Since I worked, I missed most of the draft, but I did get to hear/see the last few picks on XM in my car and on Versus (via TSN) in my house while watching topless, on my bed.
I caught up, don't worry. I read TSN for the trade analysis (RJ Umberger is worth a 1st round pick but Olli Jokinen is not?); I read Bryan's blog below mine for a play-by-play (I didn't plan on reading it, but like a Ben Affleck movie, it just sucked me in); and I checked the Rangers web site and TSN's for a bit about the players.
Oh, I also read Greg Logan's blog and I think Garth Snow did the right move by trading down and acquiring all those picks and still getting their guy at 9th that they would have taken at 5th. But the question is, why take him at 5th? He didn't seem to be the 5th most impressive player in the draft, seems like a poor man's Scott Gomez to me. Luke Schenn or Nikita Filatov seemed like better choices.
Rangers didn't do much, but you can't blame them for drafting an offensive defenseman who by all accounts could have gone as early as 14th or 15th. I guess they didn't want to give up their 3rd rounder to move up to take a guy they got 5 spots later.
The winner of the night was Phoenix, I think. Mikkel Boedker was a strong pick at 8, and Viktor Tikhonov was a great pick as well. He is very excited about playing in America, and I'm pretty sure he can come here next year. He also was named best forward at the World Juniors. Two first round picks, and they still got Olli Jokinen for a bunch of mid-level players. A fantastic night for the Coyotes.
Oh, and if the Dolans actually are forced to give up ownership of the Rangers (not gonna happen), I wonder if I can be on the waiting list for season tickets at their new arena, the Central Park Ice Skating Rink.
This is why I don't follow the pre-draft hype - there's no point. I don't want to get too attached to some kid, only to see my team just miss out on him. This Bailey looks like a good player; even if he isn't, they have a ton of extra picks to make up for it.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface Olli Jokinen looks like a steal but you have to know that many in the Panthers dressing room were tired of Jokinen taking nights off. He had the most giveaways on the team. He got even worse after he slit Zednik's neck with his skate and the last 20 games when the Pnathers had a chance to make the playoffs Jokinen was invisible. His -19 tells a lot. Getting Ballard makes the Panthers better. Boynton gives grit. Tomas Vokoun faced the most shots in the league much of that was because of Jokinen's bad giveaways. Yes he can score but that is where it ends. He was made captain by Mike Keenan but he was not captain material. Coyotes better shore up their D or they will have a long season.
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