How do you feel the draft went?

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

I'll have to say yes. Acquiring Mr Chips, who I pimped ever so discreetly, "Reggie" Yemelin and Radek Bonk, seems to me to have been a fair day's work by our men in Raleigh.

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Hmmm, last year it was Kostitsyn, this year Chipchura. Both spent considerable time ranked as top 10 prospects during their repsective draft years. Nice sort of crumbs to have fall your way. Of course we'll have to wait, but still...

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Day 2 is a mystery to me.

We ended up selecting 4 d-men overall, one a 27 year old Swiss (Mark Streit).

[blaise]

D is a position that could stand strengthening, what with the dismissal of Q and Dykhuis and uncertainty about Hainsey. If one of those four works out, that would be a relief.

[Patty Roy]

I'm happy with the way things went, but most of that happiness comes from the Bonk acquisition.

I must admit that my first reaction to the Bonk trade was not all that positive...living in Ottawa, you tend to hear alot of negativity towards Bonk...he had become one of the teams whipping boys the last few seasons, despite putting up some pretty decent numbers.

However, the more i think of it, the more i like the move. Garon, i believe, will eventually become a pretty good #1 goalie in this league, maybe as soon as this season? However he likely was not going to get that opportunity in Montreal, so cudos to Gainey for moving him at exactly the right time and landing a 6'3" 220 pound center in his prime years who has been putting up as good (or better) offensive numbers than any current Hab over the last 3-4 seasons.

I still wonder where Bonk will ultimately fit with this club. Are we really prepaired to pay our 3rd line center 3.5 million dollars? Does Ribs get traded? Does Ribs move to LW?

As for the draft, well i'm fine with the Chipchura selection. I've questioned his lack of production, however he did play hurt alot last season, so hopefully he can have a healthy 2004-05 and build significantly on those numbers. If he can turn out to have a Dave Scatchard type NHL career, then i will be very pleased.

I know very little about the rest of the picks, but i do like what i'm reading on Yemelin. He seems like a real fireball of a player and could be fun to watch if he ever makes it.

[NWTHabsFan]

As of last night, I was convinced the Habs had scored an excellent draft from the point of view of the three picks they had on Day 1. The ended up with the gritty leader in Chippy, a hard nosed Russian blueliner in Yemelin (McKeen's were high on this guy and has his stock rising) and a swapped third rounder that brought us Bonk. Instant upgrade on the third line and some potential for years to come.

Day 2 has been truly bizarre. Picking 2nd overall at spot #100 put us in a position where there were some pretty good "names" out there ready for us to scoop: Gracik (2nd ranked Slovakian and top 50 on THN), O'Neill (boy did his stock plummet) and Hedman (highly ranked Swedish defender) to name just a few. To venture into the USHS fold for the first time that I can ever remember with that #100 pick was a shocker. The rest of the day went par for that course, as AS and TT continued to pull names out of a hat that kept us all head scratching. The picks were so off the charts that many of us were wondering where TT and his scouting team found these players. One thing is certain, I also don't ever remember us drafting the skater that was ranked dead last in the CSB final rankings either (we did this year!).

So, I have absolutely no way of assessing Day 2 yet...still way to early. Young JT Wyman is part of a great HS program at Blake, and was their team MVP this season. He will at least be visible next season as he heads off to Dartmouth in the NCAA (sounds a bit like the O'Byrne pick from last year). The rest...we shall just have to wait and see I guess. History favours both AS and TT as they pulled together some pretty nice picks with Ottawa over the years and last year's draft is proving to be a solid addition of hockey assets for the club, at least at this early stage.

I give it a conditional thumbs up, but will need a few years to fully understand Day 2

[Bob]

A few years ago, it seemed that we were hoping for a saviour at every draft... someone who could immediately step in and save the faltering franchise.

Now we seem to be looking farther down the road, choosing athletes more carefully and giving them a chance to develop.

The one quirk about this draft that makes it interesting is the fact that the Habs to three overage players who may be able to contribute sooner rather than later.

It is this thinking outside the box that has piqued my interest.

All in all, I am somewhere between neutral and happy with this draft... but there is no category for that.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

NWTHabsFan said:

History favours both AS and TT as they pulled together some pretty nice picks with Ottawa over the years and last year's draft is proving to be a solid addition of hockey assets for the club, at least at this early stage.

I give it a conditional thumbs up, but will need a few years to fully understand Day 2

For me this draft had a very Gaineyesque flavour to it. On Day 1 we pick up 2 big centres and a Russian D who sounds like Kasparaitis Jr.

On Day 2 I felt like I was watching an episode of the original Outer Limits. An American high school kid, The Minsk Marvel Mikhail Grabovsky, a goalie who's idol is Jocelyn Thibault, an economics major from Cornell, a forward who is not known for fighting who received a 10 game suspension for beating the crap out of an opposing defensemen (he was fingered for "using excessive force"), a 26 year old Swiss who loves seafood, and a defenseman who fell from a 178th place mid-term CSS ranking to a 231st place ranking. Strange day indeed.

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

Neither happy nor unhappy.
We got a big rugged swift offensively challenged forward......gotta go

[NWTHabsFan]

M. said:

For me this draft had a very Gaineyesque flavour to it. On Day 1 we pick up 2 big centres and a Russian D who sounds like Kasparaitis Jr.

I really wondered what kind of influence Gainey would have on the criteria TT has been oft quoted as using to pick his selections: skating, hockey sense and work ethic. It sounds like Gainey has added some grit/jam to the list of criteria, which is okay by me. It will likely provide more balance to Hamilton and Montreal down the road, away from the soft undersized label.

The list of current or past team captains amongst our prospect list is growing, so there is a strong tendency towards leadership. Heck, our list of possible future Habs captains should now include Chip alongside Higgs and Komo and likely others.

[Deleted]

Patty said:

I'm happy with the way things went, but most of that happiness comes from the Bonk acquisition.

I must admit that my first reaction to the Bonk trade was not all that positive...living in Ottawa, you tend to hear alot of negativity towards Bonk...he had become one of the teams whipping boys the last few seasons, despite putting up some pretty decent numbers.

Yeah, but then again, there was more than just one person not showing up for Ottawa. That entire team refused to perform. I think Bonk would perform better with a team that doesn't have a bunch of the same-player roster.

[HabbaDasher]

I'm really not sure what to think.
The only drafted player I had heard about is Chipchura.
I sincerely hope he's the real deal (ie. a safe bet to make the NHL).
Guess we'll have to wait and see.

In drafting mostly N.A. players, I'm wondering how much effort the Habs are putting into European scouting, and I'm concerned that a Western Beef bias may be creeping into the organization again....

It would be fun for announcers if Yemelin and Lemelin became defence partners at some point.

I'm very happy with the Bonk acquisistion.
He definitely fills an immediate need.

Too bad about Garon, but the Habs must feel Huet or Danis will be capable back-ups.
Interesting that Garon was available on waivers not too long ago.

[blaise]

I suppose the trade overshadowed the draft. The success of the draft will depend largely on Chipchura, but we won't know for some time. Is it fair to have the same expectations for him as for Kastsitsyn? Some of the good recent draftees (Komisarek included) have required seasoning in the minors.

Incidentally, by the time Garon was traded he was no longer so lightly thought of that he could safely be waived again. Moreover, his value had increased to the point where he could be traded, along with 3rd rounders, for a Radek Bonk (as well as a backup G). This would have been unthinkable in 2002-03. Even though Huet was included in the trade, I suspect that Gainey would have thought harder before taking the plunge if he hadn't already signed Danis.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Garon.

[duster]

Not being familiar with almost all the players selected, I find it very hard to formulate any sort of opinion. This could be like 1999 when the team went all over the map in the draft and not a single player drafted made it to the NHL, or we could get some genuine surprises. When the director of scouting is effusive in praising his third selection in particular, it makes me wonder if expectations should be much lower this year than with other years. Here's hoping it's not another 1999.