Following the media about the draft is always grade A entertainment for somebody with a cynical worldview and a pocket full of miracles. The ceaseless use of shameless hype tactics followed by near dead silence then ramping up the hype again wears thin on me at times, yet also provides some fun watching players being compared to Yzerman and Sakic knowing full well they’ll likely never pass the 60 point plateau. For the first time in a long time the 2013 draft provided some real substance to the hype and I still believe we shall be putting this one in the category of awestruck aplomb that we so readily do with 2003. However following such a potential masterpiece is never easy…hell let’s just look at what happened in 2004…and that was a best case scenario, two guys dominated the headlines with one grabbing attention as “The Next One,… then after it people just sort of murmured about “um we got this defenseman who can’t skate but shoots well…and a guy with great leadership potential…… 2014 alas does not have the Ovechkin-Malkin duo that might make people look with glee on it, but that does not make it a bad draft in and of itself.
If I was being critical, this draft could be said to mirror 2002, a draft that similarly was scoffed at with a looming “monster draft upcoming… as 2014 is often overlooked at for 2015 and the McDavid-Eichel-Andersson-whomever saga, while also not having a consensus number one pick for the entire year. The 2002 draft is not often in the discussion for “strong drafts… in fact, it is rarely mentioned at all. This is mostly due to the fact that (arguably) no franchise players came out of this one and all we have are a lot of very solid guys (Pitkanen, Steen, Higgins, Semin, Lupul, Ward) and a few stars (Nash, Bouwmeester, Lehtonen). With 2014 we see a bit of a similar trend, there are about 7-8 guys that have the potential to be stars on the level of the above (in two players cases higher potential), but enough uncertainties that they might just end up being solid guys instead. 2014 is also a more usual draft in the sense that its talent left drops significantly after the middle of the second round, we have been blessed with years of strength going all the way three rounds deep for a few years now, but on the surface it looks like this will be a more typical year.
If I was being generous, this draft might compare favourably to 2006. A draft that had a consensus “can’t miss… top-5 with a ton of uncertainty mixed with high risks behind them. I want to preface this that the top-5 in 2006 is/was thought of demonstrably higher than those of 2014 by and large, but the 2006-lite tagline in terms of scope are fairly accurate. In place of Johnson-Staal-Toews-Backstrom-Kessel we have Ekblad-Bennett-Reinhart-Draisaitl-dal Colle as the “consensus… top-5 and generally viewed as “can’t miss.…
What I’m trying to get at here is that outside of some unusual drafts that are just frighteningly loaded with talent in a way that makes you wonder of some kind of global conspiracy, each draft generally with have at least two guys who have the look of becoming stars at the time of the draft…and 2014 has five. It isn’t all doom and gloom folks and this isn’t the “bad time to tank idiots!… as some claim.
Underrated Picks
These are just a few guys I want to plug in here for my underrated potential selections, I will be doing another full Mock Draft later on closer to the draft.
Nikolai Goldobin –
The Sarnia Sting seem to be a haven for Russian speaking wizards and offer another talented offensive winger this year. Goldobin has taken harsh criticism and often unfairly for his poor defensive work, mostly it feels to me as a backlash against all Russian players with the atrocious +/- of Ovechkin and Yakupov. The Sting are gruesome defensively all around surrendering a league worse 341 goals and were one of the worst teams in the league, but no…it’s all the Russians lack of backcheck. Now before I sound all pissy, the truth is somewhere in the middle, I have seen him be extremely lazy coming back and I’ve seen him skate his tail off, strip a player from behind and go on a breakaway to score. It’s frustrating, but something you have to deal with from an offensive scorer and hope that development will add layers to his game. Goldobin finished the season with 38 goals and 94 points good for 7th overall in scoring behind only dal Colle from the draft eligibles of the OHL (Bennett on pace to pass him). This with a much worse supporting cast. Now the reason why he is underrated is that this is the last time we will see Goldobin play until next season, the only other time we’ll see him at all is at the combine. Due to being 18 he won’t be eligible for the U-18 tournament that so often helps raise or solidify a player in the minds of scouts. With that being said, he could be a real sleeper if he falls like many predict into the 18-25 range. I wonder how much better he would have been this season with somebody to play with that wasn’t an offensive defenseman.
Jared McCann –
There is something very “Ryan O’Reilly-ish… about McCann, on paper his stats this season are nothing to gloat about, yet when you watch him play you can just see that there is potentially something special here. McCann has excelled in a shutdown role and shows signs of being a coveted two-way centre. He finished second on the Greyhounds in scoring but helped anchor a deadly Penalty Kill with winger Patrick Watling. The Greyhounds honestly aren’t the most talented, but are very hard to play against and in large part this is due to the young McCann. The playoffs he is having is also pretty strong as they set to face the unstoppable Eerie Otters. I don’t want to name names, I’ve seen Bergeron (lofty) being thrown out there as well as Ladd for comparables…I would lean more on the conservative side and say if he can develop into a 50 point two-way forward like an Antoine Vermette, you’ve won this pick. He’s been as high as 8 and as low as 22 on most lists.
Most Intriguing
Adrian Kempe –
Much like Teuvo Terà¤và¤inen in 2012, Kempe started the year in the third round being an overlooked player with one of the youngest birthdays in the draft (September 13). Similarly he has now forced his way up and up the list and sits often in the 10-20 range with an U18 tournament coming up that could potentially push him all the way to near the top-5…though that was what people expected for Terà¤và¤inen near draft day and he still went 18th. Kempe brings a great mix of size and strength and unlike many Swedes with size, he’s known to use it and play a more North American game. This isn’t to say he will become Lucic, but his board work and physical play is reminiscent of Franzen when he is in the zone and not being a lazy shite. His play for MODO in the Elitserien has been a major surprise, as the youngest player in the league he finished the year with a solid 11 points in 45 games. He still needs a lot of development, but depending on where he goes could be a real steal.
Kevin Fiala –
Back to the Elitserien we go, the Swiss star is an electrifying talent who doesn’t seem to get much if any respect. At 5’9 it’s easy to see why one might be wary of him, but I always like to think that it’s how you play and not your size, if you’re 5’8 and play like you’re 6’4 you’re much more useful than a 6’7 behemoth who plays like he’s Tyrion Lannister on skates. Speed, agility and a gamebreaking extra gear are what highlight his strengths. He plays with that Swiss grit that I love, despite his size he’s willing to engage and while he’s not physically ready to compete with the higher physical level of competition at the NHL/AHL level right now, he’s only 17 and that will come. With HV71 he ended the year with them scoring 3 goals and 11 points in 17 games before having an eye opening playoff run thus far being second on his team with 6 points in 8 games. Size is an issue and is why he hovers on the late first and mid-second, but based on skill he should be much earlier and somebody will get an interesting player (Probably the Habs).
Thanks for reading. More content coming.