Message Area
Casually read the BBS message area using an easy to use interface. Messages are categorized exactly like they are on the BBS. You may post new messages or reply to existing messages!

You are not logged in. Login here for full access privileges.

Previous Message | Next Message | Back to The National Hockey League Discu...  <--  <--- Return to Home Page
   Networked Database  The National Hockey League Discu...   [443 / 900] RSS
 From   To   Subject   Date/Time 
Message   The Hockey Writers    All   The Grind Line: Red Wings Biggest Draft Regret   August 13, 2018
 9:19 AM *  

The Red Wings scored big this past draft - few can deny that - but the Wings
haven't always had the most success in the draft. Since 2013, the Wings have
made some incredible choices that are finding their place among the elite.
Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, and Tyler Bertuzzi are making strong cases for
the Red Wings' succesful draft strategies. Among their other picks, though,
there is a fair amount of missed opportunities.

For this week's edition of The Grind Line, our Red Wings writing team of Jacob
Messing, Tony Wolak, and myself dive into the worst moves Detroit has made in
the last five drafts. Whether bad selections, missed chances, or wasted picks,
we'll break down where we think Detroit's biggest draft blunder lies.Rachel
Anderson: Missing Out on Brayden Point

Taking it back to 2014, the Red Wings had some decent success in the draft.
After getting Larkin in the first round, Detroit was set up for success.
Turning the corner in the second round is where I start to scratch my head a
bit.

The Red Wings picked up centerman, Dominic Turgeon 63rd overall. There is no
denying Turgeon had the makings of a great hockey player. In his final year
with the Winterhawks he finished with a career high of 70 points.Red Wings
center Dominic Turgeon (Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports)

Brayden Point was also up for grabs in the second round. Point was picked up by
 Tampa Bay 79th overall. Prior to drafting, he was the owner of three
consecutive seasons tallying over 80 points with the WHL's Moose Jaw Warriors.
Point has completed two full seasons in the NHL so far, and last season, he
finished with 66 points in the regular season, and earned an additional 16
points in 17 playoff games.

If we're going solely by the numbers, Point would have been the logical choice
between the two, based on their junior performances. Turgeon is a very good
skater, has incredible on-ice sense and is a top-notch special team center.
However, Point is consistently present, strong, and producing.

The Wings were likely investing in future talent with Turgeon - allowing time
for him to develop. That makes sense, and in Turgeon's case, he'll be worth the
 wait, I do believe. In the meantime, though, Point is continually a thorn in
the Wings' side whenever the two teams go head-to-head, making him my choice
for the team's biggest miss in the last five drafts.Tony Wolak: Selecting Zach
Nastasiuk

My first reaction to Detroit's missed opportunities at the draft was selecting
Evgeny Svechnikov over Brock Boeser in 2015, but I'll give Svechnikov the
benefit of the doubt since he is still young and I was ecstatic to see the Red
Wings select him. Plus, Jacob will cover that draft mishap below.

In my opinion, Detroit's biggest draft blunder was choosing center Zach
Nastasiuk in the second round back in 2013. When they chose the Owen Sound
Attack forward, the Red Wings passed on the likes of Jake Guentzel, Pavel
Buchnevich, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Brett Pesce. Anyone of those players would
be a valuable contributor for today's team. Meanwhile, Nastasiuk just left the
organization to sign with Carolina's AHL team.Owen Sound Attack power forward
Zach Nastasiuk is an intriguing prospect for the 2013 NHL entry draft (OHL
Images)

To be fair, Nastasiuk did come with a lot of promise then. NHL Central Scouting
 listed him as the No. 13 North American skater, three spots ahead of
Vancouver's Bo Horvat, who would eventually go at No. 9 that year.

The others? NHL CSS listed Bjorkstrand at No. 36, Pesce at No. 40, and Guentzel
 at No. 80 (!) for North American skaters, and Buchnevich at No. 10 for
European skaters.

While an intriguing prospect at the time - due to a 20-goal season and standout
 playoff performance - Nastasiuk just didn't develop into the middle-six
forward that Detroit had envisioned. And, as a rebuilding team today, it stings
 Detroit to see the passed over players succeed elsewhere.Jacob Messing:
Missing Out on Brock Boeser

Heading into June 2015, the NHL Entry Draft was hyped up with game-breaking
talent. Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel led the draft, but there has been no
shortage of premier talent over the past three years.

In 2015, the Red Wings held the 19th overall pick, used to select Russian
forward Evgeny Svechnikov. Svechnikov came with his fair share of expectations,
 as well, and had a strong rookie season with the American Hockey League's
(AHL) Grand Rapids Griffins, scoring 51 points (20 goals and 31 assists) in 74
games.

Svechnikov earned a 14-game stint in 2017-18, appearing increasingly
comfortable game by game, even as he registered just two goals and four total
points. Still just 21-years old, the jury is still out on his NHL potential.

But, just four picks after the Red Wings called Svechnikov's name in 2015, the
Vancouver Canucks selected a high-powered shot backed by some of the NHL's
greatest hair.Evgeny Svechnikov (John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports)

That player was none other than Brock Boeser, who already has 70 NHL games to
his credit, with 33 goals and 60 total points. As a rookie, Boeser won the
All-Star Game MVP and Accuracy Shooting competition. His finishing touch would
have looked fantastic alongside the developing playmaking skill of Dylan
Larkin.

Hindsight can be an infuriating thing, especially in sports. Truthfully, every
team looks back with a sigh at some point, but they've all been on the other
end, as well. If Svechnikov can continue to grow and show he deserved his draft
 position, the what-ifs will drop off and Red Wings fans will learn to love
Svechnikov all the same.

The post The Grind Line: Red Wings Biggest Draft Regret appeared first on The
Hockey Writers.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheHockeyWrite...
--- SBBSecho 3.05-Win32
 * Origin: TequilaMockingbird Online - Toms River, NJ (1:266/404)
  Show ANSI Codes | Hide BBCodes | Show Color Codes | Hide Encoding | Hide HTML Tags | Show Routing
Previous Message | Next Message | Back to The National Hockey League Discu...  <--  <--- Return to Home Page

VADV-PHP
Execution Time: 0.0822 seconds

If you experience any problems with this website or need help, contact the webmaster.
VADV-PHP Copyright © 2002-2024 Steve Winn, Aspect Technologies. All Rights Reserved.
Virtual Advanced Copyright © 1995-1997 Roland De Graaf.
v2.0.140505

Warning: Unknown: open(c:\Sessions\sess_20nlrdqocr4hv67hsek4qhinv1, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in Unknown on line 0 Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (c:\Sessions) in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: session_start(): open(c:\Sessions\sess_20nlrdqocr4hv67hsek4qhinv1, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in D:\wc5\http\public\VADV\include\common.inc.php on line 45 PHP Warning: Unknown: open(c:\Sessions\sess_20nlrdqocr4hv67hsek4qhinv1, O_RDWR) failed: No such file or directory (2) in Unknown on line 0 PHP Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct (c:\Sessions) in Unknown on line 0