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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jun 28, 2004 11:03:19 GMT -5
Mathias Brunet
RALEIGH, North Carolina - The draft always holds beautiful surprises and the Canadiens hope to have unearthed a hidden gem in the 4th round yesterday. He is James Wyman and he scored goals by the ton last year for his highschool team in Minnesota.
"He's one of the players that we are happy to have acquired", mentioned Canadiens head of personnel, Trevor Timmins.
Wyman, a forward chosen with the 100th pick, measures 6 feet 1 inch, weighs 192 pounds and scored 31 goals in only 24 games last year.
"One of our scouts is based in Minnesota and he knows him very well. We saw him with work during the winter and even met him at his place. He reminds me of Mark Parrish. He has excellent speed and a very good shot. He'llll play for Dartmouth in the American college system next year."
The Canadiens also selected six other players yesterday, including two Québécois and four athletes whose names did not appear on the CSS list.
"The CSS loves certain players and we have our own preferences", said Timmins.
One of the players absent from the list is Mark Streit, 26, a Swiss defender. Streit selected late, in the ninth round, had 36 points in 48 games for Zurich "He is older than the others, but Pierre Gauthier saw him work at the World Championships and liked him. He has a lot of talent and is a smooth player."
The goalie Loic Lacasse was selected in the sixth round and defenseman Alex Dulac-Lemelin in the ninth round "Lacasse is a goalie equipped with a large frame. He was a backup with Baie-Comeau last year, but Roland Melanson and André Savard liked what they saw of him. Dulac-Lemelin (also of the Drakkar) is a big defenseman with good hockey sense."
- translated from today's Presse
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jun 28, 2004 11:04:17 GMT -5
- excerpted from the Habs official site
Wyman: “He’s a solid, fast skater,” explained Canadiens Director of Player Personnel Trevor Timmins. “We like his versatility, and he’s the kind of player who’s dangerous in all types of situations.”<br>
Grabovski: “He’s a player with good hockey sense,” said Timmins, who has scouted Grabovski regularly over the past two campaigns. “His development has really been helped by playing at the Junior level, and he could work well with Kastsitsyn since the two know one another quite well.”<br>
Lacasse: "With the departure of Baie Comeau's frontline goaltender, Julien Walsh, we expect Lacasse to become the team's No. 1 man between the pipes in 2004-05," Timmins revealed. "That should obviously help his game tremendously and give him some valuable experience."
Gleed: "Jon does the little things well, and is a very reliable, efficient defenseman," said Timmins. "He's adept at reading the play and clearing the puck from his own end with sharp passes." Ed. - Gleed is good
Stewart: “Stewart is a power forward who always put up great numbers wherever he played, particularly in Tier II,” noted Timmins. “He’s physically strong and has the desire to win that reflects extremely well for a player of his age.”<br>
Streit: “Mark is an adept skater who distinguishes himself with his ability to make precise passes,” said Timmins. “He’s a quarterback on the power play and adds some depth to our organization’s defensive corps.”<br>
Dulac-Lemelin: “He’s an absolute giant with a good head for the game,” Timmins noted. “He’s solid on his skates and tough to move on the ice. He can impose himself with his physical force and make life extremely difficult for any opposing skaters who try to get in front of the net.”
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Jun 28, 2004 12:04:59 GMT -5
I really like this pick as well. This is a big kid who can skate, has great leadership skills (captain of both hockey and lacrosse teams), was the team's MVP, and can put up reasonable numbers. Granted, those stats are quite skewed as it is USHS, but we will be able to guage much better when he attends Dartmouth this fall and starts to play NCAA level hockey.
Also, the Great One watched his team go way off the charts by picking Blake Wheeler from Breck (the HS team that beat Wyman's team in the finals) with the 5th pick overall, so there is recognition that some of these top kids from the top HS hockey programs (note that Blake School had three skaters in the final CSB top 86 rankings...pretty good for one US high school) are quality players. These are kids that are all likely to be playing NCAA or CHL hockey next year, where they will all get noticed.
I think it is great that the Habs' scouting organization has an inside track into some of these school programs, as that is an edge over other teams. It is still too early to tell how this young man turns out, but after all every draft pick is a crap shoot to some extent (Ovechkins and Malkins of the world excepted of course). Decent size, good skating, good skills, leadership qualities are all good characteristics that make for a good prospect. The rest will come with time.
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Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jun 28, 2004 15:33:14 GMT -5
The Canadiens raised some eyebrows by selecting 26-year-old Mark Streit, a five-foot-11 defenceman from Switzerland, in the ninth round, 262nd overall. He was the oldest player in the draft. The pick was clearly the work of team executive Pierre Gauthier, who had success finding undrafted European talent when he was GM in Ottawa in the mid-1990s. "Pierre Gauthier spent a lot of time scouting the overage Europeans and he liked him quite a bit at the world championships," said Timmins. "He's a skilled, finesse, offensive defenceman. We have him in the bank in case we want to bring him over." - from Canadian Press |
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Post by blaise on Jun 28, 2004 16:07:55 GMT -5
Minnesota is a hotbed of hockey, the equivalent of many Canadian provinces. The statewide high school tournaments are very well attended.
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Jun 28, 2004 19:48:42 GMT -5
Mathias BrunetRALEIGH, North Carolina - The draft always holds beautiful surprises and the Canadiens hope to have unearthed a hidden gem in the 4th round yesterday. He is James Wyman and he scored goals by the ton last year for his highschool team in Minnesota. "He's one of the players that we are happy to have acquired", mentioned Canadiens head of personnel, Trevor Timmins. Wyman, a forward chosen with the 100th pick, measures 6 feet 1 inch, weighs 192 pounds and scored 31 goals in only 24 games last year. "One of our scouts is based in Minnesota and he knows him very well. We saw him with work during the winter and even met him at his place. He reminds me of Mark Parrish. He has excellent speed and a very good shot. He'llll play for Dartmouth in the American college system next year." The Canadiens also selected six other players yesterday, including two Québécois and four athletes whose names did not appear on the CSS list. "The CSS loves certain players and we have our own preferences", said Timmins. One of the players absent from the list is Mark Streit, 26, a Swiss defender. Streit selected late, in the ninth round, had 36 points in 48 games for Zurich "He is older than the others, but Pierre Gauthier saw him work at the World Championships and liked him. He has a lot of talent and is a smooth player." The goalie Loic Lacasse was selected in the sixth round and defenseman Alex Dulac-Lemelin in the ninth round "Lacasse is a goalie equipped with a large frame. He was a backup with Baie-Comeau last year, but Roland Melanson and André Savard liked what they saw of him. Dulac-Lemelin (also of the Drakkar) is a big defenseman with good hockey sense." - translated from today's Presse Wyman sounds good, but I don't think I'm ready to cut Ryder to make room for him. |
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Post by BadCompany on Jun 29, 2004 7:52:09 GMT -5
The Canadiens raised some eyebrows by selecting 26-year-old Mark Streit, a five-foot-11 defenceman from Switzerland, in the ninth round, 262nd overall. He was the oldest player in the draft. The pick was clearly the work of team executive Pierre Gauthier, who had success finding undrafted European talent when he was GM in Ottawa in the mid-1990s. "Pierre Gauthier spent a lot of time scouting the overage Europeans and he liked him quite a bit at the world championships," said Timmins. "He's a skilled, finesse, offensive defenceman. We have him in the bank in case we want to bring him over." - from Canadian PressAs for the defensemen, there is a wild card in play here - Mark Streit, our 9th round pick. He's 27 years old, and he plays in Switzerland. That's significant, in my opinion, for a couple of reasons. One, at 27, he isn't going to get bigger, and probably not a whole lot better. Two, Switzerland is very kind to its hockey players, pays them very well, has an easy travel schedule, free houses, cars, low taxes, etc.. In other words, I don't see Streit coming over to North America to ride AHL buses for meal money and hand-me-down sweaters. Its NHL or bust, I think. Like when we drafted the very similar Martie Jarventie - people forget that he started the year in Montreal that season. I thought he played okay, then he got hurt, didn't play all that well, spent the rest of the year in the AHL, and bolted back to Europe right after. If Streit is signed, I suspect he will be given EVERY opportunity to make the team. Gainey might not have much confidence in Beauchemin or Hainsey after all. |
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Post by blaise on Jun 29, 2004 9:45:28 GMT -5
Brian Rafalski, 5'9" and long overlooked, was signed at age 26 by Lou Lamoriello.
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