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Post by CrocRob on Jan 29, 2008 17:20:14 GMT -5
Over the past few years, I think I've noticed a trend that some players are being targeted by Montreal because they are either from the area or Montreal is their favourite club. A few players as an example:
Higgins and Komisarek
Pacioretty
Valentenko (who reportedly cried when he was told he got drafted by Montreal)
Carle
P.K. Subban
Yannick Weber
There are more, but I'd have to do some digging. Do you guys think this is coincidence, because Montreal has a massive international fan base, or is it targeted drafting by Montreal to get high calibre players who might want to be Habs long term? To coin a phrase Habs_fan_in_LA used earlier today, are Timmins and Co. trying not to target guys "who care about the name on the back more than the CH on the front?"
I'll leave it to each of you to decide yourselves, but frankly I think it's a real possibility. By targeting these kinds of players you're acquiring players who might:
1) Have extra incentive to work and get to the big leagues
2) Later on in their career take a discounted-from-market value contract to stay and keep the team competitive
3) Be good representatives for the team, who take pride in their jersey.
Anyway, what do you think?
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Post by habmeister on Jan 29, 2008 18:21:38 GMT -5
nope, i think that the primary reason for drafting the list of players above is 100% to do with how they project them to be as future talents. i don't believe that if a player is a leafs fan and a player is a habs fan that timmins would go with the habs fan, that would not tip the scale for any reason whatsoever. it sounds nice, but if you actually look at the players you listed they were all great picks for where they went, and if they were leafs fans they still would have been chosen by trevor because they were the highest on his list talent-wise.
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Jan 29, 2008 21:19:15 GMT -5
I like team players. Whether they come from Russia, France, NDG or Floral, they have to care about the team that they are currently playing for.
I remember my days at McGill playing for the Redmen. My teamates were the closest thing to me. We cared about eachother, worked together. I was never in the army, but I'm sure that when guys are on the same team, living togrether (in a manly way) you experience a comraderie that is never duplicated later in life.
Miss those days, sniff, sniff...........
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Post by Skilly on Jan 29, 2008 22:33:50 GMT -5
Higgins was a Habs fan
Komisarek was an Islander fan .... his favourite player growing up was actually Glenn Healey if you can believe it.
Pacioretty is from Conneticut ... are we sure he wasnt a Whaler fan which is now Carolina?
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Post by CrocRob on Jan 29, 2008 23:14:43 GMT -5
Higgins was a Habs fan Komisarek was an Islander fan .... his favourite player growing up was actually Glenn Healey if you can believe it. Pacioretty is from Conneticut ... are we sure he wasnt a Whaler fan which is now Carolina? Yeah to tell you the truth I wasn't sure about Komisarek. I guess I was wrong on that front. Pacioretty has a connection to Montreal through his grandmother who's French, and cheered for the Habs. I'm not suggesting that the Habs aren't drafting BPA, but my suggestion is that given two players of similar calibre they might be selecting the player for whom the CH means more. |
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Post by skunk on Jan 30, 2008 2:42:27 GMT -5
No, if they were drafting players by "connection" to Montreal, they would have taken players like Angelo Esposito, David Perron, Luc Bourdon, Steve Bernier, Patrice Bergeron, Antoine Vermette etc. In a lot of cases they passed over local kids who turned out to be much better than the American or European players they drafted.
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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Jan 30, 2008 15:26:04 GMT -5
No, if they were drafting players by "connection" to Montreal, they would have taken players like Angelo Esposito, David Perron, Luc Bourdon, Steve Bernier, Patrice Bergeron, Antoine Vermette etc. In a lot of cases they passed over local kids who turned out to be much better than the American or European players they drafted. A lot of Americans are drafting a president because he's black or female or young or old or just a change from what is there now. Racism is still racism under any guise. |
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Post by Habfaith on Jan 30, 2008 17:31:36 GMT -5
Player personality is part of the scouting process. Most guys getting drafted these days have a good head on their shoulders in addition to their talent.
It would seem that we are focusing on mature players in the draft, guys who understand the commitment that is needed.
Obviously whatever formula they are using it is working. I hope Timmins gets a big fat raise soon. he is this teams MVP IMO.
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Post by NWTHabsFan on Feb 2, 2008 0:07:54 GMT -5
Habfaith is bang on. The target is now character and work ethic to go along with the skating and skill set. They even visit and talk to parents, coaches and friends. It is not a surprise that most of the guys we draft have worn a letter on one of their teams or are spoken highly of by their coaches. Homework, hardwork, lots of games, and lots of behind the scenes research. That is the Timmins approach these days and I could not agree more....sign this dude up long term asap and give him a nice raise!!
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