The last couple of years have found me wandering aimlessly about the streets of Pittsburgh and Buffalo babbling something about prospects and scouting projections and related junk. I had so much fun doing this, this time I'm gonna do it in Boston. Yes, me and my permanent attachment (that would be the camera) are hitting Beantown with a vengeance, for my favorite event of the year, the Entry Draft. Ah yes, dozens of photos of prospects and cool people hanging out at the Fleet Center, and whatever wise-ass observations I can make, papered all over LCS...

What? What do you mean, LCS won't be here? Oh, crap. And I was so looking forward to this.

OK, so now I'm hauling myself to New England for no apparent reason. Great. And since I can't wrapup the Entry Draft, I'll have to preview it. Which is a really pointless kind of thing. But I'll take a hack at it anyway.

One
The constant variable, the fly in the ointment, the one thing that the draft will really hinge on is Patrik Stefan. Or to be more specific, his bell that has already been rung more often than Big Ben. Stefan is clearly the best talent available in the draft, not to mention the only player clearly capable of reasonably occupying space on the ice of your local NHL arena before the next millennium.

Except that he found it so much fun to pound his head against a wall early in the season, he went and pounded it again, this time on Kevin Kaminski's knee, and as a result Stefan was only cleared to start skating a matter of days ago. Furthermore, the only doctors who've been permitted to take a look at Stefan are those bought and paid for by his agent, Rich Winter.

Now, any NHL team with half an ounce of sense (we can immediately eliminate the Blackhawks, Islanders and Canucks from this list; actually, we could eliminate more than that but we're dealing strictly with teams picking high at the moment) would want Stefan thoroughly evaluated by their own physicians before giving Stefan the top center job, not to mention the contents of the U.S. Treasury. You just don't waste a top ten pick and millions of dollars on a guy who's so dizzy he can't find the bench (OK, the Islanders would - Brett Lindros sound familiar? - but no one else would).

Ergo, the teams drafting high, especially Tampa, want to get inside Stefan's head. No dice, says Winter. Way to go. Way to reduce your number one overall client to a third rounder. Rich, hang around with Scott Boras much? So the big question here is whether Tampa, or any team, gets to have Stefan evaluated to their satisfaction by doctors who don't have a financial stake in the answer. The second big question is, who'll take him if he isn't independently evaluated?

So this is quite the problem. If Stefan should be evaluated by someone acceptable to Tampa and clears said evaluation, he will have Bolts on his pants June 26th. The rest should fall into place afterwards; barring any deals to give one team two of the first four picks, Atlanta would take Pavel Brendl, Vancouver grabs Daniel Sedin, and the Blackhawks get Henrik Sedin. Oh yeah, barring any deals.

Two and Three
Both Atlanta and Vancouver would like to pick up both of the amazing Sedin twins, but would have to swing an equally amazing trade to acquire two picks. If one of them does it, it would be Atlanta as they can use expansion picks as leverage. The Islanders have three picks in the top ten slots, but their picks are all too low (at least now) to swing an appropriate deal.

Four
The Blackhawks won the lottery to move up from the eight spot to the four. This doesn't really help them in that they still have to wait for Tampa to decide what to do with Stefan, and for Atlanta and Vancouver to try to grab a second high pick so they get the Sedins. The 'hawks will take whichever of the top four players still remaining when the dust settles.

Five
Assuming Brendl and the Sedins go in the first four, things will be a little less dicey. If Stefan remains on the board, the Islanders will take him since they not only don't have a problem with not medically clearing prospects (Lindros again), with three picks in the top ten they can afford to waste a pitch. If Stefan isn't on the board, the Islanders have made open their interest in American Tim Connolly, who just got his own medical clearance after a broken leg. Either Stefan or Connolly will be a Fish Stick.

Six
Calgary is looking to its own backyard, since they're ever mindful of their bottom line (the locals tend to come cheaper, at least in theory) and the pickings at home are pretty good this year - the WHL's Jamie Lundmark and Kris Beech. Beech has already been on the Flames' payroll with the WHL's Flames-owned Calgary Hitmen and performed well at the Memorial Cup; Lundmark is considered a slightly better player. One or the other will be a Flame.

Seven
The Capitals have plenty to choose from in the second round, with four of the first nine picks there, and will save their defensive shopping for that time. Here, they desperately need a centerman. Lundmark and Beech both fit the bill as the Flames can't take both, and the Caps' need could also be filled by Scott Kelman or Taylor Pyatt. Look for the Capitals to take one of those three players.

Eight
Randy Newman may love L.A., but the number eight pick won't get the chance because he's going to Long Island instead. There will still be a player or two remaining in the center category, probably Kelman or Pyatt, and Oleg Saprykin and Denis Shvidki would also fit in nicely. Let's say Saprykin.

Nine
Next up is Nashville, who have a dilemma before them - they need help in all areas. Defensive possibilities are Kirill Safronov, Jeff Jillson or Branislav Mezei; goaltending help in Brian Finley; or selecting a forward from the group comprising whomever remains of Shvidki, Saprykin, Kelman and Pyatt. Yikes. A winger would be a nice idea though, to go with David Legwand. Denis Shvidki, meet Garth Brooks. Yee haw.

Ten
This used to be Montreal's pick, but they gave it to the Islanders for Trevor Linden. Better hope Linden rediscovers his career quick you guys. The Islanders don't really need goaltending with Roberto Luongo percolating, so expect New York to use this pick on a skater. Jillson and Pyatt if still available would be safe bets, with Safranov and Saprykin as alternates. Meanwhile, I'm sick of seeing Mike Milbury every ten minutes.

The rest of the draft, well, it all depends on who did what with the previous pick, etc. etc. So there's really no point in continuing on with this team by team business, c'est la vie.

The 1999 edition is blessed with a remarkable degree of the 1997 edition, interestingly enough - three first rounders and six second rounders from 1997 are re-entering the draft. The only one of the bunch likely to go that high again is Nick Boynton, but after turning down over a million dollars from both the Capitals and the Blackhawks most teams will likely be leery of the Memorial Cup MVP who still has felony charges pending against him. Matt Zultek and Kevin Grimes will not reappear in the first round, but likely will in the second. The second rounders will probably go again, fourth round or lower.

Unlike previous years, I haven't had an opportunity to personally see any of these guys play. Nonetheless, based strictly on what I've read and heard, I'm prepared to declare Barrett Jackman and Sheldon Keefe the official LCS draft underdogs. Why? Well, Keefe attracts the same description over and over again - Theo Fleury. A little banger with skill around the net. How could we not love him? Jackman - same deal, except he's a defenseman. The kid plays like Kasparaitis, and he's barely six feet tall. Let's all get together and root for them!

Lastly - bye bye LCS. Mostly because I lost my excuse to play with the camera and take photos that could be legally reproduced without the FBI butting in, but hey, it was fun.

[ issues | nhl archive | home | nhl history | about us | search | comments ]