AK was projected very high in his draft… so it may have seemed like a steal at the time.

The draft to me… is alot about luck.

Although I had hoped and was glad Montreal picked Louis Leblanc in the last draft… I was hoping that Gainey would pull a few strings and grab another first rounder….

2 names I was watching for.

Zack Kassian RW (13th, Buffalo) – Big strong guy. Could “possibly” be a cross between a Getzlaf and Lucic. 6’3 210lbs.

Carter Ashton RW (29th, Tampa Bay) – Another big kid… plays a physical game. 6’3 205lbs.

Looking in our prospect pool… we have alot of smallish forwards.

Very true that after the first round, might as well just wish upon a star. The fact remain that Timmins appear to be obsessed with Euro and American (States College) type player. To prove my point, I did not realized that Montreal had no scouts assigned to the LHJMQ. What’s up with that? This year, they finally hired someone. That speaks volume in my opinion.

Although not an expert by a long shot, jumping Carter, Richards and Getzlaf in favour of AK is mind buggling to me. The Habs have been seriously missing a big center for years and yet decided that AK was the way to go. That one is still very weird to me.

I sincerely hope that Boucher will develop the kids properly.

Cheers

I’d just like to add about drafting and prospects that I believe hype seems to have alot to do with projections. It’s probably natural that it is.

As you mention, we’ve seen a bunch of coachs and many of our pics have not turned into what they were projected (or hyped) to be.

But at the same time I think it’s somewhat the nature of the draft. After the first few players that everyone can clearly identify are far above the rest… it’s a little bit about luck.

You can’t realistically exactly predict how the player will mature and what his work ethic and desire will be. Otherwise many high picks would have been passed on through the years.. not just by our Habs.

Kind of like our own Tom Pyatt who was thought a “throw in” as part of the Gomez deal. He was drafted 107th overall (4th round) in 2005… though he won’t be a first line offensive star he looks like he may be a very solid 2 way NHLer someday. Maybe surpassing many of the 106 drafted ahead of him.

Just a thought.

I think that the answer’s are A, B and D. The Habs had a terrible time developing young talent. Don Lever was not particularly good in this department and if I am not mistaking, Mat Carle publicly stated that he learned more in 2 weeks this year with Boucher than he did the past 2 years. He never mentionned Lever of course but you get the drift.

As well, as far as I am aware, top tier young players with high potential would usually resides with veterans when joining their respective organizations ie Crosby staying at Lemieux etc. Price on the other hand as a 20 year old rented a condo downtown Montreal by his lonesome and we all know what ended up happening. The same can be said for Higgins, Komisarek, the Kostitsyns and others. As far as picking the wrong guy, I agree that serious mistakes were made (Chipchura !!!). Who in their right mind would ever think that this guy was a first rounder? He is a fourth liner at best and once again, the Habs failed to recognized that fact. It is well known that Andre Savard had strongly suggested/pleaded to Gainey to pick Carter instead of AK. Timmins won that battle and Savard knew then that his time in Montreal was over.

Based on this, I assumed that Gainey/Timmins’s plan was to have top 6 forwards as Euro’s complimented with North Americans third and fourth liners if possible and a mixed of Euro’s and North Americans on D. Unfortunately, the plan did not work as well as they would have liked. We all noticed at the last draft that the plan has changed drastically and rightfully so.

It is no secret that the Montreal organization is easily panicked. Anyone who has any clue about hockey would agree that Latendresse should have played at least 1 year in the AHL. He was always described as a potentially third liner based on his sub-par skating abilities. There was no rush to get him into the fold. However, Gainey bowed to the medias/fans who requested a french player who had a certain amount of potential to stay with the big club. The medias/fans request was based solely on the fact that the kid scored a couple goals in the pre-season games as a rookie. Regardless of the fact that everyone knew that Lats had serious problems with his skating and work ethic, he stayed with the Habs and now we are seeing the effect of that.

Lastly, the organization lacks steadiness. How many coaches have we gone through in the last 5 years? Gainey fired Carbonneau while in panic mode. Only a few weeks before, he stated that Guy had been his best acquisition since he took the helm as GM. This in a nutshell is what the problem is with the Habs as I see it. I only hope that Martin will be given the necessary time to mold the players to his liking. It may take awhile but I am not expecting the cup anytime soon.

I mentioned defense as a problem in the current season… but there’s no doubt in my mind that there are other problems.

Thing with the draft is that after the first few picks… sometimes it’s a crap shoot. There’s really no guarantee.

I may be inspired to do a little research on drafting in general after reading your comments.

What I’ve found is that there is often alot of hype around many draft picks. For example, Ryan McDonagh was thought of a sure thing.. but really, he’s now over 20 years old and has never played 1 pro game. Maybe he will develop to be a star defenseman…. but really, maybe not.

In a matter of a couple of seasons, the Canadiens have gone from being looked at as having some of the best young prospects and depth… to being looked at as middle of the road.

Hockey’s Future ranks the Habs at 13th!
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/nhl_organisation_rankings/?start=12

That is – unfprtunately – a small problem: the bigger problem are Mr. Boivin and Trevor Timmins the “no missed draft guy”.
…And it starts on draft day. Since 1999 until 2005 (the more recent years are not playing yet), we drafted 9 first round picks. Of those only AK46, Chipchura and our saviour, St-Carey are left with the team.
Examples?
Perezhogin was drafted 25th in 2001. Derek Roy was at 32th. Jason Pominville was at 55th.
AK46 was drafted at 10th. Jeff Carter was taken 11th, Ryan getzlaf 19th Michael Richards 24th!!!!!!

If Carey Price was deemed a no miss in 2005 drafted 5th overall, why can’t he perform?
Anze Kopitar leads the NHL in points now. He was drafted 11th, 6 spots after Carey. Kopitar performs.

Other busts:

1999, A. Buturlin 39th
2000 R. Hainsey 13th
2000 M. Hossa 16th
2002 C. Higgins 14th

So, where is the problem?
Is it:

a. Habs eat their young?
b. Habs can’t draft?
c. Too much pressure (yeah right)?
d. Habs can’t develop players?
e. The horrible fans?

Would the Habs be better if they drafted Jeff Carter, Anze Kopitar, etc?
Or… Would Higgins, AK46, Chipchura, etc be excellent somewhere
else?

Or…Would the Habs have burnt Jeff Carter, Anze Kopitar, etc?