Sorry, no tears are being shed here over the predicament of the Red Wings, whose historically bad season got them no more than the fourth-overall pick of the draft as a consequence of the method the pingpong balls bounced in Fridays lottery illustration.
Who does it assist that Taylor Hall, initially in 2010, did not take part in the playoffs till his ninth season? Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, first a year after that, didnt make it up until his Year 7. Connor McDavid, first in 2015, has actually all however been hidden from international view playing tor a group that made the playoffs when in his first 4 seasons, and Jack Eichel, second that season, hasnt made it yet in five years.
Well, Ill tell you. He recorded 20 points (7-13) in 43 video games throughout his mid-60s period in between the time he came to New York as part of the plan for Andy Bathgate and left in a trade with Montreal that revived Ernie Hicke.
I wrote weeks ago that the lotto need to have been restricted to the NHLs Seven Dwarfs who were left out from the Hub-Bubble 24-team extravaganza that is tentatively arranged to begin at the end of July. The draw therefore would have been limited to Detroit, Ottawa, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, New Jersey and Buffalo, with the Sharks pick owned by the Senators. That appeared reasonable to me.
Doug Wilson and Kevin Lowe were the very best two defenseman not in the Hockey Hall of Fame until their selection by the committee on Wednesday, and both Jarome Iginla and Marian Hossa are deserving of their election in their first year of eligibility. No problems there, or with the election of prominent Team Canada goaltender Kim St. Pierre, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time IIHF World Champion.
Good for not just Alexis Lafreniere, the Rimouski winger who is the consensus very first choice this year, that he will not be consigned to a dismal situation, but good for all of us who may really get to delight in a young player of his talent working with a decent team.
The first rule of being on the selection committee is not to talk about the selection committee.
Who does it assist that Taylor Hall, initially in 2010, did not participate in the playoffs up until his ninth season? Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, first a year after that, didnt make it up until his Year 7. Connor McDavid, first in 2015, has actually all but been concealed from global view playing tor a group that made the playoffs when in his first 4 seasons, and Jack Eichel, second that season, hasnt made it yet in five years.
Yes, Duff was on six Cup winners (two in Toronto, four in Montreal) while Prentice was on none. Prentice spent the very first 13-plus seasons of his career with the Original Six Rangers and Bruins. How do you think Duff would have finished with the unfortunate sack Blueshirts?
But for when, in the midst of a global pandemic, the NHL stumbled into something various. A reasonably good group, and perhaps even one much better than that, will win the first-overall pick and have the pleasure of integrating Lafreniere into the lineup.
Ballot is a subjective workout and when it is done behind closed doors by an 18-member committee sworn to secrecy, there is a cloud hanging over the process. The very first guideline of being on the choice committee is not to talk about the selection committee.
The hard cap penalizes success, and the flat difficult cap that will be a function of the brand-new CBA that is anticipated to enter into impact next season, will be much more ruthless in lowering big-time teams to size. Expansion draft rules punish success. The draft punishes success and rewards incompetence.
And by the method, wouldnt you state Colorado did just great by tabbing Cale Makar three spots after the Devils picked Nico Hischier? Who do you think goes initially in a re-draft; Makar, Miro Heiskanen (third to Dallas) or Elias Pettersson (5th to Vancouver)?
The NHL went its own way, created a system to create some intrigue, and I spent all of 0.2 seconds worrying about it.
Do you think the Detroit organization, constantly conceited in the great times, agonized when the 2016-17 Avalanche, nearly as bad as this years Wings, also moved to fourth out of the lotto while the Devils, who had tape-recorded 22 more points than Colorado, scored the very first pick?
And verification from Bill Daly that if COVID-19 prevents the qualifying round from being played to conclusion, the next eight teams in inverted order of points percentage when the season stopped on March 12 would draw for the first-overall pick.
That would imply the Canadiens, Blackhawks, Coyotes, Wild, Jets, Rangers, Flames and Panthers would each have a 12.5 percent opportunity at picking first-overall.
Prentice invested the first 13-plus seasons of his career with the Original Six Rangers and Bruins.
I have actually long railed against the draft system that reflexively rewards incompetence and motivates managements of bad groups to do whatever they can to bottom out for a few years in order to gather a string of high draft choices. It worked for Pittsburgh. It worked for Chicago. It hasnt rather worked out so well for Edmonton or Buffalo, however, has it, or most of the flotsam at the bottom of the NHL ocean?
And to think that Im old enough to bear in mind that when the NHL wished to hold the 2020 draft before resumption of play, the lottery game created for that event would have guaranteed that the Red Wings drafted no lower than second.
Im not necessarily a least-common-denominator person, as in, well, if Player An is in, then Player B should be. Since he might be the equivalent of the gamer you may consider the least deserving in the Hall, you dont want to choose someone simply.
A system that funnels marquee 18-year-olds to outposts most frequently marked by dysfunction does nobody any favors (other than the management groups that inherited, produced, perpetuated dysfunction). Did it assist the NHL that Steven Stamkos, first-overall in 2008, went to the playoffs as soon as in his very first five years, or that John Tavares, first a year later on, also went to the competition once in his first five years?
Heres one. Why is Dickie Duff, 283 objectives, 289 assists, 572 points in 1,030 games in the Hockey HOF while Dean Prentice, 391 objectives, 469 helps, 860 points in 1,378 matches, is not?
