Comments on: CUE BARENAKED LADIESIf I had a scouting service…(If I had…)

By: dominic lavoie

dominic lavoie — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:40:24 +0000

honestly there are some crazy things being posted here. a little enlightenment:

Tavares is in his 4th year of junior year hockey. Duchesne is in his 2nd. It gets harder and harder to stay motivated in junior when the draft is coming up. Tavares is more a finished product than Duchene. Tavares is closer to being the player he will be than Duchene, who had potentially more upside.

Tavares is scaring scouts like Woodlief because they have seen “can’t miss” prospects with big gaudy point totals bomb out in the pros. One need look no further than Pavel Brendl to understand what I am saying here. The diff between Tavares and Brendl however is that Tavares is a winner and has shown two years in a row at the WJC that he plays well on a big stage. But his OHL playoff performances have been underwhelming. He is getting his points, but only on the power play and he is not scoring clutch goals in the playoffs. His lack of all around play is also a concern.

To the poster who brought up Parise – no scout in his right mind would have recommended taking Parise in the top 5 of the 2003 Draft and yet he is arguably one of the top 5 players from that draft. You referenced his skating – some players improve their skating post draft and some don’t. Parise didn’t have a lot of size and came out of a high school program instead of major junior. He wasn’t playing against world class competition on a nightly basis so that makes it harder to evaluate him as a scout. This is why scouts make the big bucks and often times push their GM’s to trade up to get a player at a certain spot.

Another example – look at Thomas Hickey. When he was taken at #4 in the 2007 Draft there was a lot of head scratching. Since then he has won two golds at the WJC – 1 as captain of the team, and turned into one of the most highly rated defense prospects not in the NHL. Scouting services provide critical information and GM’s have to make tough decisions, sometimes going against the grain of prognosticators and the fans of a team. There was a lot of booing in Los Angeles when Hickey was taken – LA Kings look pretty smart now.

By: Al L

Al L — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:59:36 +0000

Hey Smokey#3,if GM’S around the NHL simply evaluated by what they heard,there would be chaotic turnover due to their being relieved of their duties. Marketing is a science. The key to success in a competitive business is differentiation of product. That is just what Red Line is doing. Even if they are proven wrong,their sensationalism will continue to attract those that want something different without regard to accuracy. That is the market they are targeting. Although Chris took the sarcastic,comical approach,he was dead on accurate!!! Hopefully our GM doesn’t read the National Enquirer!!

By: MikeF

MikeF — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:01:10 +0000

This is a Great Post. Sarcasm is an art.

By: Jim Clark

Jim Clark — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:48:23 +0000

What I found amusing about this article is they compared him to Brett Hull in a negative way. Say what? Hull Jr was a great player who won two Stanley Cups. I will be ecstatic if Tavares as an Islander can duplicate which Brett Hull did. I’ll take some baggage if he can perform, many athletes are like that.

By: joey bagodonuts

joey bagodonuts — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 02:23:07 +0000

redline does not make its money trying to figure out who is #1 in the draft. the islanders, and all other nhl teams only have the manpower on their scouting team to thoroughly scout a small number of players the entire year. a lot of teams rely on the independent scouting reports to get an all-encompassing idea of what is in every single canadian junior league, D1 college, europe, russia, etc. redline has little to gain by ranking duchene ahead of tavares. duchene is a player who is improving at a much greater rate over tavares. tavares is much better at this time, but not improving at the level of duchene. draft duchene. end of story.

By: Coach B

Coach B — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:55:01 +0000

Thats the problem. too much time before the draft. Either we must find something else to do or it might be fun to try and figure out what will happen late first, early second round.

By: 19 ISLE in NJ 22

19 ISLE in NJ 22 — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:42:00 +0000

There is still over 9 weeks before the draft … we are going to see a lot more fire works over what to do with the first round pick and who is the better play … and scouting reports … blah blah blah … We’re all going to drive ourselves nuts at this rate. LOL!!! 6/26 can’t come soon enough.

By: bergie20

bergie20 — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:39:27 +0000

blitz – are you suggesting that we could sign jagr if we draft tavares? now that would be interesting.

By: lefty

lefty — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:39:24 +0000

Rob76, thanks for that info. Between Streit and Gordon wanting a sniper and this info I think it is safe to say JT will be an Islander.

Blizzard….EXACTLTY! Enough with people over analyzing this and then thinking they are slick with all these trade scenarios that are never going to happen.

By: blitz

blitz — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:36:43 +0000

Tavares’s agent, Pat Brisson, also represents Jagr…

By: bonzo

bonzo — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:35:47 +0000

The final word on Tavares: even playing hurt he is scoring almost two points a game in the playoffs. Nuff said.

The final word on RLR: clear attention grabber- just think about how many people never even heard of RLR before this very controversial (to say the least!) ranking came out. Think about that!

By: terry

terry — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:29:35 +0000

everyone wants tavares bad, so do I, but what if we bet an eric lindros type offer for the first pick? Stamkos, second overal, their second round pick, Malone, whoever else, why not take hedman at two? Or lets say Smyth, (and I was a big detractor when he played at NVMC this year) Wolski, Hannan, thrd overall and their second. Is duchene the wrong pick then? Burke is crazy, but shouldn’t Garth at least listen to reasonable, or outrageous offers?