BeeRYCE 2 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 (edited) Random thread, random thought, but I thought I've been having... I have just realized how good and elite the rookies from 05/06 have already turned out to be, and I thought I should acknowledge this. The Main Three Sidney Crosby Alexander Ovechkin Dion Phaneuf Three guys who will arguably end their career as some of the best ever in their respective categories. The Next Level Mike Richards - Philly's MVP this season. Ryan Getzlaf - Arguably Anaheim's MVP this season. Jason Pominville - Captain of Buffalo now, and their MVP. Brad Boyes - St. Louis' main sniper, projected to reach 40 this season. Zach Parise - Arguably Jersey's top offensive player. Thomas Vanek - A future key asset of the Sabres. Starting to pick up his slack from the beginning of the season and looking like the 7 million dollar player he is. Corey Perry - Perhaps the best offensive agitator in the game today. Duncan Keith - Chicago's best defenseman, All Star this season. Shea Weber - Arguably Nashville's best defenseman, a bright future, projected to play on Team Canada in 2010. Niklas Kronwall - A key defender on our team, the best defensive team in the league at that. Mike Green - Washington's best defenseman. The Goalies Henrik Lundqvist, Cam Ward, Ray Emery, Marc Andre Fleury, Ilya Bryzgalov, Kari Lehtonen, Pascal Leclaire, Ryan Miller, and more lower tier, but still decent goalies. The Rest Jussi Jokinen, Brent Seabrook, Matt Stajan, Brett Lebda, Johan Franzen, Jeff Carter, Chris Kunitz, Derek Boogaard, Marek Svatos, Colby Armstrong, Ryan Whitney, Francois Beauchemin, Milan Michalek, Chris Kelly, RJ Umberger, Keith Ballard, Chris Higgins, Andrej Meszaros, Ryan Suter, and more... All I really wanted to say is we all knew that the 05/06 was going to go down in history as perhaps the best in terms of the top rookies, but I never realized how extensive the group really was. All the names I mentioned are, for the most part, pretty big impact players for their respective teams, and I never realized how many of these key players were in fact rookies from the 05/06 season. Yes, I realize Boogaard isn't an "impact player", but he's a name EVERYBODY knows. Can we say this is the best rookie class of all time... Already? I'd say yes, until proven otherwise. Edited March 27, 2008 by BeeRYCE Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest F I G H T Report post Posted March 27, 2008 Wow. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rice 42 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 Yeah, definitely one of the best classes of all time -- but you have to remember this is really two combined rookie classes thanks to the lockout. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eva unit zero 271 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 Random thread, random thought, but I thought I've been having... I have just realized how good and elite the rookies from 05/06 have already turned out to be, and I thought I should acknowledge this. The Main Three Sidney Crosby Alexander Ovechkin Dion Phaneuf Three guys who will arguably end their career as some of the best ever in their respective categories. The Next Level Mike Richards - Philly's MVP this season. Ryan Getzlaf - Arguably Anaheim's MVP this season. Jason Pominville - Captain of Buffalo now, and their MVP. Brad Boyes - St. Louis' main sniper, projected to reach 40 this season. Zach Parise - Arguably Jersey's top offensive player. Thomas Vanek - A future key asset of the Sabres. Starting to pick up his slack from the beginning of the season and looking like the 7 million dollar player he is. Corey Perry - Perhaps the best offensive agitator in the game today. Duncan Keith - Chicago's best defenseman, All Star this season. Shea Weber - Arguably Nashville's best defenseman, a bright future, projected to play on Team Canada in 2010. Niklas Kronwall - A key defender on our team, the best defensive team in the league at that. Mike Green - Washington's best defenseman. The Goalies Henrik Lundqvist, Cam Ward, Ray Emery, Marc Andre Fleury, Ilya Bryzgalov, Kari Lehtonen, Pascal Leclaire, Ryan Miller, and more lower tier, but still decent goalies. The Rest Jussi Jokinen, Brent Seabrook, Matt Stajan, Brett Lebda, Johan Franzen, Jeff Carter, Chris Kunitz, Derek Boogaard, Marek Svatos, Colby Armstrong, Ryan Whitney, Francois Beauchemin, Milan Michalek, Chris Kelly, RJ Umberger, Keith Ballard, Chris Higgins, Andrej Meszaros, Ryan Suter, and more... All I really wanted to say is we all knew that the 05/06 was going to go down in history as perhaps the best in terms of the top rookies, but I never realized how extensive the group really was. All the names I mentioned are, for the most part, pretty big impact players for their respective teams, and I never realized how many of these key players were in fact rookies from the 05/06 season. Yes, I realize Boogaard isn't an "impact player", but he's a name EVERYBODY knows. Can we say this is the best rookie class of all time... Already? I'd say yes, until proven otherwise. Here's a test for you. Take the top 20 rookies from that class, and stack them up against the top 20 rookies from any two consecutive seasons. The comparison should be much closer, as the 05-06 class was basically two rookie classes in the same season. Let's look at the combination of 83-84 and 84-85, for example...that two-year span features Steve Yzerman, Tom Barrasso, Sergio Momesso, Adam Creighton, Sylvain Turgeon, Brian Lawton, Bob Rouse, Jamie Macoun, Jon Casey, Doug Gilmour, Gary Leeman, Russ Courtnall, Ken Wregget, Pat LaFontaine, Pat Flatley, Petr Svoboda, Claude Lemieux, Stephane Richer, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, John Vanbiesbrouck, Ray Ferraro, Sylvain Cote, Ulf Samuelsson, Eddie Olczyk, Marc Bergevin, and many more rookies who went on to have good or even great careers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aussie_Wing 354 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 I think Milan Michalek is a star and belongs in the 'The Next Level' group. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doggy 130 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 Michalek sucks. Kunitz and Meszaros should be in the next level. BTW... just kidding, Michalek doesn't suck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kp-Wings 3 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 Kunitz is drinking too much of his teams own Kool-Aid. It's amazing how a small, skilled guy has evolved into the cheapshot he's now become. Quite a transition. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Opie 308 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 I think Milan Michalek is a star and belongs in the 'The Next Level' group. I would hesitate to put Michalek on that list, I mean after what Thornton did for Cheechoo, I mean I am pretty sure that if you put me with my tore up knee out there with Thornton I would be lucky enough to have one or two of his passes bounce of me and go in the net. Now I am not saying Michalek couldn't be a star, but I would like to see him do it on the second line, or with out Joe T spoon feeding him. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying Thornton could turn Drake into a 50 goal scorer, I am just saying it helps a lot to have one of the best forwards in the game feeding you the puck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
STICK 1 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 Brad Boyes - St. Louis' main sniper, projected to reach 40 this season. This wouldn't be the same Brad Boyes the Leafs Drafted in 2000 would it? http://tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=21...bname=nhl-blues Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BeeRYCE 2 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 Actually with the exception of Crosby and maybe a couple others, a strong majority of these guys would have played in 04/05. I think 04/05 would have been quite the rookie year myself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Opie 308 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 Actually with the exception of Crosby and maybe a couple others, a strong majority of these guys would have played in 04/05. I think 04/05 would have been quite the rookie year myself. This I think should be the point of this thread (not to dog the op) I am just saying the 04/05 draft class would have been sick, most of the 05/06 class would have just finished their rookie season when they actually got drafted! That also would have been J-Ho's first year in the system as he was drafted, planned on leaving Umaine, the lockout happened and J-Ho went on to have his best season, only to lose in the Frozen Final after stopping 8 zillion shots! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toby91_ca 620 Report post Posted March 27, 2008 Brad Boyes - St. Louis' main sniper, projected to reach 40 this season. This wouldn't be the same Brad Boyes the Leafs Drafted in 2000 would it? http://tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=21...bname=nhl-blues Yes it is, his rookie year was 2005/06. Out of interest, he's over a year younger than Kronwall, who's rookie year was also 2005/06. Lundqvist is another older rookie from that year. Crazy to think, but Crosby and Kronwall were both rookies in 2005/06, even though Kronwall is almost 7 years older. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
joshy207 156 Report post Posted March 28, 2008 Thanks to some good breeding and the lockout, this is a rookie class for all time. Similar situation to the '79 draft, when the NHL absorbed 4 WHA teams and the NHL dropped its draft age from 20 to 18. Some of the guys getting drafted already had a year or two of pro experience, almost every 1st rounder had a long, productive career... and Gretzky wasn't even included in the draft, as Edmonton was allowed to protect him. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl1979e.html Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
