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The NHL Draft, like each draft for each sport, is a time for hope for each fan of each team. It’s a probability for each team to get better right then and there. It’s a beginning to a new season so everyone has the hope that your team could be on the verge of something special. Any pick may be the next great player for your team or the next bestloved player for you or any individual in the world and could inspire numerous little kid to start out playing the game. Maybe your team makes a big trade that may get them to the playoffs or get another piece closer to making them a contender for the Stanley Cup. A trade could also get your team that high-profile chance who could turn into the best player on your team in the next season or two. The NHL moves the draft around to a dissimilar team’s city each year so fans of each team have the prospect to experience what it’s like to be at the NHL Draft. That city is the center of the NHL for regarding a week and each team’s front office along with their scouts are there. This makes for easy communication amid teams which is a huge reason why the draft has become a time for huge trades. A team may find any kind of player in the NHL Draft. Everybody wants the top 6 forward, the goal scorer, the playmaker, the offensive defenseman who may quarterback the power play or the #1 goalie who may shut down the other team. Teams also need role players like checking forwards, penalty killers, two-way forwards, defensive defensemen to block shots and shut down other team’s top lines and enforcers or pests so the other team doesn’t take liberties with their best players. There’s always outstanding players in the introductory round but outstanding players may be found in each round of the draft. Maybe the pick in the 3rd round will be Cal Clutterbuck or the 6th round pick will be Pavel Datsyuk or a pick in the 7th round could be Derek Boogaard. Who would’ve thought back in 2001 that a 6’7″, 265 pound kid from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan would mean so much to humans of Minnesota and around the NHL? It’s a global draft so your team could pick a player from Russia, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Germany, Norway and more. A player could be picked and you could know perfectly not one thing regarding them. Luckily today we have the internet and the capacity to Google them to alleviate this problem. It wasn’t always like that. Here’s the thing regarding players from other continents, they could be playing in a league like the Swedish Elite League (SEL), the Finnish Elite League (SM-liiga) or a league in Russia. These leagues are pro leagues like the NHL in North America so ordinarily a 17 or 18-year-old kid playing in a professional league isn’t going to put up a lot of points because they aren’t ordinarily the best players on their team but they’ve shown the talent to play in the best hockey leagues in their countries. Take an individual like Mikko Koivu, who was drafted in 2001 out of Finland as an 18-year-old. He had just started playing for TPS Turku of the Finnish Elite League (SM-liiga) and all there was to look at was his current stats which showed him playing 21 games and having a total of 1 assist* in those games. Wild fans were marveling what the Wild were thinking taking this guy with the 6th pick. Back in 2001, we were at the mercy of the coverage on ESPN and the local reporters. They said Mikko was a outstanding player, of course, but that’s hard to tell with stats or spotlight videos. I might be capable to put together a video that makes me look like an NHL player! Ok, in all likelihood not but hopefully you know what I mean. *I thought the same thing with regards to the firstborn overall pick in 2001, a Russian kid by the name of Ovechkin. He was playing in the Russian Superleague (RSL) and his stats were a whopping 2 goals and 2 helps in 21 games played! WHAT? He’s the best player in the whole draft? What’s going on? Turns out he’s pretty good! Another reason I love the NHL Draft is because each team has a table on the draft floor and they come up to announce their picks so you get to see the front office personnel who make the conclusions for the organization, the General Manager, the Director of Scouting and the some Amateur Scouts that evaluate the talent all around the world. This is their time to shine so why shouldn’t they get to be a share of it? The NBA and the NFL has the league commissioner announce the primary round and the teams are in their war rooms back in their team cities like it’s a big secret. Major League Baseball just started televising their basi round and they are more like the NBA & NFL with the way they do their draft. One of the coolest parts of having each team announce their introductory round picks is that most of the players picked are in the crowd with their friends and families so when they get picked, they hug or shake the hands of a good deal of 10-20 persons on their way to the stage. When they get up to the stage, they are given a hat and a jersey, they shake hands with team representatives and they get the draft photograph. The player, of course, is always in the middle and they always throw their arms around the team workers and it’s just a great sight to see each year. It’s just cool to see all the emotion for these kids on what is in all likelihood the best day of their lives so far. One of the greatest things in regards to the NHL draft is the proclamation of the initial trade of the two-day event. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman gets booed* each time he speaks but he says, “we have a trade to announce” and the crowd perks up with enthusiastic “ohs” allround the arena. Bettman always seems amazed by the response, unless that’s just a reaction that he’s astonished they actually want to listen what he has to say like, “oh now you care?” He then announces the trade and no matter what arena the draft is in, the crowd always reacts with oohs and ahhs like they are watching fireworks on Independence Day. *I’ve never genuinely understood why NHL fans hate NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. He’s a big reason for the lockouts in 1994-95 and 2004-05 and he’s made changes to the game that include renaming the conferences and divisions, elaboration watering down the talent in the league and the current NHL TV Deal with Versus. These may be valid reasons but the league is in a good place right now so perchance we may quit booing the man each time he speaks! The bottom line is each player picked by each team has a story that has brought them to this point in their lives. They’ve gone through a heap of adversity along the way and have now been drafted into the NHL to get paid to play a game. A majority of them will never make it to the NHL but they will get the experience of living out their dreams of playing hockey in a professional manner and will make new friends and connections that will eternally modify their lives. How galore 18 year olds get to say that in regards to their jobs. Good luck to each player drafted this weekend! Play hard and “Bring the Clutter” each day!!! What do you think when it comes to the NHL Draft? Is it the best draft? Is there something that could make it better? Is there something that makes it bad? |
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