Following a disappointing playoffs perfromance, Sens fans are left with the
NHL Draft to try to compenste for a great season but awful playoffs.
The Sens needs are glaring: a top goalie, a second line center, another
sniper, a PP QB. With those needs, however, will play no part on who the
Sens will draft. The Sens, as always, select the best player available,
every draft, no matter the team need. The question is, at slot 26, who will
be the best available. This is a very difficult draft to figure
out. With all the Europeans, and goalies, and 1997 re-entries, its hard to
calculate who will be available at the 26th spot, 39th spot, and the 54th
spot. Some of the possible Sens selections are:
Maxime Ouellet – the Sens aren’t completely sold on Mathieu Chouinard as a
#1 goaltender due to his inconsistence this year. Ouellet would provide as
insurance in case as Chouinard doesn’t have what it takes. Ouellet may also
be better than Chouinard. With Damian Rhodes likely headed to Atlanta in
the expansion draft, goaltending is a definite hole the Sens want to fill.
In all likelyhood, Ouellet will be selected before the Sens first rounder,
leaving the Sens to select….
Evgeny Konstantinov - Nikolai Khabibulin clone. Some scouts say the Russian
goalie is better than Ouellet, and some scouts say Ouellet will be better Read more »
The Toronto Maple Leafs are one “playoff step” away from their first Stanley Cup appearance since the 1966-67 season. This fact is not lost on any Leafs’ fan anywhere. A blip by an upstart 1977-78 squad sent the Leafs to the conference finals against a very strong Montreal Canadiens squad. The Canadiens had the far superior team then and sent Toronto to an exit, one round before the Stanley Cup finals.
A veteran and somewhat overachieving team went to the Western Conference finals in 1992-93 and 1993-94 riding the coat-tails of Gilmour, Clark, Potvin, etc. But those teams were built with few young players and the team aged quickly.
The 1998-99 version has surely been a surprise, a very pleasant surprise indeed. This version has been built around some key veteran players, but the core of this team belies youth, talent and speed. Many of the Toronto Maple Leafs, circa 1999, have their best years ahead of them.
A successful regular season and an immensely exciting first two rounds of the playoffs have brought some adversity as it will for most playoffs combatants. A scoring slump, injuries to several key players and you’d think, boy are they done. Not so, as the Leafs’ improving depth reaches to the minors and the junior ranks to find their capable replacements.
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The Canadiens promoted 3 of their top 4 junior prospects immediately following each player’s elimination from post-season play. The 3 players promoted to Fredericton were Mike Ribeiro, Eric Chouinard and Jason Ward. Ward has had the most success since his promotion, proving himself to be a solid bet to eventually play on one of the Habs’ top 2 lines. Chouinard has also had success, the bulk of which has been in the offensive zone. Ribeiro, on the other hand has struggled, size and strength being the likely reasons.
Other notes:
Russian defenseman Andrei Markov(the Habs 6th round selection, 162nd overall in the 98 draft) played very well in the recent World Championships in Norway. He had 1 goal and 4 assists in 6 games, and finished a solid +3.
Mike Ribeiro
POS HT/WT AGE DRAFTED
(c) 5’10′/167 Lbs. 19 D-Mtl98 (2-45)
GP G A PTS +- PIM PPG SHG
99 PLAYOFF (AHL) 3 0 1 1 -5 0 0 0
99 PLAYOFF (QMJHL) 11 5 11 16 -3 12 3 0
98-99 SEASON 69 67 100 167 +52 137 24 8
#1 Strength- Vision and creativity.
#1 Weakness- Size. Read more »
The Washington Capital are in a solid spot for the 1999 NHL Draft. They will be selecting seventh overall and they appear as if they’ll have quite a few options when their pick comes up.
Washington, who has a strong group of prospects throughout their system but they seem to have exhausted their supply of high quality skilled forwards the last two years. Washington still has a lot of talent up front (though keeping it healthy is another major question mark). Players like Jan Bullis (21), Richard Zednik (23), Jaroslav Svejkowsky (22), Matt Herr (23), and Beniot Gratton (22) still haven’t come close to realizing their full potential, with latter two having more to prove that the former three.
However, much of Washington’s true prospect depth is on defense and in goalie. On the blueline, Washington has Nick Boynton (20) (still unsigned at the time of writing), Alexei Tezikov (21), Nolan Baumgartner (23), Jean-Francois Fortin (20)and the fast rising Mike Siklenka (19). These five players provide a full range of skills, from size and toughness, to raw skill.
In goal, The Caps have a ton of young talent: Curtis Cruickshank (20), Jomar Cruz (19), Radislav Stana (19), Pierre-Luc Therrien (20)and Sebastein Charpentier (22). Which one of these five is the best depends on who you talk to. I persoanlly love Therrien but from what I’ve read it seems like Washington is high on Cruz. Stana appears to have the biggest upside.
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Key to player reports
Player Name, Position
Chance of making the NHL: Scale between 1-10. 10 being a “sure thing”, 5 being “has to be lucky”, 1 being “no chance”.
Impact once in the NHL: Season Stats: Player stats from the NHL, AHL, CHL, US College hockey,
etc.
Projected Role: Where he will fit on his NHL team (basically “if things go well”).
Projected Stats: The types of numbers you can expect from him once he is established (best case scenario…the “peak” of his output, over an 82 game period).
Comparable Player: NHLer his style of play/potential resembles.
Notes: Details.
David Ytfeldt D
Chance of making the NHL: 8
Impact once in the NHL: B
Season Stats:
Projected Role: 2nd-3rd agitating defenseman
Projected Stats: 5g 20a 25pts 100pim
Comparable Player: Darius Kasparitis
Notes: Drafted as David Jonsson…changed his name, hoping the Canucks would forget about him… Was voted Rookie of the Year in the Swedish Elite League…was excellent in the World Junior Championships…known for borderline illegal physical play…progressed more than any other Canucks draft from 1998.
Bryan Allen D
Chance of making the NHL: 10
Impact once in the NHL: A- or above
Season Stats: OHL: 37 7 15 22 +14 77
Projected Role: 1st-2nd stay-at-home anchor of a defenseman
Projected Stats: 10g 25a 35pts 150pim
Comparable Player: Chris Pronger, Derian Hatcher Read more »
The Canucks are drafting 3rd overall. Brian Burke and his scouting staff have an opportunity to salvage a lot with one draft pick.
The guy picked by the Canucks will be expected to be either a 1st line star winger or a 1st line star center, as soon as possible. A tough task, no doubt, but the 5 top guys definitely have the ability to overcome it.
Needs:
The needs are many, the chances to fill those needs are few.
-goaltending
-offensive defenseman
-a top 2 center w
-offensive forwards
Read more »
The 1999 NHL Entry Draft is projected as one of the deepest drafts in years. And for Neil Smith, it represents the most important draft in his tenure as general manager of the New York Rangers.
That’s because it could be his last.
With the Rangers having missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year, the pressure is on Smith to end that streak next season. And next season starts on June 26 at the Fleet Center in Boston. The Rangers will be picking 11th overall in this year’s draft, and it is up to Smith, Director of Scouting Martin Madden, and the rest of the Ranger scouting staff to select a cornerstone player for an organization that has very few of them.
Needs: The Rangers pool of young players and prospects is one of the shallowest in the NHL, so they have many holes to fill. But their most glaring need is at the wing position, specifically, wingers of the high-scoring variety. The Rangers haven’t had a pure sniper since the days of Mike Gartner. And their best prospect on the wings, Stefan Cherneski, is still recovering from a shattered kneecap. New York needs a scorer in their system, and they need it badly.
Another position of need is defense. The Rangers have a few nice prospects in Burke Henry, Kim Johnsson, and Mike Mottau, but they don’t have a franchise-type defenseman in the system. Brian Leetch is not going to be around forever.
Read more »
Another season has passed, and another first round loss for the Phoenix Coyotes. Most people point out that Jeremy Roenick wasn’t 100% after the vicious elbow he received from Derian Hatcher of the Dallas Stars. But the fact of the matter is they were beaten by a St. Louis team that was hungrier and worked harder than they did. If Phoenix would like to be considered among the elite of the Western Conference they need to develop a killer instinct and inject new blood in their lineup, especially at forward.
Unfortunately, their cupboard is very dry when it comes to forward prospects and the number of them who can make an impact in the NHL. Among the young players that were involved in the playoffs, only Shane Doan seemed to make significant contributions. Both Juha Ylonen and Daniel Briere were invisible on the ice, as they were for most of the season. Because of their promise, Bobby Smith decided to give Cliff Ronning for virtually nothing. Once it was obvious that the two youngsters couldn’t handle the number two center position, he panicked and gave up Brad Isbister, a young power, for free agent Robert Riechel. Riechel now plans to return to the Czech Republic to take an assistant coach/player job for the national team.
Read more »
As usual the Islanders have shown that the only luck they have is bad luck. Thanks to a victory on the last day of the season and now Chicago winning the draft lottery the Islanders have dropped from the 3rd overall pick down to the 5th. This drop will almost certainly rule out the selection one of the 4 premier prospects (Brendl, Stefan and the Sedins). Had the Isles stayed at the 4 slot they would have happily chosen whichever of these players was still available, most likey Henrik Sedin. However, now there is yet another window of oppurtunity for Mike Milbury to make a mistake. It is well known that Milbury has a penchant for making trades, especially involving first round picks. The Isles are currently involved in new arena negotiations, the outcome of which will drastically impact next year. If a new deal cannot be reached by early June, Milbury will be forced to cut payroll yet again. The dumping of veterans such as Pilon, Linden, and Smolinksi will vastly alter the Isles roster. Any deals will certainly yield some young, inexpensive players/prospects, like those for Isbister and Lindgren.
Read more »
Key to player reports
Player Name, Position
Chance of making the NHL: Scale between 1-10. 10 being a “sure thing”, 5 being “has to be lucky”, 1 being “no chance”.
Impact once in the NHL: Season Stats: Player stats from the NHL, AHL, CHL, US College hockey, etc.
Projected Role: Where he will fit on his NHL team (basically “if things go well”).
Projected Stats: The types of numbers you can expect from him once he is established (best case scenario…the “peak” of his output, over an 82 game period).
Comparable Player: NHLer his style of play/potential resembles.
Notes: Details.
Brent Sopel D
Chance of making the NHL: 7/10
Impact once in the NHL: B-
Season Stats: AHL: 53 10 21 31 59…NHL: 5 1 0 1 -1 4
Projected Role: 3rd-4th Two-Way Defenseman
Projected Stats: 10g 25a 30pts
Comparable Player: Eric Wienrich
Notes: Although being an offensively gifted defenseman for most of his career, Brent needs elevate his game by becoming more defensive oriented. His offense is not enough to keep him in the NHL. He has a solid shot, along with good skating, and a good first pass out of the zone. Is capable of having a solid NHL career.
Robb Gordon LW
Chance of making the NHL: 6/10
Impact once in the NHL: C+
Season Stats: AHL: 68 16 22 38 98…NHL: 4 0 0 0 2
Projected Role: 3rd line winger
Projected Stats: 15g 15a 30pts
Comparable Player: Pat Falloon Read more »
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