Hudler, just another draft gem

[DYags 0]

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&a...rticleid=363624

Sorry if its been posted, I didn't see it. Thought this was a great read and is just another example of how well we draft talent and mold it into something great over time.

[Reds4Life 51]

Nice read. Huds is playing great so far.

Thanks for posting this

Edited May 16, 2008 by Reds4Life

[Hitchhiker 9]

Thanks for pointing the article out. In the past I have always felt Huds had potential but also felt he lacked consistency. Grant it, it's kind of hard to be consistent when you keep getting swapped around the line-up.

While he still had some inconsistent moments this year, he has been much more valuable to the team. Still takes a dumb penalty now and then but he has been great in the playoffs. Keep it up Happy!

[toby91_ca 620]

I think it is a bit faulse advertising to call him another draft day "gem." Detroit has a reputation of finding players no other teams could, but I don't see how Hudler falls into that category. It's not like no one knew of him or his skill level. I remember watching the draft that day and the discussion around him. Everyone knew he had skill, but he wasn't drafted high because of other concerns, size being one of them. Detroit happened to "take the risk" on him. That is a little different than finding a gem that no one else could.

[irishtemper14+25 11]

good read =D

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I've said this before, but the Wings get too much credit for being able to draft well.

Don't forget that every team (including the Wings) passed up on guys like Datsyuk and Zetterberg, because even the Wings chose several players in those years' drafts over those 2 guys. The same thing with Lidstrom, because he wasn't the Wings first choice either. There have been a lot of guys the team drafted that turned out to be busts also, meaning that we could have gotten better players, who instead went to other teams.

Drafting is just one of those hit or miss things.

[ben_usmc 253]

I've said this before, but the Wings get too much credit for being able to draft well.

Don't forget that every team (including the Wings) passed up on guys like Datsyuk and Zetterberg, because even the Wings chose several players in those years' drafts over those 2 guys. The same thing with Lidstrom, because he wasn't the Wings first choice either. There have been a lot of guys the team drafted that turned out to be busts also, meaning that we could have gotten better players, who instead went to other teams.

Drafting is just one of those hit or miss things.

why do you have to knock us off our clouds

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

why do you have to knock us off our clouds

There are no clouds.

I'm just reminding people that Pavel and Hank weren't the Wings choices either. It's not like we were secretly grooming them, while the rest of the league had never even heard of those guys. We might as well give other GM's credit for not drafting Kuznetsov. The fact is the Wings passed up on other guys before they got Pavel or Hank.

[Hockey13Playa 240]

Well even if the wings did pass up on players as you state, they still are one of the best teams, and have amazing draft scouts.

If this wasn't true, they wouldn't be atop the league year after year. Sure they pass up on players here and there, thats natural and it happens with every team.

Ex. in the NBA the pistons could of selected all-star Carmelo Anthony, and instead passed him up to select a dud, Darko Millicic.

Anyways, with that being said it happens to the best of us, but it still takes drafting talent to pick these late 5th, 6th, 7th round players out of the bunch and turn them into something.

I give tons of credit to the Detroit Red Wings organization.

[eva unit zero 271]

Well even if the wings did pass up on players as you state, they still are one of the best teams, and have amazing draft scouts.

If this wasn't true, they wouldn't be atop the league year after year. Sure they pass up on players here and there, thats natural and it happens with every team.

Ex. in the NBA the pistons could of selected all-star Carmelo Anthony, and instead passed him up to select a dud, Darko Millicic.

I'd rather have Tayshaun Prince than Carmelo Anthony given the option. That's what Dumars claims he was thinking as well, and to be fair, Milicic was supposed to be a blue chipper. Combine that with the fact that, at the time, Ben Wallace was the only effective big man on the team, and it becomes a no-brainer. You take the blue chip big man because you already have your skilled small forward.

And for the record, Milicic has become a solid two-way performer in his one and a half seasons as a starter in the NBA...and the guy is only 22, so it's not like he isn't going to get better. Milicic could very well explode in the next couple seasons and become the All-Star he was supposed to be. It's not his fault the Pistons chose to draft him and then never give him an opportunity, despite the fact that the kid showed he could play ball at both ends of the court whever he was given a chance on the floor.

Just because he didn't turn into a star in his chance with his draft team doesn't make him a bust. In fact, it doesn't even mean he can't become one of the best players in the world. In the NHL, Brett Hull, Todd Bertuzzi, Zdeno Chara, JS Giguere, Miikka Kiprusoff, Cam Neely, Roberto Luongo, Chris Pronger, and Dominik Hasek are all good examples of this.

That said, Hudler cannot be considered in the same league a find as Z or dats. Nobody knew who Z or Dats even were except the Wings. Hudler was, and may still be, considered the most talented center available in the draft. That tag alone keeps him on everyone's radar until someone decides to take him. I assumed even before the draft it would be the Wings because of his size/skill combination; if you ranked all players according to "size" and "skill", the Wings are the team most likely to go almost exclusively off the 'skill" list when considering their picks, in part because of the system they have and in part because they consistently draft late. Highly skilled players with size go early; after that, you have to decide between skill and size. The Wings typically have not had success in their system when using players whose primary ability is size; Kuznetsov, Hatcher, Krupp, and others are proof of this. Players like Jiri Fischer and Jonathan Ericsson, plays who have both size AND good skating and puck skills, are the ideal players for the Wings' system because they provide strength and physicality, but don't present a weak cog as far as the puck possession game. Look to Downey this season for an example of this; he has the strength but he isn't a good skater and can't really play with the puck, which is probably the biggest reason McCarty got his spot going into the playoffs.