time that was done I was too disgusted with the Plante over Cherepanov pick to be of any real use. Started to wind down fast after that.
f*&k
Barring god blowing sunshine up Lowe’s a$$ this will not be a good draft to look back on.
Outstanding job. An insightful, witty synopsis.
Good stuff MC, a fun read. Even though I don’t follow prospects much at all, the draft is a fun spectacle.
I was in my car this year, but I caught some of it on the radio, from about the 10th through 25th picks. Stauffer, Brownlee and Flaming were broadcasting live from a big sports bar. Priceless. They did a really good job of covering it as well, Flaming came armed with a bunch of sound and text clips on the draftees.
Stauffer, who sounded like he had shown up early and been drinking steadily … he was just beside himself when they passed on Cherepanov and Esposito at 15. And when the Oilers traded the 30th and 36th picks for the 21st … and then grabbed Nash …he went apeshit, and Brownlee piled on with a rational assessment of why it was a poor business decision. The callers went nuts too, one after the other. Poor Guy, he made one half-hearted attempt at defending the move up to 21st … then fell silent for the duration.
The draft, it’s always good fun.
Really a good job and a fun read. I just found this blog but will came back soon…
Reading above, where someone said JVR was going to be a bust. Its looking more and more like he was the best player of this draft. As he fills out, he will turn into a dominant player with his skillset.