Drake_Marcus

Here's my opinion on all this. Being Canadian automatically grants you extra spots in the NHL draft. Being big at the age of drafting automatically grants you extra spots in the NHL draft. Has anyone noticed that lots and lots of big Canadian kids with skill get picked in the first two rounds but end up being a wash? Does that hint at anything to you? Perhaps that size and nationality artificially inflated their standing in the collective eyes of the scouts? Big Canadian power forwards get picked really early in the draft (in all but a few cases). Canadian players very rarely end up being late round gems because they're easily the most heavily scouted of all. Everyone and their dog knows the Canadian kids in these drafts- there's no where to hide, ok? That covers nationality. So what about size? Well size at the age of 17 or 18 is only an indicator of your minimum NHL size. Kids grow. I grew more than 3 inches between age 17 and 23. I entered university a bit less than 5-10 and now I'm up at 6'1 (with scoliosis, so I should be taller). If you want a guy who is 6'1 at draft age you're going to have to pick him much higher than a kid who's just as skilled but only 5'11 at draft age. Hell, you'll often have to pick him earlier than a much more skilled kid who is 5'10. But 3 years later? Who knows who will be taller or heavier. The Wing won't be using these kids for at least 3 years, so why should they pay a premium for size when they won't even need the kid until they've filled out? Why sacrifice skill for size in that situation? I'll take a kid like Rajala who is considered a prodigy in Finland in terms of his skill and ability over a kid like Carter who is being picked higher than his skill dictates just because he had to learn french in school and can reach the cereal perched at the very top of the shelves (sorry 'bout that Hudler). Edit: spelling

Why hasn't anyone hired him to be their head of scouting? There's a reason why he's commenting and Nill and the rest of those guys are doing the picking. And it's not because of fate.

3rd rounder, but yeah. Seems dumb. Except I trust the Red Wings scouts more than the scouts of any other team in the league. If they traded down it's because they know they can afford to move down to 32nd without losing their man. And apparently they believe in this kid so much that they're willing to skip a guy who was projected to go in the top 20.

This.

What the f***? 32 and 75? WHAT THE f***?

So we have 3 2nd round picks? I'm going to go out on a limb here and pretty much guarantee we get Rajala. And probably Tatar.

What the f***? The Wings traded their 29th for a 32nd and another unnamed pick? WTF? Obviuously They're not impressed by Carter and want to stick with their original choice. PS: Rodger Ebert basically begged his readers not to watch Transformers 2, apparently it's the movie equivalent of getting raped.

As a Blue Jays fan I have to say: CARTER! CARTER! CARTER!

Wow! Bowman's the first person to congratulate both SC finalists.

Don't worry, with the CBA the Wings are very interested in college bound US players

True story. Malkin has a hot blonde wig that Sid just loves.

Listen, I know Crosby and he'd NEVER make that mistake. Never.

Guys! We have a bunch of great kids left here!

I know, but you see what I'm getting at

He's biased.

Hey, a Lebanese kid went to Toronto, so anything can happen

Oh yeah, I'd be VERY happy with Ashton.

He's considered a good scorer and ranked higher than 29th, so if we get 'em that's cool with me. (assuming we eventually get Rajala)

This. It's a similar situation to the one where a certain ****** nozzle decided he was too good to stay in Pheonix and wheeled himself over to Boston.

The Wings are going to start Finnish stackin' then. f*** the imitators, the Wings are the originators.

He's a right hand shot too.

This. Or trade off some of the baggage from our team for some 2nds and grab Tatar and Rajala.

Sorry if we broke up all of the non-posting in the thread at the time. In other news I hope we land Tartar AND Rajala so we can have the market cornered in small superskilled kids that should grow bigger.

Hahaha, my mind thought German and wrote Russian, I'll go fix that .

Hahaha. Did anyone notice that TSN's cameras focused in on a kid in a Kings jersey distractedly eating an apple?