Mirtle's NHL Entry Draft Primer: 2009 Edition

by James Mirtle on Jun 25, 2009 6:00 AM CDT Comment 41 comments

So, tomorrow's the big day for Mr. Hedman and friends. Round 1 of the 2009 NHL entry draft, with 29 of 30 NHL teams making selections, gets underway around 7 p.m. at the Bell Centre, and Rounds 2 through 7 take place on Saturday with an additional 181 picks to be made.

And we here at SB Nation will have it all covered.

Attending the draft in Montreal this weekend are eight of the network's top bloggers, coming from as far away as Atlanta and Cornwall, Ont.: Robert of Eyes On The Prize, Matt of Bird Watchers Anonymous, Travis of Broad Street Hockey, David of Die By The Blade, Jules of Pension Plan Puppets, Jim of Blueshirt Banter, Frank from Pensburgh, and Brandon from Defending Big D.

It'll be the biggest undertaking yet for SBN Hockey, and we're planning on having audio, video, pictures and interviews from the draft floor both Friday and Saturday. Several bloggers, including myself, will also be on Twitter as things get going, so feel free to follow our coverage at:

mirtle
Pensburgh
DefendingBigD
diebytheblade
mlse
BroadStHockey
2ndCityHockey
felixpotvin

The rest of the hockey blogs' Twitter feeds can be found here.

A few other notes on the draft:

"North American players eligible for selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft must be born between January 1^st, 1989 and September 15^th 1991 and non-North American players born between January 1^st, 1988 and September 15^th, 1991."
The first round will be broadcast live on TSN in Canada and Versus in the U.S.
Many, many video player profiles are available here via the NHL
A full list of which teams hold all 211 picks is available at Wikipedia

There's also already been some amazing predraft coverage from some in the blogosphere, including these three must-read posts from The Falconer at BWA , Scott at Gospel of Hockey and daoust at PPP. Seriously, that's some fabulous work.

Daoust's post includes this chart, which identifies the number of games played and points for players drafted between '96 and '06:

Chart_2_medium

In other words, only 39 per cent of first-round picks played 200 or more NHL games, and they averaged 185 games played and 84 points. Only 5.5 per cent of players picked after the second round have played 200 or more NHL games.

According to his spreadsheet, Ottawa, San Jose and Buffalo have had the most players hit that 200 games played mark over that period. Detroit, Columbus and Phoenix have had the fewest.

The following is another great chart in the same vein, also from a killer FanPost at PPP this week. Where players currently in the NHL were picked, broken down by position:

Positionsbyround_medium

Groovy. I sort of like what happens in blogworld when I go on vacation.

Greg Wyshynski is also going to be on hand at the draft, so make Monsieur Daddy a regular stop Friday night, along with TSN's always happening website. For a potential preview of what's to come, there's also a ton of mock drafts available, including one put together by the gang right here that concluded earlier today.

It's also well worth noting that the draft weekend is often the busiest of the year in terms of player and pick transactions, sometimes more so than even the trade deadline, and I expect there to be at least a couple whopper deals before the free-agent frenzy period opens on Wednesday.

So much for an off-season.

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Comments

Just how I wanted to start my morning – with a shirtless dude!*

*obviously sarcasm

by Afino on Jun 25, 2009 7:29 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Don’t sell yourself short, Afie. Of course that’s what you wanted to see.

Can’t wait to be in Montreal. I’ll have to make it a point to meet you guys.

Have safe trips all around.

From the Penalty Box to the Blog Box! Check it out at Isles Official's Outlook!

by IslesOfficial on Jun 25, 2009 8:24 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh, I don’t know, I sort of like that shot of Hedman.

Cassie
"And will that be cash, hip check, or Raw Charge today?"

by Cassie McClellan on Jun 25, 2009 8:48 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks for posting it!

I’m using that photo as my desktop background shot until I get tired of it – should be a while. (Is there someplace I can order it poster-size ;) ?)

Thanks James!

Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!

by hockeymomof2 on Jun 25, 2009 10:05 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Heh, you’re both right.

This is probably the best time of the year to give the ladies a little something for their time with the scouting combine and the draft.

by Afino on Jun 25, 2009 12:02 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That photo made me real happy the first time I saw it.

"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri

by gotsparkly on Jun 25, 2009 1:21 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It’s filed away in my “things that make me smile” folder…

Rockin' the Red in Section 412

by boutros23 on Jun 26, 2009 1:29 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Cripes, how many female readers do I have anyway…

Blogging on hockey at fromtherink.com

by James Mirtle on Jun 26, 2009 1:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Do you really want to know? I have friends that read your blog, too. They just don’t leave comments. They sure did like that picture, tho.

Cassie
"And will that be cash, hip check, or Raw Charge today?"

by Cassie McClellan on Jun 26, 2009 2:24 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Quite a few, probably.

Which I think is hilarious, considering that teams seem to think that they need to come up with special, cutesy websites just for the girls, and special, cutesy clothes in pink with pretty sparkles on them.

When most of the female sports fans I know comment on regular blogs with the guys and want clothes in the team colors, instead of something that looks like it was attacked by a rapid Beaddazzler and would be adorable on an eight-year-old.

Sports guys just don’t understand women. :D

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Jun 26, 2009 3:33 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

They really don’t. And frankly, they don’t want to try to, either. They just make assumptions based on what men like, switch the genders involved, and then run with them. That’s why you end up with things like the Caps’ Club Scarlet – which looks like a strip club website, if you ask me. Kudos to the Caps for trying to reach out to their female fans, but they obviously didn’t get any input from them. It looks like they’d just assumed that that’s what they’d wanted when it’s probably way off base for most.

Cassie
"And will that be cash, hip check, or Raw Charge today?"

by Cassie McClellan on Jun 26, 2009 4:16 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Holy moly! That Club Scarlet site is amazing. Like a bordello, and ends up offending me mostly. Hopefully they’ll start over in 09-10.

There are several hockey girlfriends over at Canes Country, though the draft isn’t exactly an area we seem to dwell. Until I saw Hedman’s photo. I made sure it showed up over there too. Felt obliged to share the happy.

As for what women want, I’ve been checking out the musings of a hockeymom blog, also based on the Capitals, that got some award last week. I like her perspective. (though the bling jewelry sponsor irritates me; the adorable on an 8-yr old comment is apt)

Let's go Canes!
Hakkaa Paalle!

by hockeymomof2 on Jun 26, 2009 4:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I have a few friends that write. One is a Wings fan, but she’s awesome. And another is a Pens’ fan, and she covers a lot of major junior stuff. Click on my profile name and email me. I can direct you to some good hockey blogs written by women.

Cassie
"And will that be cash, hip check, or Raw Charge today?"

by Cassie McClellan on Jun 26, 2009 6:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Another thing you could do is just poke around the blogrolls of a blog you like and see which other ones you like to read. Some of them might be written by women (or have women as contributors) and you didn’t realize it.

For all the worries about women feeling “intimidated” by a blog that is dominated by guys, I have never, ever had any problems with a guy telling me to buzz off and go back to the kitchen – not the men who know anything about sports, anyway, as opposed to the guys who merely THINK they know something about sports. The women who draw the ire are the ones who pop in and talk about how “he is so a-DOR-able He should get on the ice more – the coach must hate him. Look how sad he is on the bench! What a cutie-pie!!!” when the actual fans know the reason he is on the bench right now is because the team is on the powerplay and he couldn’t hold the puck in at the blue line if his life depended on it.

(Of course, the newspaper sites and message boards are entirely different. Those are rampant with sexist pigs and illiterate troglodytes. Even the smart men tend to avoid those like the plague.) :)

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Jun 27, 2009 7:19 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whoops.

That picture should have been a bunch of exclamation points and numeral ones, like so many of the kids seem to do nowadays.

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Jun 27, 2009 7:20 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I didn’t even realize you were female. Probably because, when someone says, “Baroque,” I think, “Antonio Vivaldi.”

by J. Michael Neal on Jun 27, 2009 9:02 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Baroque classical is my favorite music. Hence, the screen name. :)

"A vacuum is a hell of a lot better than some of the stuff that nature replaces it with." -- Tennessee Williams

by Baroque on Jun 28, 2009 3:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

basically, once you get past the 3rd round every pick has about the same chance to get to the NHL (somewhere in the low 20% range) and will have, on average, the same tenure (just under 30 games).

I wonder how many GMs know that a 7th round pick is worth about the same as a 4th round pick?

Hyphens cause writers more trouble than any other form of punctuation, except perhaps commas.

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Jun 25, 2009 8:24 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think what this chart says (and others like it) is that real talent can be seen in a small number of players, but for the most part, projecting what an 18-year-old kid is going to do 5 or 10 years from now is a complete crapshoot.

I mean, this isn’t football, where most of the player are 21, 22, or older (with some exceptions) or basketball (where players are significantly evaluated twice: once when being recruited and then again when entering the draft).

And, again, they’re kids.

by RCheli on Jun 25, 2009 9:02 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Interesting to note that...

…although Ottawa has succeeded in drafting the most NHL regulars, they may be the only team in the league whose draft picks have never won a Cup.

That’s going all the way back to ’91, even.

I haven’t done the research, so maybe Columbus has yet to draft a Cup winner, but Hossa was Ottawa’s best chance to end the drought over the past two seasons.

Hopefully Alfie and Phillips and company can break that trend together.

by TD O'Dell on Jun 25, 2009 10:48 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

that’s quite a stat

Hyphens cause writers more trouble than any other form of punctuation, except perhaps commas.

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Jun 25, 2009 11:04 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Wait… does that mean that Yashin never won a Cup?

by Habs on Jun 25, 2009 11:06 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It’s borderline but Stan Neckar was drafted by the Sens and “won” a cup with Tampa. He only played two playoff games for Tampa in the finals, but the Bolts successfully lobbied to have his name included on the Cup.

Bitter Leaf Fan: a life-long Toronto Maple Leafs fan comments on the team, the media and the exasperation...

by mf37 on Jun 25, 2009 11:56 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

How could I forget about Nets Cash

I’ve been cheering for Hossa the past two years for nothing. Now I don’t need to root for Nashville to win the Cup anymore.

by TD O'Dell on Jun 28, 2009 4:55 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Have to go all the way back to '96 with Buffalo

And still only 3 players in the last 20 years….two on the same team!

Cory Sarich – ‘96 – (’04 Lightning)
Sean O’Donnell – ‘91 (’08 Ducks)
Brad May – ‘90 (’08 Ducks)

by Afino on Jun 25, 2009 12:07 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I meant ’07 Ducks.

by Afino on Jun 25, 2009 12:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That’s not as rare as you’d think. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe none of the newest expansion teams – Minnesota, Columbus, Atlanta and Nashville – have had a draft pick win the Cup. Neither has Phoenix (after relocation). Also, you make your own luck – no Tampa Bay or Carolina (after relocation) pick has won outside their drafting organization.

Note: I only checked notable players, so if there’s, say, a career minor leaguer out there that snuck into a Finals game and got credit for a Cup, one of these might be false.

by Malurous on Jun 25, 2009 5:48 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

YouTube Link

That YouTube linke to all the prospects profiles is absolute GOLD. Given, the Kings are trying like hell to screw up the 5th overall pick… but its nice to see what we would be missing out on….. ;-)

Cheers,
Matt

www.viewfrommyseats.com

by Cheap Seats on Jun 25, 2009 12:03 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs