Mark Streit...the "Old" Prospect

[NWTHabsFan]

During the 9th round of the 2004 draft this past June, the Habs raised many an eyebrow when the bucked tradition and picked Swiss veteran defender Mark Streit 262nd overall. The 27 year old Zurich Lion is well established in the Swiss League, but clearly wasn't the obscure 18 year old that most other teams were picking with their last round picks. If the previous 2004 selections of 20 year old over-agers Grabovski and Gleed weren't surprising enough, this pick clearly went off the charts.

So, the oft-forgotten Mr. Streit appears to be enjoying another classic and successful year in his native Switzerland. His league has its share of visiting NHL'ers, and in fact, the only two players on Zurich who have more points than he are NHL'ers Randy Robitaille and Ronald Petrovicky. Despite that, Mark leads his team in goals (11 compared to the 10 from the aforementioned NHL forwards), is third in points (22 in 25 games), and tops all players by a huge margin in shots (111 in 25 games...WOW). Pretty good for a D-man.

Will this ever translate into any of us ever seeing Mark in a Habs' jersey one day? Who knows, but quite clearly, he has some game. Here is a link to his current stats:


www.zsc-lions.ch/aktuell/stats.cfm

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Nice dig, NWT.

Hmmm, "Mr Hainsey, kindly hand your (freshly laundered) jersey over to Mr Streit."

[BadCompany]

Or Mr. Beauchemin.

Oh wait...

[Habit]

There was rumblings from the Habs head office that he might be a stop gap for the Habs D if there was a season. A good go between until some of the young guys settle into a permanent roll.

Kind of an "Instant D-Man, just add ice."

[blaise]

He wouldn't come to North America just to play in the AHL. If the lockout persists, Streit will be quite old in hockey terms.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

Blaise said:

He wouldn't come to North America just to play in the AHL. If the lockout persists, Streit will be quite old in hockey terms.

A Streit road to the NHL is what's being intimated. Hainsey and Beauchemin were, according to Gainey, to slug it out for a roster spot on the Habs. However, now Beauchemin will be playing for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Hainsey seems to be playing his way down to the ECHL.

[blaise]

And just what would Streit be paid for his AHL services? I'm skeptical that he'll be another Brian Rafalski.

[BadCompany]

Have you watched and/or listened to any Bulldogs games? Hainsey hasn't been great - no Dog has been - but he's hardly been bad. In fact, the only "official" commentary on his performance came from Andre Savard, talking about how well he was carrying himself on and off the ice.

Jarvis has been using Hainsey in every situation, and he is on the first unit of both the powerplay and the penalty kill. He's logging lots of ice time.

No, for me the worst Bulldog defenseman has been Dan Focht. I was expecting a lot from this guy, actually. A Komisarek, physicial kind of presence. But he seems to run around, tries to make big hits/big plays, and is getting beat a lot. Trevor Daly has been sort of impressive, in that he skates very well, and loves to lug the puck up the ice on his own, but he doesn't seem to accomplish much by doing so, and it seems counter to the more "safe" style of play every other defenseman (Hainsey included) have been playing.

I don't think Ron's in any danger of hitting the East Coast League just yet...

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

BadCompany said:

Have you watched and/or listened to any Bulldogs games? Hainsey hasn't been great - no Dog has been - but he's hardly been bad. In fact, the only "official" commentary on his performance came from Andre Savard, talking about how well he was carrying himself on and off the ice.

Jarvis has been using Hainsey in every situation, and he is on the first unit of both the powerplay and the penalty kill. He's logging lots of ice time.

No, for me the worst Bulldog defenseman has been Dan Focht. I was expecting a lot from this guy, actually. A Komisarek, physicial kind of presence. But he seems to run around, tries to make big hits/big plays, and is getting beat a lot. Trevor Daly has been sort of impressive, in that he skates very well, and loves to lug the puck up the ice on his own, but he doesn't seem to accomplish much by doing so, and it seems counter to the more "safe" style of play every other defenseman (Hainsey included) have been playing.

I don't think Ron's in any danger of hitting the East Coast League just yet...

Think what you will, but based on what I've seen of Hainsey in a few game in Hamilton and the last two on TV, plus the commentary of others who have seen him play, he's closer to the ECHL than he is to the NHL. Lots of ice time, sure, like Jarvis has a choice of blueline allstars he can deploy.

Focht is filler. Was signed to take up space until Coté and Komisarek are ready.

Daley is a Hainsey clone: Great moving the puck, goofy without it. Pairing him with Hainsey has to be a devious ploy by Jarvis to keep either Danis or Ellis on edge.

No, my friend, Hainsey is done in Montréal. He may flourish elsewhere, but he isn't showing signs of growth here. Instructive that the Rangers when given a choice of Balej, Hainsey or Hossa for Kovalev, Hainsey was left on the shelf. As we know, it's a hockey truism that top-notch defense prospects are worth more because they are rarer than their forward counterparts.

[BadCompany]

M. said:

Instructive that the Rangers when given a choice of Balej, Hainsey or Hossa for Kovalev, Hainsey was left on the shelf. As we know, it's a hockey truism that top-notch defense prospects are worth more because they are rarer than their forward counterparts.

Ahem. Don't forget Plekanec, your favorite prospect, was also offered and left on the shelf as well. And would that be an acknowledgement that Phaneuf, Coburn and Suter were indeed worthy of being picked ahead of Andrei Kostitysin?

I too believe the defense-first truism, but perhaps that is not the Glen Sather way. His Oiler teams were built primarily on offensive forwards, and he has spent the better half of the last decade trying to duplicate/buy that same effect in New York, even though everybody and their brother have always thought defense was their achilles heel. Sather, and Neil Smith before him, always swung for the fences when going after top forwards, but seemed to regard getting a stud defenseman as of secondary importance. No offense to Stephane Quintal.

And even at that, the Rangers already have a couple of Hainsey clones in Poti and Tyutin.

Hainsey appears to have entered the "Patrice Brisebois Zone", often called the "Inner-inner Circle of Hell." Nothing he does is seen as good. Oh well.

[M. Beaux-Eaux]

BadCompany said:

Ahem. Don't forget Plekanec, your favorite prospect, was also offered and left on the shelf as well. And would that be an acknowledgement that Phaneuf, Coburn and Suter were indeed worthy of being picked ahead of Andrei Kostitysin?

As much as I do like Plekanec, and I do like him a whole lot, my favorite prospect is the new kid on the block - AK.

Sure, I'd take Phaneuf over Kostitsyn. Not sure about the other two, though.

I too believe the defense-first truism, but perhaps that is not the Glen Sather way. His Oiler teams were built primarily on offensive forwards, and he has spent the better half of the last decade trying to duplicate/buy that same effect in New York, even though everybody and their brother have always thought defense was their achilles heel. Sather, and Neil Smith before him, always swung for the fences when going after top forwards, but seemed to regard getting a stud defenseman as of secondary importance. No offense to Stephane Quintal.

My turn to "ahem". Surely you aren't inferring that Hainsey is a stud defenseman?

And even at that, the Rangers already have a couple of Hainsey clones in Poti and Tyutin.

So Hainsey obviously can't or wasn't projected to compete with or overtake these two as far as the Rangers were concerned.

Hainsey appears to have entered the "Patrice Brisebois Zone", often called the "Inner-inner Circle of Hell." Nothing he does is seen as good. Oh well.

Hainsey is hoisting himself by his own petard (being propelled by his own fart as it were)

Hainsey has always been strong at moving the puck up ice. He continues to be weak in his own end. But I hear that he now pays his rent on time.

[blaise]

I don't know what kind of careers Coburn and Suter will have in the NHL. For that matter, I don't know about Kostitsyn. But I do know that defense will become an urgent need very soon, and the Habs' cupboard of top D prospects is bare. If we throw need into the kettle along with talent, the preference for AK may be considerably watered down. Of course, since the Habs never had the opportunity to draft Coburn, Suter, or Phaneuf, I can't say that the Habs made a mistake in drafting AK (BPA, perhaps). If Timmins and Savard persist in their claim that they would have taken AK in the first 5 in the 2003 draft, then I'd say they're either insincere or oblivious. Aside from the abovementioned Ds, there were forwards in that draft I would have taken ahead of him.